Books

2-volume set, complete. 8vo. Contemporary marbled calf, 6 compartments. Complete with 15 engraved copper plates and a portrait by Sothard in the appended Chalmers' Life of Defoe. pp. vi, 493; iii, 483. Contains the Adventures and the Father Adventures. Notice by publisher: contains full text including beautiful religious and spiritual passages omitted by other publishers. From the DNB: "Defoe's first novel, Robinson Crusoe, published in 1719 when he was about fifty-nine, brings all his interests together. Crusoe is a disobedient son, arguing with his father, representing opinions of a new world?one where life in England is uncertain but global opportunity beckons, and children are increasingly torn between traditional obedience to family and individual self-satisfaction. Drawn to the sea regardless of parental and what appear to be providential warnings of catastrophe, he finds unbounded economic opportunity in Brazil. Defoe's fascination with travel narratives and with Great Britain as an international trading nation shapes the book and especially its sequel. Defoe also writes out of his engagement with religious controversies of the time, especially the Bangorian and Salters' Hall controversies. When Crusoe instructs Friday in the Christian faith, he is demonstrating the adequacy of scripture and revelation alone. Also inscribed are Defoe's theories of government and of colonization. Crusoe sets himself up as monarch, prince, generalissimo, and finally colonial governor, and perhaps ironically his abandonment of his island is emblematic of the neglect of which Great Britain was often guilty with its Caribbean colonies. In fact, this novel can be placed within Defoe's propaganda for the settlement of the New World and especially his writings about the doctrinal controversies splitting and embarrassing dissenters as well as Anglicans. Above all, however, it is the greatest mythic fantasy ever written of the solitary survivor who will never succumb. He will not starve, and he will not give in to his paralysing fear or extended isolation. Physically, mentally, and spiritually he survives and grows stronger. Defoe's work always displayed a keen understanding of the reading public, and Robinson Crusoe is no exception. The best-selling books of this time were sermons and travel literature, and Defoe probably conceived Robinson Crusoe along the lines of travel books. Peace and optimism about open seas inspired new books like Daniel Beeckman's Voyage to and from the Island of Borneo and new editions of a number of earlier works such as Woodes Rogers's Cruising Voyage Round the World (both 1718). Travel books often began with a restless son and gave prominence to religious elements. Defoe's special contributions to travel literature were the power of his protagonist's personality and the previously unmatched evocation of states of mind?the extended presentations of a person reasoning, choosing, struggling for, if not understanding, acceptance of his fate. An initial edition of 1000 was printed near the end of April 1719, followed by a second edition on 9 May, a third about 6 June, and a fourth shortly before the publication of the sequel, Farther Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, in August 1719. By the end of the year, the two parts were published together with a map and six plates." Light wear top and bottom of spine. Very good.

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.