MOST NOTORIOUS HIGHWAYMEN

The highwaymen's 'Lives' in this book were taken from 'A General History of the Lives and Adventures of the Most Famous Highwaymen, Murderers, Street-Robbers etc. to Which is Added, a Genuine Account of the Voyages and Plunders of the Most Notorious Pyrates...' published in 1734. Modern styling has been applied but spellings and punctuation generally left as in the original volume for authenticity. Captain Charles Johnson celebrated 'A General History of the Pirates' (1724) is the most famous book about pirates ever written. Buoyed by the volume?s runaway success, he followed up with this book of 1734. Published here for the first time in two centuries, it provides over 50 accounts of the most notorious British criminals of the 17th and 18th centuries including the famous highwayman William Davis, alias The Golden Farmer, the cross-Channel gentleman highwayman Claude du Vall who liked to dance at the roadside with the ladies he robbed, the prolific road adventurer Old Mob who robbed Judge Jeffries, shooting his coachmen, one in the arm and one in the leg, and the Royalist carriage raider James Hind. The volume opens with the life of Sir John Falstaff, as beautifully drawn here as by Shakespeare, plus Robin Hood, Walter Tracey, Thomas Rumbold, Jack Bird, Captain Dudley, Captain Ruatz, Moll Cutpurse, Edward and Joan Bracey, Patrick O-Bryan, Tom Austin, Captain Evan Evans, Avery, Ned Bonnet, Jack Hawkins and George Simpson and others. Here are noted highwaymen, foot-pads, shop-lifts and cheats of both sexes which were amalgamated into one large and expensive extensive volume, a coffee table book of its time for its production value. With a journalistic flair, these wild accounts were a curious blend of fact and fiction that helped ferment the romanticised image of the gentleman highwayman that persists to this day. And while there are tales of gallantry, adventure and seduction, these are more than matched by acts of ruthless brutality, murder and treachery. Many of these criminals were famous in their day, their arrests, trials and hangings were a public sensation. In the introduction to this new edition, Sam Willis delves into the mysterious identities of authors Alexander Smith and Captain Charles Johnson, both of whom remain enigmatic to this day, and explains why these biographies are still so relevant. It has long been suspected that Captain Charles Johnson was a pseudonym for Daniel Defoe, author of Robinson Crusoe. Glamorous British Library 393 page illustrated edition.