Daniel Defoe - Three 19th century editions of Robinson Crusoe - 1836

Three 19th century editions of Robinson Crusoe:

1 "Petit Robinson ou Les Aventures De Robinson Crusoe" by M. Henri Lemaire - Ala Librairie D'Education, Paris - 1836 edition - 14cmx12cm - condition: good, some page foxing, engravings present

2 "Het Leven en de Lotgevallen van Robinson Crusoe" by Daniel Defoe with 190 engravings and 8 plates - D. Noothoven, Leiden - 1882 third Dutch edition - 18cmx15cm - condition: good, original binding

3 "The life and adventures of Robinson Crusoe" by Daniel Defoe - Richard Edward King, London - ca 1894 first thus UK edition - 15cmx13cm - condition: good, original binding with some rubbing to boards, some tanning fragility due to cheap paper.

Robinson Crusoe[a] (/ˈkruːsoʊ/ KROO-soh) is an English adventure novel by Daniel Defoe, first published on 25 April 1719. It is often credited as marking the beginning of realistic fiction as a literary genre, and has been described as the first novel, or at least the first English novel – although these labels are disputed.[2][3]

Written with a combination of epistolary, confessional, and didactic forms, the book follows the title character (born Robinson Kreutznaer) after he is cast away and spends 28 years on a remote tropical desert island near the coasts of Venezuela and Trinidad, encountering cannibals, captives, and mutineers before being rescued. The story has been thought to be based on the life of Alexander Selkirk,[4] a Scottish castaway who lived for four years on a Pacific island called "Más a Tierra" (now part of Chile) which was renamed Robinson Crusoe Island in 1966.[5]: 23–24 [6] Pedro Serrano is another real-life castaway whose story might have inspired the novel.[7][8]

The first edition credited the work's protagonist Robinson Crusoe as its author, leading many readers to believe he was a real person and that the book was a non-fiction travelogue.[9] Despite its simple narrative style, Robinson Crusoe was well received in the literary world.

Before the end of 1719, the book had already run through four editions, and it has gone on to become one of the most widely published books in history, spawning so many imitations, not only in literature but also in film, television, and radio, that its name is used to define a genre, the Robinsonade