Robinson Crusoe

Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe was first published in 1719 and was quickly adopted by children. It had many of the elements of an exciting story: shipwreck, cannibals, survival against the odds, and rescue. Abridgements and translations rapidly appeared and the first edition specifically for children was published in 1768. Chapbook and other further reduced editions appeared as did imitators. Swiss Family Robinson by Johann Wyss was published in 1812-13 and Masterman Ready by Captain Marryat in 1841-42 are but two of these imitations.

Daniel Defoe based his story of the shipwrecked sailor Robinson Crusoe on the true life account of Alexander Selkirk who was marooned in 1704 at his own request on the island of Juan Fernandez in the Pacific Ocean. Selkirk was rescued in 1709 and was returned to England in 1711, where his fame quickly spread. Jean Jacques Rousseau the French philosopher and literary figure considered that Defoe's Robinson Crusoe should be available for all children, so 'they could learn through the experience of living a hero's life'. (Hunt p. 43)

Of the various exciting moments in the Crusoe story there are a number which have been regularly chosen by illustrators across the centuries: one of those is of the first meeting of Crusoe with the native he saves and names 'Friday' (or 'Vendredi' in the French translation), or just prior to that the moment when he sees a footprint in the sand - the first sign he has seen of men beside himself on the island he thought he alone inhabited.

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