The Novel
The Novel
http://pierre-marteau.com/novels.html
THE| Jamaica LADY:| OR, THE| Life of BAVIA.| CONTAINING| An Account of her Intrigues,| Cheats, Amours in England, Jamaica,| and the Royal Navy.| A Pleasant Relation of the Amours of| the Officers of a Fourth Rate Man of War| with their Female Passengers, in a Voyage| from Jamaica to England.| WITH| The Diverting Humours of Captain FUSTIAN,| Commander of the said Ship. And the Character of his Irish Surgeon; the Reason| of his Preferment, and Manner of obtaining| his Warrant.| [double rule]| LONDON:| Printed and sold by Tho. Bickerton, at| the Crown in Pater-noster-Row. 1720.| Price Eighteen Pence.
p.[i] titlepage/ p.[iii-v] dedication: Tho Cr--ps, of H--ls in Kent; signed: W. P./ p.[vi-viii] preface/ p.1-100 "Bavia"/ [4] pp. "A Table explaining the Sea, and other difficult Terms"/ 8°.
{L: 12614.d.16} {NA:CtY: Ik/J22/720} {NA:ICN: Case.Y.1565.J222}.
ESTC: t072458.
RP: reel 418, no. 4. Dated by hand-written note on the titlepage of {L: 12614.d.16} "Decemb. 1719".
The initials concluding the dedication could hint at William Pittis.
p.A3v: "Novel", p.A4v: "History", "Story".
Preface on the genres of "Novel" and "History". The book is said to aim at a true portrait of two perfidious women. - After the peace of Utrecht (1713) Pharmaceuticus is called back from Jamaica to England. Afraid that his wife could be the only female person on board he moves the Creole Holmesia to join them on the passage - with a navy instead of a merchant ship. Another female passenger, the malformed Bavia, joins them to the captain's alarm. A conflict over questions of disciplin between the captain, his son and some of the officers, intrigues in which Bavia and Holmesia play their own roles, finally a storm bring the catastrophy on board. Rumour is spread that Bavia has an agreement with the devil - the author offers the characters of the captain, Bavia and Holmesia with their alleged and true histories. Holmesia and Bavia get into the center of all the allegations which leaves Pharmaceuticus and his wife strangely outside the picture, even though his wife was nearly drawn into one of the intrigues. One might assume that the whole book was published by the man behind Pharmaceuticus in an attempt to whitewash his and mostly his wife's reputation.
o.s.