EXTRACTS: Pirates! Illustrators Special Edition © 2020 The Book Palace (128 PAGES in Full edition)

41 table shooting Hands in the knee and crippling him for life. When asked why he had done this, Blackbeard simply replied that, if he did not now and then kill one of his crew, they would forget who he was. The first description we have of him is written by Daniel Defoe in the 1724 edition of his ‘General History’ and, in its vivid prose, it has seared itself into our imagination ever since: “His beard was black, which he suffered to grow of an extravagant length; as to breadth, it came up to his eyes. He was accustomed to twist it with rib‐ bons, in small tails, and turn them about his ears. In time of action he wore a sling over his shoulders, with three brace of pistols, hanging in holsters, like bandoliers; and stuck lighted matches under his hat, which, appearing on each side of his face, his eyes naturally looking fierce and wild, made him altogether such a figure that imagination cannot form an idea of a fury fromHell to look more frightful.” Text continued from page 37 FACING PAGE: Men of the Jolly Roger: Morgan—Terror of the Main, gouache on board by Ron Embleton, and appearing in Look and Learn , issue No. 164. ABOVE: Grace O’Malley, Ireland’s Pirate Queen , oil on canvas by Walter Martin Baumhofer. This image appeared in Argosy . Grace O’Malley was born around 1530 to Owen O’Malley, the chieftan of a clan that ruled the area around Clew Bay on the west coast of Ireland, for more than 300 years. During that time they built their wealth from both piracy and legitimate trading with France and Spain. Image courtesy of Heritage Auctions