{"product_id":"1830-lafitte-of-new-orleans-rare-biography-of-notorious-slave-trader-and-pirate","title":"1830 LAFITTE OF NEW ORLEANS. Rare Romanticized Biography of Notorious Slave Trader and Pirate.","description":"\u003cp\u003eA notable piece of early antebellum American popular literature, uniting two distinct works of then highly popular fictional themes, reflecting the era's booming appetite for maritime adventure, piratical anti-heroes, and regional fiction during the American print revolution.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp id=\"p-rc_cba24695d8578b48-75\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"citation-193\"\u003eThe primary narrative, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cspan class=\"citation-193\"\u003eLafitte, Or, The Barratarian Chief\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan class=\"citation-193 citation-end-193\"\u003e, is one of the earliest literary treatments of Jean Lafitte, the infamous French-born privateer, pirate, and slave trader operating out of Barataria Bay near New Orleans.\u003csup class=\"superscript\"\u003e\u003c!----\u003e\u003c\/sup\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"citation-192 citation-end-192\"\u003eIn the aftermath of the federal ban on the international slave trade in 1808 and the Embargo Act of 1807, Lafitte established a massive smuggling empire that funneled contraband and illegally trafficked enslaved Africans into southern Louisiana, often exploiting legal loopholes alongside local buyers.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLafitte's tactical privateers and artillery men famously provided crucial ammunition and defense at the Battle of New Orleans in 1815 under Andrew Jackson in exchange for presidential pardons, cementing his complex reputation as both an outlaw and a patriotic defender. This novelistic treatment mythologized Lafitte into a romantic, Byron-esque figure, helping transform the grim historical realities of Gulf Coast piracy, human trafficking, and illicit trade into sanitized popular folklore for nineteenth-century readers. \u003c!----\u003e\u003c!----\u003e\u003c!----\u003e\u003c!----\u003e\u003c!----\u003e\u003c!----\u003e\u003c!----\u003e\u003c!----\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp id=\"p-rc_cba24695d8578b48-76\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"citation-191\"\u003eThe appended work, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cspan class=\"citation-191\"\u003eThe Sea Voyage\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan class=\"citation-191 citation-end-191\"\u003e, highlights the literary contributions of Richard Penn Smith (1799–1854), a central figure in early nineteenth-century Philadelphia literary culture and one of the era’s most prolific dramatists and journalists.\u003csup class=\"superscript\"\u003e\u003c!----\u003e\u003c\/sup\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e As a leader among the mid-Atlantic group of writers that included Robert Montgomery Bird, Smith was known for crafting popular melodramas, historical sketches, and nautical tales that captured the emerging nationalistic spirit of American literature. His inclusion alongside the Lafitte narrative demonstrates how regional publishers bundled popular maritime thrillers to maximize commercial appeal. Printed in upstate New York by Williams, Orton, \u0026amp; Co., this volume illustrates the rapid spread of sensational, cheap vernacular literature from major urban centers into provincial markets across the country.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNot a single example in the trade at the time of cataloging and not offered at auction since 1927. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e[Jean Lafitte, Slavery, Pirates, New Orleans] Lafitte, Or, The Barratarian Chief: An American Tale. To which is Added, The Sea Voyage by Richard Penn Smith. Hamilton. Williams, Orton, \u0026amp; Co. 1830. 117pp.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA fair copy in original quarter calf binding with marbled boards, bottom 1.5 inch of front board neatly and rather inexplicably excised. Textually complete and stable with some occasional handling, stains, and foxing. One leaf [73\/74] with a horizontal tear across text, not rendering anything illegible. \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Specs Fine Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51212420579364,"sku":null,"price":850.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0093\/3910\/9435\/files\/08-06-2026SpecsFineBooks.jpg?v=1786067743","url":"https:\/\/specsfinebooks.com\/products\/1830-lafitte-of-new-orleans-rare-biography-of-notorious-slave-trader-and-pirate","provider":"Specs Fine Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}