Robinson Crusoe: pirate edition

Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe was first published in 1719 and was reprinted several times that year. A sequel The farther adventures of Robinson Crusoe was issued the same year but was not the success of the original. Abridgements of the novel and the sequel were quickly issued, including an unauthorised edition published by Thomas Gent in 1722. This edition was printed frequently over the next century. Gent's edition reduced the original text from over 300 pages to under 200.

The story was quickly adopted by children. It had many of the elements of an exciting story: shipwreck, cannibals, survival against the odds, and rescue. 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. The numerous imitations earned the name 'Robinsonnades'.

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 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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