Under the Black Flag (The Rogue's Library)

[1927].  First UK edition (previously published in the USA).  [iv], 342pp, with portrait frontispiece depicting Blackbeard the Pirate.  Black cloth boards with blind rules and gilt motif on front panel, gilt lettering on spine.  8vo.  Cloth a little rubbed and rounded at corners and spine tips.  Mild toning on endpapers else internally neat, clean, bright and tight. Piracy is the second oldest profression in the world, so claims the introduction to this volume, beginning as soon as men learned to truss two logs together.  Volume begins with an overview of piracy from the earliest of times and then has chapters on specific pirates such as Thomas Pound, Henry Every, Thomas White, David Williams, John Martel, Charles Vane, The Cuban Pirates, Benito de Soto and many more.