Robinson Crusoe

Published in 1718, The Life and Strange Surprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe of York, Mariner is sometimes cited as the first English language novel. The work presents itself as the autobiographical account of a man who endures decades as a castaway on a remote island off Venezuela. In creating Crusoe, it is thought that Daniel Defoe took as his model Alexander Selkirk, a Scottish sailor who in the early 18th century had spent four years marooned on a Pacific island. Defoe's life was, if anything, even more adventurous. He is believed to have been bom in London, circa 1660. As a young man, Defoe ran a mercantile business, before debt nearly landed him in prison. Other legal issues followed, brought on by his participation in the ill-fated 1685 attempt to overthrow James II. Twelve years later, Defoe began writing political pamphlets, an activity that led to his imprisonment. He was released after agreeing to work as a government pamphleteer and spy. Though his pamphlets were influential in their day, he is best remembered as the author of A Journal of the Plague Year (1722), and for the novels Robinson Crusoe and Moll Flanders (1722). These later works brought considerable wealth. For a time Defoe lived in comfort, before falling into debt. With creditors in pursuit, he went into hiding and died in April of 1731. George Cruikshank (1792-1878) is considered the preeminent English caricaturist and book illustrator of the 19th century. His illustrations for Robinson Crusoe were first published in an 1831 edition published by Shakespeare Press.