Books

Set of three Daniel Defoe Editions of Robinson Crusoe: Exceptionally rare set comprising all three books in the Robinson Crusoe series. A very good set in very good condition. All volumes are rebacked in calf with Vol 1 and 2 having raised bands on the spine. The contents are in very good condition with a scattering of brownings and light markings. Covers are lightly rubbed and corners/edges a little worn. Bindings are tight. All octavo 20cm x 13cm x 3cm. Volume 1, The Life and Strange Surprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe of York Mariner and Volume 2, The Farther Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, Being the Second and last part of his life. Together with the rarest of the three - Serious Reflections During the Life and Surprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe with his vision of the Angelick World. Volume 1: The Life and Strange Surprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe. Second Edition. 1719. Bookplate on front free page. Engraved front piece portrait by Clarke and Pine. Variant in p 343 Line 2 reading "Pilot" and Line 21 "Portuguese" printed for W. Taylor at the ship in Paternoster Row. Volume 2: The Farther Adventures of Robinson Crusoe being the second and last part of his life. First edition 1719. Map is missing. Volume 3: Serious Reflections of Robinson Crusoe: First edition. 1720. This volume was not as popular as the first two books so was never reprinted, making this the first and only printing. Few exist outside museums. This volume has excellent provenance as it was owned by Walter Wilson who was an evangelist of Daniel Defoe. Walter Wilson (1781–1847) was an English biographer of nonconformist clergy and their churches. Wilson was an illegitimate son of the founder the Times newspaper. He became a book seller and set up a shop in Mewsgate, Charing Cross where he collected Daniel Defoe editions. Wilson went onto write a three-volume "The Memoirs of the Life and Times of Daniel Defoe" in 1830 which was well received. When his father died, Wilson was left a shareholding in the Times newspaper. Bookplate with Walter Wilson printed on the paste down. Inscription to the front free endpaper, dated March 11th, 1832, as a gift from Walter Wilson to his friend James Plumptre. Light pencil markings on p112. Frontispiece of the map of the island with some episodes depicted, signed: "Clark & Pine Sc. 1719" is missing.

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.