The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe; The Farther Adventures of Robinson Crusoe; Serious Reflections During the Life And Surprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe.

DEFOE, Daniel.

$17,500.00

Item Number: 145589

London: Printed for W. Taylor, 1719-1720.

Rare complete set of early editions of all three books in Defoe’s classic Robinson Crusoe series. The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe is a stated second edition. Small octavo, three volumes bound in full period paneled calf with gilt titles and ruling to the spine in six compartments within raised bands, ornamental blind stamping to the front and rear panels, illustrated with an engraved frontispiece portrait of Robinson Crusoe in Vol. I, folding engraved world map in Vol. II, folding engraved frontispiece of Crusoe’s island in Vol. III, decorated headpieces, tailpieces, and initials throughout. In very good condition with some toning to the front and rear pastedown, some pages of each volume, rubbing to the front and rear panels of Vol. I and II, evidence of bookplate removal to the front pastedown of Vol. I and II, bookplate to the front pastedown of Vol. III, antiquarian ownership signatures to each volume. A rare 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 Crusoes'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).