DEFOE, Daniel

The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, of York, Mariner......

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W. Taylor, 1719- London, 1720. Three volumes, octavo, frontispiece and one folding plate (originally the frontispiece to vol. III) in volume one, folding map in volume two; occasional marking and foxing rarely affecting the text; generally a very handsome set, the first two volumes in contemporary sprinkled calf, the third (slightly shorter) in contemporary panelled calf, all volumes neatly rebacked to style, spines with double red morocco labels. A handsome set of all three of the Robinson Crusoe books by Daniel Defoe: the ground-breaking first work, the lesser-known sequel of the same year, and the rare second sequel, the Serious Reflections of 1720, with the appendix describing Crusoe's ultimate voyage into space, the 'Vision of the Angelick World'.

This is an excellent set, with the second and third volumes present in first edition, while the first volume is the third edition. Such was the original novel's popularity that it went through four editions in four months; where they are known, contemporary sets of the three works are frequently composed of mixed editions. This early set of Defoe's masterpiece has uniform bookplates of Thomas Philip Earl de Grey in all three volumes, as well as the bookplates of Henry Duke of Kent in the first two.

Robinson Crusoe, one of the most famous of all English books, all but founded the imaginary voyage tradition. Based at least partially on the story of the Scots sailor Alexander Selkirk, Defoe turns a genuine experience of bare survival into an elaborate tale. Indeed, Crusoe's hard-fought survival and eventual moral redemption is one of the most important and influential works of English literature, and progenitor of the genre known as the 'Robinsonade'. Enormously re-issued and translated, the novel sired a seemingly endless series of imitations.

Some of the ideas which drive the novel are so well-known that the actual text is often ignored, particularly because it is known to most people either by reputation or abridgement. The popular notion that this is an uncomplicated paean to natural life ignores Crusoe's dependence on the remnants he salvages from the shipwreck, and, more obviously, the fact that for much of his stay, even after he is joined by Man Friday, he is quite miserable. However, Defoe's novel was precursor and inspiration to endless imitations, many of which simplified the original sense of struggle and hardship, but all of which are animated by Defoe's conceit of the 'lonely human being subduing the pitiless forces of nature' (Printing and the Mind of Man).

Of the three illustrations, two are signed by Clark and Pine (the latter famous for his fully engraved edition of Horace), and the map is unsigned. The famous portrait is a good impression of the first state, as is the conspectus of the island. The world map shows the extent of Crusoe's travels in the sequel The Farther Adventures, including his stop on the western most tip of New Guinea. The mapping of Western Australia clearly shows the influence of Dampier's recent discoveries.

The various issue points are as follows: Vol. 1: 3rd edn, 1st state (Hutchins p. 74: lion tailpiece on p.364); Vol. 2: 1st edn, 1st issue, 2nd state (Hutchins, p. 82: A4 Breaking, verso A4 blank, U4 numbered 215); Vol. 3: 1st edn, 1st issue, 1st state (Hutchins, p.128 (p. 270 catchword THE, p.194 asterisk at foot).
Blewett, 'The Illustration of Robinson Crusoe', Illustration of Robinson Crusoe, pp. 25-9 & 195; Gibson, 'St. Thomas More... with a Bibliography of Utopiana', 663; Grolier, 41; Printing and the Mind of Man, 180; Rothschild, 775; Sargent, p. 9; Schaer et al, Utopia, pp. 180-1.

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