Books

2 volumes. An Early Printing with Pleasing Provenance. Heraldic bookplates of Baron Leverhulme of Bolton le Moors and Sir W. Hasketh Lever of Thornton Manor Cheshire. 8vo, in handsome bindings of three-quarter contemporary polished black calf over marbled paper covered boards, the spines richly adorned with central gilt tooling within full gilt panels separated by multi-stopped gilt bands, two compartments lettered in gilt on contrasting polished calf labels, double blind fillet rules at the joins, grey endleaves and marbled edges. xxxii, 367; [14j], 342 pp. A very handsome set, well preserved and in very pleasing condition with no repair or sophistication whatsoever. A VERY HANDSOME SET OF THIS SCARCE CLASSIC IN VERY PLEASING CONDITION. A COPY WITH FINE PROVENANCE. "Defoe.disclosed a genius for devising a tale of adventure.(the influence of which has) not yet dissipated, for much of science fiction is basically Crusoe s island changed to a planet. At least equally relevant.is the figure of the lonely human being subduing the pitiless forces of nature; going back to nature, indeed, and portraying the noble savage in a way that made the book required reading for Rousseau s Emile. ROBINSON CRUSOE has long since been more widely read.in versions.for young people.(there is) the footprint in the sand, Man Friday, the threatening savages, and the endless ingenuity and contrivance that make the hero s island life tolerable." PMM "It breathes throughout a spirit of piety and benevolence; it sets in a very striking light the importance of the mechanic arts.it fixes in the mind a lively idea of the horrors of solitude, and, consequently, of the sweets of social life, and of the blessings we derive from conversation and mutual aid; and it shows how by labouring with one s own hands, one may secure independence." Beattie As to the provenance of the volumes, 'William Hesketh Lever, 1st Viscount Leverhulme of The Western Isles, Baron Leverhulme of Bolton-le-Moors. William Hesketh Lever, (1851 - 1925) was the British entrepreneur who built the international firm of Lever Brothers which became Unilever a short time after William Lever's death. With his brother, James Darcy Lever, he began to make soap from vegetable oils instead of tallow and registered the name "Sunlight" for the product. At Port Sunlight in 1888 their company financed a model industrial village, and the brothers soon instituted other employee benefits, including pensions, medical care, unemployment compensation, profit sharing, and free insurance. By 1925 the firm served a world market through a system of 250 associated companies. Lever was elected to Parliament in 1906, was raised to the peerage as a baron in 1917 and became a viscount in 1922. "Leverhulme" was a combination of his own name and his wife s maiden name, Hulme.' Brittanica.

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.