“Dreams of Glory” — Captain Blood! (Updated!)

Comic by William Steig, The New Yorker, August 30, 1952.

I’ve seen myself in comics before — Calvin & Hobbes, Bloom County, Peanuts, Shoe, Hagar the Horrible, Popeye, and even in an imagined sense in Buz Sawyer, Prince Valiant, and The Phantom — but never so closely as in the image above. This is my dream of glory as a child! And likewise many friends and acquaintances of mine, particularly those who’ve lived lives of real or armchair swashbuckling from childhood onward.

The comic was drawn by William Steig, best-known today for Shrek. However, he drew a series of “Dreams of Glory” comics in the 1940s and 50s (I hope I have the dates correct) for various upscale magazines, primarily The New Yorker. Most if not all of the comics were published in a single volume in 1953.

I’ve updated this post due to my examination of the 1953 volume, entitled Dreams of Glory. I discovered that the original comic, shown below, included two figures in the shrouds: a defender stabbing an attacking pirate in the heart. For the life of me I can’t understand why this was removed for publication in a magazine, not when there are already dead pirates everywhere on the deck, clearly dispatched by a child in his daydreams, not in reality.

This is akin to a Disney Pirates of the Caribbean book my kids and I love, a reiteration of the attraction and its song: it shows pirates attacking and plundering and water torturing, guns (cannon!) firing, a Spanish town in flames — but there are no firearms anywhere. They’ve been replaced by slingshots &c.

I understand the de-emphasis on firearms given the horrific rise in school shootings in the US, but I’m not sure that replacing firearms with slingshots, or deleting an actual act of violence while leaving the immediate effects of violence lying all around as in the comic above and below, is anything more than mere window dressing or facade that doesn’t alter the substance at all, much less provide a solution. It’s much easier to alter an illustration than to reasonably limit access to firearms and the evil corners of the Internet, not to mention delve into the development of other possible parts of the solution.

“Captain Blood” as published in 1953 in Dreams of Glory by William Steig. The artist’s preface is worth reading too!

Text copyright Benerson Little 2022. First posted October 12, 2022. Deleted and re-posted October 19, 2022 (unable to reblog, thus…).

“Captain Blood” on Halloween!

“Captain Blood” by Jim McDougall, 13 April 2021. Courtesy of and copyright by Jim McDougall.

A vampire — surely Lugosi himself! — riff on Captain Blood, with a Moby Dick reference no less, by friend and arms historian Jim McDougall. 🙂

Is the ship the Arabella, the Pequod, the Demeter, or the Vesta? 🙂

Comic copyright by Jim McDougall, 2021-2022. Blog copyright Benerson Little 2022. First posted October 17, 2021.

James Speke Collection Update!

A few random items from the collection, including the volume of Horace and the silver-hilted smallsword discussed below.

Last year, after a long journey of intellectual curiosity, investigation with a near-gothic atmosphere, and more than one skullduggerous attempt to thwart us, we announced the acquisition of the James Speke of Comerton Collection of papers related to Caribbean piracy in the 1680s. The collection includes the original unpublished set of twenty-odd volumes of journals used by Rafael Sabatini as the factual basis for many of the adventures of his sanguinary hero, Captain Peter Blood.

We are continuing in the various processes of conservation, categorizing, copying, and transcribing the large number of documents ranging in date from 1685 to 1697, and which also include several boxes of books, such as several 17th to 19th century editions of Exquemelin’s Buccaneers of America, and a first edition of Macauley’s famous History. Oddly, the latter is the American edition rather than the expected UK edition.

Also included in the collection — which I hear through the grapevine our acquisition of which has incensed the board members of at least one UK museum and one US university, both having hoped to acquire it for themselves — is a pocket-size mid-17th century volume in quarter-calf of Horace’s Odes, Epodes, Satires, and Epistles in Latin, and a mid-1680s silver-hilted French smallsword with a colichemarde blade.

Based on several medical and nautical notations in pencil, including the style of hand, on the end papers of the volume of Horace, we believe it was once owned by a 17th century sea surgeon, or possibly a physician taking a sea voyage. The sword appears be the same one included with the book on a list of personal possessions. We cannot yet prove who they belonged to, yet we can also not restrain our hopeful imaginings!

