A note in one of Stan. Henkel’s recent auction catalogues, and there are none better, clears up a point which has always troubled me, and which I will quote at length for the benefit of other collectors who may not have seen it.
The supposed “points,” signifying the first issues of this famous book, are stumbling-blocks to all bibliographers.
Professor W. P. Trent, of Columbia University, undoubtedly the foremost authority on Defoe, after extended research and the comparison of many copies, states that he is of the opinion that any purchaser entering Taylor’s shop at the sign of the Ship, in Pater Noster Row on April 25th, 1719 (usually taken as the date of issue), might have been handed a copy falling under any of the following categories:—
With “apply” in the preface, and “Pilot,” on page 343, line 2.
With “apply” in the preface, and “Pilate” on page 343.
With “apyly” in the preface, and “Pilate” on page 343.
With “apyly” in the preface, and “Pilot” on page 343.
It is unquestionably wrong, in his opinion, to call any one of these “first issue.” Prof. Trent sees no reason to believe that there was a re-issue with “apyly” corrected in the preface. Both these mistakes were quite probably corrected while the sheets were passing through the press, and it depends on how the sheets were collated by the binder what category of the four given any special copy belongs to.
This is a great relief to me, as my copy, which was once Congreve’s, while leaving nothing to be desired in the matter of condition, binding, and plates, has the word “apply” in the preface and “pilot” on page 343; but it is perfectly clear, having in mind the spacing of the types, that the longer word has given way to the shorter.
There is, however, another edition of “Robinson Crusoe” which, for rarity, puts all first editions in the shade. So immediate was the success of this wonderful romance that it was issued in a newspaper, very much as popular novels are now run. It was published in the “Original London Post,” or “Heathcot’s Intelligence,” numbers from 125 to 289, October 7, 1719, to October 19, 1720. This was publication in parts with a vengeance. Of the entire series of 165 leaves, only one is in facsimile. I see that I have not yet said that I own this copy. There is a copy in the British Museum, but I am told that it is very imperfect, and I know of no other.