Synopsis
Daniel Defoe: His Life And Recently Discovered Writings: Extending From 1716 To 179 by J. C. Hotten opens a scholarly edition that traces Defoe’s life and assembles his uncollected writings from 1716–1722, and beyond, framed by William Lee’s edition in the late-20th/early-18th-century apparatus. The volume includes opening framing, editorial preface, a detailed table of contents, and notes on sources such as Mercurius Politicus and Mist’s Journal, situating Defoe amid the periodical culture of London and Paris. It presents primary material—letters, faux-editorial exchanges, and brief polemics—from Defoe’s public sphere, including commentary on the South Sea Bubble, press ethics, religion, debtors, public health, elections, and moral philosophy. The included selections reveal a dialogic, polemical voice that blends satire with civic address, portraying monarchist, Whig, and moralist viewpoints. The compilation aims to illuminate Defoe’s life and the ecosystem of early-18th-century journalism, offering a documentary, argumentative portrait of his public engagement with finance, governance, religion, and social reform.
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