Books

Exceedingly rare complete first edition set of all three books in Defoe's classic Robinson Crusoe series, including the scarce first and only printing of the third book in the series. Octavo, three volumes bound in full crushed red morocco by Francis Bedford with gilt titles and tooling to the spine in six compartments within raised gilt bands, triple gilt ruling to the front and rear panels, gilt turn-ins and inner dentelles, marbled endpapers, all edges gilt. The set consists of: Vol. I. The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, of York, Mariner: Who lived Eight and Twenty Years, all alone in an uninhabited Island on the Coast of America, near the Mouth of the Great River of Oroonoque; Having been cast on Shore by Shipwreck, wherein all the Men perished by himself. With An Account how he was at last as strangely delivered by Pyrates. Written by Himself. First edition, mixed state with the famed engraved frontispiece portrait of Robinson Crusoe by Clark and Pine, the title in second state with semi-colon after London, third state of the preface with the catchword "apply" correctly spelled, and first state of Z4r with "Pilot" misspelled "Pilate" and "Portuguese" for "Portuguese", four pages of advertisements at rear. Bibliographic note tipped in. Vol. II. ; Being the Second and Last Part of His Life, And the Strange Surprizing Accounts of his Travels Round three Parts of the Globe. Written By Himself. First edition, second issue with the publisher's notice to the verso of the last leaf of the Preface and page 295 correctly numbered, folding map of the world and 11 pages of advertisements at rear. Volume III. : With His Vision of the Angelick World. Written By Himself. First edition, first issue with the catchword "The" on page 270, folding engraved plan of Crusoe's island by Clark and Pine, 2 pages of advertisements at rear. [Grolier English 41; Hutchins 52-71, 97-112, 122-8; Moore 412 & 417; PMM 180; Rothschild 775]. In fine condition. An exceedingly rare and handsomely bound complete set of this cornerstone in English literature. Often hailed as the first novel in the English language and purportedly based on the experiences on Alexander Selkirk, who spent four years on the uninhabited island of Juan Fernandez from 1704, the adventures of Crusoe and his companion Friday have attained mythical status in the history of Western literature. The book's success was immediate, a second edition being called for only seventeen days after publication of the first on April 25, 1719, with a further two editions published before the end of year. The Farther Adventures appeared on August 20, and relates how Crusoe revisited the island with Friday. A final part, The Serious Reflections, followed in 1720. "The romance of Crusoe's adventures, the figure of civilized man fending for himself on a desert island, has made an imperishable impression on the mind of man. Much of modern science fiction is basically Crusoe's island changed to a planet" (PMM).

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.