For the moment we are continuing to limit access to the papers and journals to ourselves, aided by an experienced conservator (thanks, Shell!) of antiquarian books and papers. Again, per James Speke’s wishes more than a century ago, we intend to publish the collection of journals, the most important of them in hardcover, the remainder digitally.

We’ll keep you advised at least annually on our progress with the collection. We look forward not only to further discoveries in the history of buccaneering, but also to learning how they shaped Sabatini’s famous novel, Captain Blood: His Odyssey.

Copyright Treasure Light Press 2022. First posted April 1, 2022.

The Speke Papers Have Arrived!

“Zeeslag,” anonymous, after Reinier Nooms, 1650-1738. Rijksmuseum.

It is with great pleasure that Treasure Light Press announces the acquisition of the James Speke Collection of historical documents associated with Caribbean piracy during the 1680s. The collection includes the original unpublished set of twenty-odd volumes of journals used by Rafael Sabatini as the factual basis for many of the adventures of his sanguinary hero, Captain Peter Blood.

Author Benerson Little, co-publisher and annotator at Treasure Light Press, has been searching for the papers, long thought lost, for more than a quarter century. Their rediscovery was the result of a combination of diligent research, serendipity, and thankfully thwarted skullduggery, including attempted forgeries and book-breaking, all of which was an adventure in itself.

The collection, long held by James Speke of Comerton, UK, disappeared after the amateur scholar’s death and passed, often unknowingly, through several hands, eventually ending up in an attic in a house in uptown New Orleans just off St. Charles Avenue, not far from the Columns Hotel.

For the moment we are limiting access to the papers and journals to ourselves, aided by an experienced conservator (thanks, Shell!) of antiquarian books and papers. At some point, however, given their obvious historical value, we may lend or donate the papers to a research institution for access by scholars, Sabatini fans, and the public at large, with emphasis on serious amateur historians who lack university credentials or access. Having been snubbed at times by some academic institutions ourselves, we’re sympathetic to the plight of amateur scholars producing quality research.

More importantly, per James Comerton’s wishes more than a century ago, we intend to publish the collection of journals, the most important of them in hardcover, the remainder digitally.

We’ll keep you advised on our progress with the collection. We look forward not only to further discoveries in the history of buccaneering, but also to learning how they shaped Sabatini’s famous novel, Captain Blood: His Odyssey.

Copyright Treasure Light Press LLC 2021. First posted April 1, 2021.

Captain Blood: His Odyssey and Its Mass Market Paperback Covers

A brief chronology of mass market paperback covers from various publishers of Captain Blood: His Odyssey. The cover art ranges from mere pro forma to quite elaborate. Book cover art, including dust jackets, has one principal purpose beyond identifying the book and author: to entice readers into buying the book. Historical accuracy is secondary at best, and often entirely ignored–and sometimes even the actual text of the book itself is ignored, with tropes substituted instead. In any case, enjoy. 🙂

Pocket Books edition, UK, 1940, with color restored from a faded copy. The artwork is intended to represent the duel on the beach between Peter Blood and Levasseur.

Undated US Armed Forces edition printed during WWII by arrangement with Houghton Mifflin. The cover of the book depicted was never actually published except on the cover of this edition. A pirate with cutlass, a flag of skull and bones–this is all that’s necessary to lure the reader in.

Pocket Books edition, UK, fifth printing, 1943. The scene is not tied any specific one from the book, and was likely inspired by the dustjacket of Captain Blood Returns, see below. The sword hilt is entirely fanciful.

Cover art by Dean Cornwell for the dustjacket of Captain Blood Returns (1930). The same illustration in blue and white was used in “The Expiation of Madame Coulevain,” a 1930 magazine short story later published as part of Captain Blood Returns.

US Pyramid edition, 1961. Again, the cover is tied to no specific scene in the book, and includes anachronistic Hollywood Spaniards in morions, and the obligatory damsel in distress at the hero’s feet. The cover is intended to entice, not to accurately illustrate the novel.

UK Arrow edition, undated. 1950s or early 1960s? Sharp-eyed readers may note the black swan figurehead: the image was taken from a Hutchinson hardcover edition of Rafael Sabatini’s The Black Swan.

