A Pirate Of Exquisite Mind. The Life Of William Dampier
Preston Diana & Michael
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Cover Type: Softcover
Book Condition: Fine
Jacket Condition: None Issued
Publisher: Corgi
Publisher Place: London
Publisher Year: 2005
Edition: Reprint
Description: 511 pages. Book appears to have hardly been read and is in Fine condition throughout.
Publishers Description: William Dampier, (1651-1715), was an English adventurer and pirate who preyed on ships on the Spanish Main. Poor and ill-educated and determined to make his fortune, he nonetheless had a passion for exploration and scientific research. Dampier was the first to map the winds and currents of the worlds oceans; led the first recorded party of Englishmen to set foot on Australia - 80 years before Cook; wrote about Galapagos wildlife 150 years before Darwin, who drew on Dampiers notes in his own work; was the first travel writer: A NEW VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD was an instant bestseller when it was published in 1697 - said to have influenced the novels of Swift and Defoe. A man full of contradictions: he who achieved so much blew it later in life, declining into scandal, failure and even farce. A unique man ahead of his time, he lived a large part of his life among pirates yet managed to preserve what Coleridge called his "exquisite refinement of mind". A classic example of the best narrative history.
ISBN: 9780552772105
(216412)