Presenting Piratical Pages to the Aldus Society

I forgot to post before I went, but I recently gave a presentation on “Pirates and Women in Nineteenth Century American Literature” at the monthly program for the Aldus Society* in Columbus, Ohio. I had a great time chatting with everyone about pirates (real and fictional) and sharing some of the fun facts and interesting stories that I’ve learned through my own research. As an unexpected bonus, my conversations with the attendees introduced me to new piratical pages, including a play about Anne Bonny and Mary Read and 20th-century firsthand account of meeting the Chinese pirate Lai Choi San.

Putting this presentation together also reminded me how many of the nineteenth-century piratical pages are digitized, giving you the opportunity to read them for yourself. Here’s just a handful of stories that I covered in the presentation with links:

The Corsair by George Gordon Byron (1814)
Hope Leslie by Catharine Maria Sedgwick (1827) (Volume 1 & Volume 2)
The Red Rover by James Fenimore Cooper (1827)
Lafitte by J. H. Ingraham (1836) (Volume 1 & Volume 2)
Fanny Campbell, The Female Pirate Captain by Lieutenant Murray [Ballou] (1844)
The Pirate’s Daughter by Eliza Ann Dupuy (1845) (Volume 1 & Volume 2)
The Bandit of the Ocean; or The Female Privateer by Benjamin Barker (1855)

I hope you enjoy perusing these piratical pages!

*The Aldus Society is a gathering of Central Ohio book lovers and a member of the Fellowship of American Bibliophilic Societies. They host public programs on different topics throughout most of the year. If you’re in the area, you should check out their upcoming programs!