Life And Adventures of Robinson Crusoe 1790. This is a complete two-volume set of “The Life And Adventures Of Robinson Crusoe, Of York, Mariner: Who Lived Eight And Twenty Years Alone In An Uninhabited Island, On The Coast of America, Near The Mouth Of The Great River Oroonoque. With An Account Of His Travels Round Three Parts Of The Globe. Written By Himself.” Enriched With Elegant Plates Descriptive Of the Subject. In Two Volumes. Published in London and Printed for W. Lane, Leadenhall-Street. MDCCXC. [1790] The books were first published anonymously in 1719, but in time, people realized they were written by Daniel Defoe (1660 - 1731). Defoe was an English writer, trader, journalist, pamphleteer, and spy - yes, he worked as a spy for Robert Harley, the Chancellor of the Exchequer - and Defoe was most famous for his novel Robinson Crusoe. (So you don’t have to sit in suspense, Harley sent Defoe to Edinburgh to help negotiate a union with Scotland, Defoe was involved with various intrigues to make the union possible, and the Acts of Union in 1707 resulted in the creation of Great Britain - a union between England and Scotland … after all, they were two countries who had the same ruler since 1603, so why not be united as one kingdom. Anyway, enough with the history …) Oops, Defoe also spent time in prison for writing some political pamphlets, which lead to his arrest for seditious libel. He was sent to Newgate Prison for six months and pilloried three times for his out-of-bounds ways. The two books have seven horizontal gilt bands on the spines, with gilt titles and the date “1790” on the spines, brown boards, blank endpapers, a frontispiece and the title page, followed by a two-page Preface in Volume I, which includes Directions for Placing The Cuts on page ii, then 288 page of text, and Volume II has 275 pages of text. There are four engravings in each volume: the first book has a frontispiece of “Robinson Crusoe’s Dangerous Escape up the Cliff” and engravings titled “Robinson Crusoe’s Disappointment in launching his Boat”, “Robinson Crusoe Surprised at the Print of a Foot”, and “Robinson Crusoe Rescuing & Protecting Friday”, while Volume II has a frontispiece titled “Friday’s meeting with his Father”, an engraving titled “Robinson Crusoe’s Inhabitants Dispute & Fight”, another entitled “Robinson Crusoe Viewing Will Atkin’s Basket House”, and a third entitled “Robinson Crusoe Passing the great Chinese wall”. Robinson Crusoe is claimed to be second only to the Bible in the number of translations that have been made of the book, and the lead character may have been named after a friend of Defoe’s named Caruso, a school chum at Newington Green in Bedford. The story relates the tale of a man being shipwrecked on a desert island for twenty- eight years and his subsequent adventures. Throughout the narrative, Crusoe struggles with faith as he bargains with God during life-threatening events, but time and again he turns his back after his deliverances. He is finally content with his lot in life, separated from society, and in time goes through a genuine conversion experience, and the central theme is probably survival and how to overcome in the face of overwhelming odds - how to retain faith when all seems lost. Christian values and morals dominate the latter part of the story - Crusoe rediscovers the Bible and its teachings and he learns the importance of repentance and giving thanks. Does Robinson Crusoe have a happy ending? Well, you have to read it for yourself, but at the end, the hero, Robinson Crusoe, is safely back home and credits Providence for his survival and accumulation of wealth. He also gets married and has three children. But pretend you didn’t read that and find out for yourself. The books measure 6 7/8 x 4 3/8 in. wide and are in pretty good condition. The bindings are tight, the text is rather clean, with just occasional brown spots, the pages are intact - none of the pages are loose - and the gilt on the spines is still pretty bright. The spines are lightly rubbed along the edges, with light wear at the corners and tips, some of the tips are rounded or slightly turned in, there is browning at the tips on the blank endpapers, and the title label on the spine of the second volume has been repaired, and with all that being said, the books are still in pretty good condition. According to WorldCat, there are only four published by Lane in Special Collections around the world: at McGill University in Canada, Brigham Young University in Utah, Oxford, and one at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. So an important work of literature, a rare edition published by W. Lane, and you’d have to pay five figures to buy a first edition from 1719. #2658