Captain Singleton by Defoe Daniel, First Edition (6 results)

Hardback. Condition: Very Good. Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good. First Edition. Pages clean and bright, no markings. Dust jacket unclipped with light edgewear. ALL ITEMS ARE DISPATCHED FROM THE UK WITHIN 48 HOURS ( BOOKS ORDERED OVER THE WEEKEND DISPATCHED ON MONDAY) ALL OVERSEAS ORDERS SENT BY TRACKABLE AIR MAIL. IF YOU ARE LOCATED OUTSIDE THE UK PLEASE ASK US FOR A POSTAGE QUOTE FOR MULTI VOLUME SETS BEFORE ORDERING.

Brossura. Condition: molto buono. senza sovraccoperta. prima edizione.

First edition with illustrations by Jack B. Yeats. 2 volumes. 8vo. Bound in half-red polished calf, lettered and decorated gilt. Top edge gilt. A very good copy. Three photogravure illustrations by J.B.Yeats. The frontispiece is hand-coloured.

The Shakespeare Head Press limited edition of the novels and selected writings of Daniel Defoe, limited to seven hundred and fifty copies. Octavo, 11 volumes bound in full navy morocco with gilt titles to the spine in six compartments within raised bands, gilt decorated inner dentelles, marbled endpapers, top edge gilt. In fine condition. An exceptional example. Daniel Defoe was a prolific writer whose works spanned fiction, journalism, political pamphlets, and economic treatises. He is best known for his novel Robinson Crusoe (1719), a foundational text in the development of the English novel, which combined adventure, survival, and moral reflection. Defoe followed it with other notable fictions such as Moll Flanders, A Journal of the Plague Year, Colonel Jack, and Roxana, all of which explored themes of crime, repentance, social mobility, and the human condition. Beyond fiction, he wrote influential pamphlets like The Shortest Way with the Dissenters (1702), a biting satire on religious intolerance, and economic works such as A Plan of the English Commerce (1728), where he advocated for commercial expansion and economic policy reform.

First edition of this lesser-known novel, an African travelogue and pirate adventure with parallels to Robinson Crusoe and Conrad's Heart of Darkness. After being marooned on Madagascar for his part in a mutiny, the young Singleton embarks on a journey across the spine of Africa to the Gulf of Guinea. Along the way, he acquires enormous quantities of gold and ivory, returning with this treasure to England. In the second half of the novel, Singleton uses his fortune to become a privateer, enjoying a series of piratical adventures in the East Indies. Michael Seidel has observed that, in Defoe's narrative, Singleton encounters a European ivory trader in the depths of the African interior, having passed close by the inland Congo region. The trader has cornered the local market in ivory, amassed great local power, and enjoys the protection of armed native tribesmen. ESTC T69688; Furbank & Owens 209; Moore 435; Sabin 19281 (third edition). Michael Seidel, "Defoe in Conrad's Africa", Conradiana, vol. 17, no. 2, 1985. Octavo (188 x 120 mm), pp. [ii], 344 (= 360, pp. 209-24 repeated). Wood-engraved head- and tailpiece and initial. Late 19th-century crushed red morocco, spine ruled and decorated in gilt and with twin dark green morocco labels, covers panelled and with cornerpieces in gilt, turn-ins in gilt, marbled endpapers, edges marbled and gilt. Light sunning to spine, minor browning and foxing to contents: a very good copy indeed.

First collected edition, which "did much to stabilize the canon of Defoe's novels for the 19th-century" (Kerr, p. 102). Although Walter Scott's name does not appear anywhere in the volumes, he was brought in as editor by his long-term collaborators Ballantyne. Both Roxana and Moll Flanders were omitted from the edition, likely on the grounds of morality. Kristian Celia Jane Kerr, Novel Classism: British Fiction and the Traditions of Antiquity, University of Chicago doctoral dissertation, 2016. 12 vols, octavo (156 x 99 mm). Woodcut plates and woodcut vignettes to part title pages of Robinson Crusoe. Contemporary calf, flat spines tooled in gilt with red labels and black morocco onlay bands, triple gilt fillet and blind roll to boards, Shell pattern marbled paper endpapers and edges, green bookmarkers. Near-contemporary armorial bookplates to front pastedowns of Alexander James Dennistoun-Brown (d. 1890) of Balloch Castle, Dunbartonshire. Contemporary bookbinder's ticket of popular Glaswegian firm Carss to verso of vol. I front free endpaper. Bindings lightly rubbed, superficial split to foot of vol. IV joint, internally fresh. A well-preserved set.