Sir Francis Drake Revived...

DRAKE Sir Francis; NICHOLS Philip (1628.)

£12000.00 

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THE QUEEN'S FAVOURITE PIRATE

Second edition. Engraved portrait vignette on the titlepage. Small 4to. Modern crimson calf, old style, gilt. [viii], 80pp. London, Nicholas Bourne,

The second edition, after the first of 1626, of this account of Francis Drake's highly successful raid against the Spanish in Panama in 1572-73, one of his early Caribbean raids of plunder and harassment. Sabin states of this edition: "It differs from that of 1626 in having had the advantage of the incorporation of the errata of the latter date under the personal superintendence of the nephew of the great voyager. The last four leaves are larger than the rest of the book." The expedition of fifty-two Englishmen attempted to seize Nombre de Dios, but were repulsed when Drake was wounded in the shoulder. After many reversals and hardships, the British managed to waylay an entire pack train of Peruvian silver, bringing home a fortune. Drake's bold move was approved by Queen Elizabeth, who shared in the plunder, but the politics of his raid on Spain during a period of ostensible peace made it necessary for him to disappear to Ireland for several years after the event. Besides his success in plunder, on this expedition Drake became the first Englishman to see the Pacific Ocean.



The book was originally written in a manuscript account of the expedition given to Queen Elizabeth on New Year's Day 1593. In his letter of presentation which serves as the introduction to the book, Drake suggests that, while it is pleasant to think of past victories, he would rather be undertaking new employment of the same sort. The opportunity soon presented itself, with more raids in the West Indies; and just over three years after giving the manuscript to the Queen, the intrepid Drake died at sea off Puerto Rico during a raid on Spanish shipping. Thirty years after Drake's death, courtier Philip Nichols reworked and published the manuscript. The timing of publication of the first edition is significant. James I, Elizabeth's successor, had been eager to conciliate the Spanish, and no publication so openly lauding raids on Spanish property would have been tolerated under his reign. James I died in 1625 and Sir Francis Drake Revived... was published the following year.

 

European Americana, 628/87; Sabin, 20838; STC, 18545; JCB III, II:213.

Stock Code: 213234

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