[KIDD, William.]. A Full Account of the Proceedings in Relation to Capt. Kidd. London, 1701. 4o (202 x 145 mm). (Title slightly rubbed, small closed tears in the gutter of a few leaves only.) Modern red half-morocco and marbled boards. FIRST EDITION. Kidd was arrested in Boston in 1699 and was sent to England for trial in 1700. He was executed the following year after having been found guilty of murder and piracy while in the employ of the Earl of Bellemont, the Governor of Massachusetts Bay. Bellemont was given special instructions upon his appointment in 1695 to suppress the piracy then common on the colony's coast. Kidd was given a commission to capture pirates, but eventually turned one himself, by some accounts unable to resist plundering the vessels of friendly powers. The governor was charged from some quarters in being complicit in the crimes Kidd committed. The present account seeks to defend the Earl from being implicated in these piracies. Howes M677; Sabin 37703.