An Abridgment of the New Robinson Crusoe; An Instructive and Entertaining History, for the Use of Children of Both Sexes. Translated from the French.
New York: printed and published by I. Riley, 1811.
Price: $375.00
About the item
With 32 woodcut illustrations. iv, 222 pp. 12mo. Contemporary leather backed boards. Upper cover nearly detached, boards worn, leaves toned, good. Brigham 74; Shaw & Shoemaker 22474; Welch 155.
Item #311060
"Next to Defoe’s original version, the most popular adaptation was Campe’s New Robinson Crusoe … published in two volumes at Hamburgh in 1779. It was in the form of a dialogue between a parent and his children. To make Robinson Crusoe’s task see more difficult and to impress upon children the great necessity of self-reliance, the author did not provide the castaway with tools, instruments, and food saved from the wreck, but left him with only his bare hands to depend upon for preservation. Campe’s work was immediately translated into French…. The earliest American edition was published … in 1790 … then followed numerous abridgments and adaptations" (Brigham, American editions of Robinson Crusoe to 1830, p 141). As many editions and version of Campe as there were, it is unsurprising that they survive in relatively few numbers.