UK Pan edition, second printing 1963, original 1961. Again, the cover does not depict a scene from the book, but instead evokes its atmosphere. As in many Captain Blood illustrations, the protagonist has a mustache, unlike in the book (although he did have one in the original magazine series). The cutlass is both anachronistic and incorrect for Peter Blood. Unusually, the Spanish ship on the left is flying the correct flag.

US Pyramid edition, third printing, 1967. This is the first edition I ever read, and its cover remains one of my favorites.

Publicity still for The Sea Hawk, 1940. The cover above was inspired by this photograph, and probably by publicity stills from Captain Blood and The Sea Hawk showing Errol Flynn on the gunwale during a boarding action.

UK Pan edition, 5th printing, 1974. Although the woman resembles Arabella Bishop, she is in fact, given the scene, the daughter of Governor d’Ogeron. And again, the mustache and, incorrectly (although common in Hollywood and fiction illustrations), riding boots.

Without doubt the most elaborate and artistic of mass market Captain Blood covers. US Bantam edition, 1976, one of my favorites. See the image below.

Inside cover art, highly unusual in mass market paperbacks but occasionally found in trade paperbacks.

Much-abridged and simplified edition by E. F. Dodd for middle school / junior high school readers, published by Macmillan originally in 1964. This is the 1991 printing. These “Stories to Remember” editions were intended to make novels accessible to ESL readers and as to provide an easy introduction to novels for native speakers. I’m of two minds regarding such abridgements: on the one hand, they may encourage readers to try the full-length novels they might not otherwise attempt. On the other hand, I first read Captain Blood at 12 or 13, and I’ve a natural aversion to abridgement in any form, considering it destructive to the author’s work.

Most editions after the 1970s are larger trade paperbacks lacking original cover art. Publishers try to spend as little money as possible, often leaving cover art either simple or taken directly from artworks in the public domain. Howard Pyle’s pirate art is a common source for Captain Blood editions, and for the cover art of many books on the subject of piracy as well (including one of my own, The Buccaneer’s Realm).

Copyright Treasure Light Press LLC, 2021. First posted March 4, 2021. Last Updated October 9, 2022. Text by Benerson Little.

Rebel-Convict Dr. Peter Blood Arrives at Barbados!

“The Emblem of the Shipp Cadiz Marchent that was in the yeare 1682. The Cadiz Merchant was likely similar to the Jamaica Merchant. From Edward Barlow’s manuscript of his seafaring career. Barlow made two voyages to Jamaica in the this ship, from 1680 to 1682. National Maritime Museum.

“Towards the middle of December the Jamaica Merchant dropped anchor in Carlisle Bay, and put ashore the forty-two surviving rebels-convict.” Rafael Sabatini in Captain Blood: His Odyssey.

The Jamaica Merchant was in fact a real ship home-ported in London. Commanded by Captain Charles Gardner, the ship took sixty-eight rebels-convict aboard, probably at Weymouth, and set sail in late October or early November 1685 for Barbados. Only one rebel-convict died en route. More died on other voyages, and the desperate conditions the rebels-convict were subjected to on the voyages were much as Sabatini describes them in his famous story.

Studio publicity still for Captain Blood (Warner Bros., 1935) suggesting the conditions aboard the Jamaica Merchant. In reality the space would be much more cramped and the ceiling would be much lower (probably five to five and a half feet). One period account describes conditions as appalling as those shown above.

In the novel, it’s implied that the rebels-convict are brought ashore immediately for sale, or more correctly, for the sale of the contracts for their sentences of indentured servitude for rebellion against their rightful king.

The reality was a little different. The rebels-convict were kept aboard for at least several days before being brought ashore, and it was not until March 12, 1686 before the Jamaica Merchant convicts were sold, in part to permit them to recover their health. Many after their contracts were sold were worked hard and abused, but most still had far better lives than African slaves did.

A rather fanciful representation of what is perhaps meant to be–and should be–a sugar mill. In reality in Barbados the wheel would be for pressing sugar cane and would be driven by a windmill, “water mill,” or a team of oxen (or occasionally mules). Further, nearly all of those doing the work would not be white servants, as shown here, but African slaves. Publicity still from Captain Blood (Warner Bros., 1935).

