Books

"The Life And Strange Surprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe" by Daniel Defoe. Lond., W. Taylor, 1719. 2 vols (Vol I: second edition; Vol II: first edition) (4), 364, (4); (8), 373, (11) pp. With engr. front., 2 identical title vignettes, engraved fold. world map. 19th c. gilt lettered half calf with raised bands. In modern custom-made clamshell box. (Without later published 3rd vol., corners bumped, part of leaf B1 (vol. 1) lacking, small tear/remnant of tape on verso, owner's entries on free endpaper and on verso front., vol. 1 slightly browned/foxed; vol. 2 occasionally foxed, world map laid down, large tear in leaf L2). One of the most famous of all English books, and a seminal work in the imaginary voyage tradition. - Hutchins p. 72ff and 97ff; PMM 180; Hill 355, 460; Owens 201 & 204; Lovett 2. - Volume 1 in the rare second edition, but a variant not entirely conforming to Hutchins' point of distinction: the catchwords on pages 244 and 260 (reading "tha" and "befor" in Hutchins' description) are in our copy corrected to "that" and "before". All the other points are matching with Hutchins. Volume 2 in the rare first edition, but like volume 1 a variant: our copy combining points of Hutchins' variants B1 and B2, with the verso of A4 blank and the word "Farther" on leaf B1 still uncorrected, but with the preface-leaf (A4 recto showing all points of variant B200). Rare set of Defoe's most famous novel and one of the groundbreaking novels of the 18th century.

Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe, is one of the earliest and most influential novels in the history of English literature. It is a fictional autobiography of the title character, a castaway who spends 28 years on a remote tropical island near Trinidad, encountering cannibals, captives, and mutineers before being rescued. The story is widely perceived as a comment on the British Imperialism of the age and the emerging ideology of the 'self-made man', and it reflects on the author's vast array of experiences.