Daniel Defoe - The Life and Strange Surprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, of York, Mariner - 1860

Cassell Petter & Galpin, London no date (ca. 1860) . With 101 fine woodcut illustrations by several artists (mostly W. J. Linton, many of them full page) . 4 vo. , 394 pp.

"The story of Robinson Crusoe can be traced back to the life of the adventurer Alexander Selkirk. He was part of the crew of the privateer William Dampier and was abandoned in 1704 after a dispute with his captain on the island of Más a Tierra, part of the Juan Fernández archipelago, which is now called Robinson Crusoe.
Selkirk remained on the island for four years and four months until he was rescued on February 2, 1709. After his return to England, Richard Steele recorded Selkirk's story and published it in his journal "The Englishman" in 1713. Daniel Defoe was presumably inspired by this text to write his novel Robinson Crusoe. Defoe is also said to have met Selkirk in the pub (Llandoger Trow) in Bristol, which still exists today. Steele's account of Selkirk's adventures and Defoe's imagination combined to create a work that is now one of the classics of world literature. " (wikipedia)

Book has a contemporary half brown morocco binding, the spine is ruled and lettered in gilt and with marbled paper on boards. It is in very good condition with occasianol foxing to end papers and some of the pages and some rubbing to the boards. Spine is slightly torn at the lower front end. Previous owners bookplate on front paste down endpaper.