French sugar mill for pressing sugar cane. From Histoire naturelle et morale des iles Antilles de l’Amerique by Charles de Rochefort, 1665. John Carter Brown Library.

Although the term “slaves” is often used, and many rebels-convict were abused as if they were slaves, they were in fact indentured servants with a limit of ten years, not life, on their servitude, and they had many rights that slaves lacked. At bad as it might be, indentured servitude was by no means equivalent to the enormity of the enslavement of Africans or Native Americans in the Americas.

Copyright Treasure Light Press LLC. First posted December 20, 2020.

Dr. Blood on Trial in Film!

A very quick look at the trial of Dr. Peter Blood as depicted in two film versions.

In support of the 1924 Captain Blood starring Walter Kerrigan, Vitagraph issued a series of advertisements in the form of newspaper headlines and articles, with text credited to author Rafael Sabatini:

Peter Blood is a bit too well-dressed in the scene, given his more than two months in a crowded jail. Sabatini’s original line is far more effective than the line in the film (see the image on the left above). From The Film Daily, Sunday August 31, 1924.

Detail from the advertisement above.

The sets in the 1935 Captain Blood were intended to be more figurative than entirely accurate, reflecting more the psychological impact of the trial. The sense of law-run-amok under the guise of patriarchal law and order is inescapable. The downside is that the set appears more theatrical than authentic.

The Bloody Assize courtroom in the Great Hall of Taunton Castle as depicted in the 1935 Captain Blood starring Errol Flynn. From the blog The Blonde at the Film.

The prisoners at the bar; Dr. Blood looks as if he has indeed been jailed for more than two months. From the blog The Blonde at the Film.

Copyright Treasure Light Press LLC, 2020. First published September 20, 2020.

Dr. Peter Blood Tried for Treason!

Taunton Castle as it appears today, much as it did in 1685. Wikimedia Commons: photograph by Simon Burchell.

The 19th of September: On this day in 1685, Old Style, fictional Dr. Peter Blood was tried and convicted of treason at Taunton Castle, in spite of his having done nothing more than obey the dictates of his conscience and his profession in treating a wounded rebel.

The trial was in fact quite real. From a draft end note to the forthcoming annotated Captain Blood: His Odyssey:

The 19th of September was the second day of the Taunton Assize in Somerset, the “chief seat of the rebellion.” Held in the Great Hall of Taunton Castle and presided over by Lord Chief Justice George Jeffreys, more than five hundred prisoners–514 to 534–were tried over two days. Four pleaded not guilty the first day; three of these men were sentenced to death but the fourth was set free. Approximately three hundred fifty more pleaded guilty the first day and were convicted. On the second day, many of the remainder pleaded guilty and were convicted. One hundred forty-six of those convicted at Taunton were sentenced to hang. Two were reprieved, but the rest were distributed among thirty-six nearby towns where they were hanged, dismembered, tarred, and their dismembered quarters hung from gibbets and various other convenient objects as a warning. Fifteen others sentenced to death were by accident left off Warrant for Execution. Two hundred eighty-four were condemned to transportation, and roughly seventy-seven were variously freed on bail, remitted to jail, recommended for mercy, or otherwise avoided the noose or transportation.

Peter Blood was one of the fortunate–or should we say, less unfortunate–ones, for he was, like the very real Henry Pitman who helped inspire his story, sentenced to be transported to Barbados for ten years in servitude.

Lord Chief Justice George Jeffreys attributed to William Wolfgang Claret, circa 1678 to 1680. Wikimedia Commons.

Copyright Treasure Light Press LLC. First published 19 September 2020.

The Romantic Ideal

“But fortunately romance never dies. The spiritual hunger of humanity seeks nourishment in ideals, which it is the business of romance to furnish. Romance is of no particular time or age. If it has usually preferred to lean upon the remote epochs, it is only because the remote is easier to idealise.”

–Rafael Sabatini, “My New Adventures of Captain Blood,” Pearson’s Magazine, December 1929.

Publicity still, Captain Blood (Warner Bros., 1935).

Olivia de Havilland

July 26, 2020.

Rest in peace.

Olivia de Havilland in Captain Blood, 1935.