Books

London: Printed for John Stockdale, Piccadilly, 1790 and 1804. 2 volumes. Rare Large Paper Copy of this Very Early Set with Stothard’s engravings. The engraved title-pages are dated 1804, but the engraved illustrations are dated 1790. Very probably then, this is an early setting with a newly dated title-page. With 19 engraved illustrations including a finely engraved vignette title-page to each volume, an engraved portrait of Defoe by Medland and 16 other beautifully engraved full page plates by Stothard. Two plates included here as additions are not called for in the collation and appear to have been printed first by Stockdale in 1791. One of the two is a full page plate of Robinson Crusoe in his famous handmade attire, the other of the dedication monument erected by the Duke and Duchess of Queensbury. Large 8vo, in handsome bindings of three-quarter antique rose calf over marbled paper covered boards, the spines adorned with central gilt tooling within compartments…

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.