Pirating fictions : ownership and creativity in nineteenth century popular culture Two distinctly different meanings of piracy are ingeniously intertwined in Monica Cohens lively new book which shows how popular depictions of the pirate held sway on the page and the stage even as their creators were preoccupied with the ravages of literary appropriation. The golden age of piracy captured the nineteenth century imagination animating such best selling novels as Treasure Island and inspiring theatrical hits from The Pirates of Penzance to Peter Pan. But the prevalence of unauthorized reprinting and dramatic adaptation meant that authors lost immense profits from the most lucrative markets. Infuriated novelists and playwrights denounced such literary piracy in essays speeches and testimonies. Their fiction however tells a different story.