There is always a great Deference between what Men say of themselves, and what others say for them, when they come to write Historically of the Transactions of their Lives. The Publisher of these Letters recommends this Performance to the Readers, to make their Judgment of the Difference between them and the extravagant Stories already told, and which is most likely to be genuine; and, as they verily believe these Letters to be the best and truest Account of Captain Avery’s Piracies, that ever has or ever will come to the Knowledge of the World, they recommend them as such, and doubt not but they will answer for themselves in the Reading...FROM THE BOOKS.

This volume presents seven short stories of pirates and robbers, all published originally during the busy years in which Defoe's work as a novelist was done. They were, no doubt, thrown off in haste by a busy writer, and they do not rank with his masterpieces; yet they exhibit the same powers, and they deserve to be known. Contents: Introduction The King of Pirates: Captain Avery The Cartoucheans in France The History of the Remarkable Life of John Sheppard A Narrative of All the Robberies, Escapes, c., of John Sheppard The Life and Actions of Jonathan Wild The Adventures of Captain John Gow Lives of Six Notorious Street-Robbers