Review: The Illustrated Pirate Diaries

The Illustrated Pirate Diaries: A Remarkable Eyewitness Account of Captain Morgan and the Buccaneers by Alexander O. Exquemelin

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This profusely illustrated coffee-table style book does attempt to reproduce Alexander O. Exquemelin's experiences among 17th Century Caribbean pirates as a ship's surgeon. For those who do not know, Exquemelin's original book was written in Dutch, but was subsequently translated into French, Spanish and English. Each edition featured new material, usually slanted according to national politics of the day.

This edition attempts to present what Exquemelin actually experienced. As an eyewitness to Henry Morgan's audacious raid on the city of Panama,  Exquemelin's account has an authentic ring with a good many details that a ship surgeon would know about the pirates he tended.

I do wish the type size was much bigger.  I find it difficult to read the text when surrounded by the large colorful illustrations. Though not an annotated text as such, the illustrations, cut lines and sidebars provide readers with a good deal of useful background information.



View all my reviews