Picture of author.

Daniel Defoe (1660–1731)

Author of Robinson Crusoe

780+ Works 45,054 Members 604 Reviews 45 Favorited

About the Author

Daniel Defoe was born Daniel Foe in London, England on September 13, 1660. He changed his surname in 1703, adding the more genteel "De" before his own name to suggest a higher social standing. He was a novelist, journalist, and political agent. His writings covered a wide range of topics. His show more novels include Robinson Crusoe, Moll Flanders, Roxana, Captain Singleton, and Colonel Jack. He wrote A Tour Thro' the Whole Island of Great Britain, which is an important source of English economic life, and ghost stories including A True Relation of the Apparition of One Mrs. Veal. He also wrote satirical poems and pamphlets and edited a newspaper. He was imprisoned and pilloried for his controversial work, The Shortest Way with the Dissenters, which suggested that all non-Conformist ministers be hanged. He died on April 24, 1731. (Bowker Author Biography) show less

Series

Works by Daniel Defoe

Robinson Crusoe (1719) 24,589 copies
Moll Flanders (1722) 7,627 copies
A Journal of the Plague Year (1722) 3,564 copies
Roxana: The Fortunate Mistress (1724) 1,248 copies
Captain Singleton (1720) 320 copies
Robinson Crusoe [Abridged] (1719) 237 copies
Colonel Jack (1722) 143 copies
Memoirs of a Cavalier (1720) 118 copies
The Storm (1704) 117 copies
The King of Pirates (1719) 88 copies
100 Eternal Masterpieces of Literature - volume 2 (2020) — Contributor — 70 copies
From London to Land's End (2003) 48 copies
Contos de Fantasmas (1945) 30 copies
Opere (1980) 25 copies
Dickory Cronke (2004) 19 copies
An Essay Upon Projects (1975) 18 copies
The Consolidator (1705) 17 copies
A system of magick (1726) 14 copies
Atalantis Major (2009) 13 copies
Robinson Crusoe (1995) 13 copies
Libertalia (1998) 12 copies
A Vindication of the Press (2007) 11 copies
Robinson Crusoe (1719) — Author — 10 copies
Of Captain Mission (2012) 10 copies
Mother Ross (2011) 7 copies
Moll Flanders 6 copies
Robinson Crusoe I (1996) 6 copies
Robinson Crusoe (1900) 6 copies
Robinson Crusoe Publisher (1989) 5 copies
Robinson Crusoe [adapted - Saddleback Classics] (1999) — Original Author — 5 copies
Works of Daniel Defoe (2008) 5 copies
Veba Yılı Günlüğü (2016) 5 copies
Vite di pirati (2004) 5 copies
HISTORIA DEL DIABLE (2007) 5 copies
Robinson Crusoe 1 Y 2 (1998) 4 copies
Robinson Crusoe (2011) 4 copies
The Works of Daniel Defoe (1905) 4 copies
Diário do ano da peste (2020) 4 copies
Moll Flanders: A musical (1994) 4 copies
Robinson Crusoe IC1 4 (2015) 3 copies
Kurze Geschichte der pfälzischen Flüchtlinge (2017) — Author — 3 copies
Daniel Defoe (2017) 3 copies
Kaptan Singleton (2021) 3 copies
Robinson Crusoe 3 copies
A Tour Through the Whole Island of Great Britain (1724) — Author — 2 copies
The master mercury (1977) 2 copies
Robinson Crusoe 2 copies
Robinson Crusoe (1999) 2 copies
Robinson Cruso Annotated (2020) 2 copies
Inno alla gogna (2008) 2 copies
Seikkailu Afrikassa (1981) 2 copies
Robinson Crusoe (2022) 1 copy
(all) 1 copy
coronel jack 1 copy
Robinson Crusoé (1719) — Author — 1 copy
Mol Flanders 1 copy
Albay Jack (2023) 1 copy
Himno a la Picota (2015) 1 copy
Works, Volume 3 (2012) 1 copy
Robinson Crusoe II (1981) 1 copy
The Education of Women (1990) 1 copy
Defoe Daniel 1 copy
The Best Ghost Stories (2007) 1 copy
ROBINSON CRUSOE (1972) 1 copy
Godine kuge (2020) 1 copy
Selections 1 copy
MOLL FLANDERS & CO (1964) 1 copy
Defoe 1 copy

Associated Works

English Essays: From Sir Philip Sidney to Macaulay (1909) — Contributor — 479 copies
Eighteenth-Century English Literature (1969) — Author — 186 copies
Great Stories of the Sea & Ships (1940) — Contributor — 171 copies
Irish Tales of Terror (1988) — Contributor — 125 copies
Phantastic Book of Ghost Stories (1990) — Contributor — 109 copies
Best in Children's Books 27 (1959) 91 copies
The Treasury of English Short Stories (1985) — Contributor — 84 copies
Famous Ghost Stories (A Watermill Classic) (1980) — Contributor — 82 copies
The Bedside Book of Famous British Stories (1940) — Contributor — 66 copies
Great Ghost Stories: Tales of Mystery and Madness (2004) — Contributor — 51 copies
Tales by Moonlight II (1988) — Contributor — 46 copies
Poetry of Witness: The Tradition in English, 1500-2001 (2014) — Contributor — 41 copies
The Best Ghost Stories (1919) — Contributor — 34 copies
The Mystery Book (1934) — Contributor — 29 copies
The Great Book of Thrillers (1935) — Contributor — 27 copies
Robinson Crusoe [1954 film] (1954) — original story author; Original novel — 26 copies
Strange Lands: Short Stories (2020) — Contributor — 24 copies
Eighteenth Century Women: An Anthology (1984) — Contributor — 23 copies
Masters of British Literature, Volume A (2007) — Contributor — 20 copies
Great English Short Stories (1930) — Contributor — 20 copies
Ghosts and Marvels (1924) — Contributor — 17 copies
The Ribald Reader: 2000 Years of Lusty Love and Laughter (1906) — Contributor — 17 copies
Wild Night Company: Irish Tales of Terror (1970) — Contributor — 17 copies
The Fourteenth Fontana Book of Great Ghost Stories (1978) — Contributor — 11 copies
Englische Essays aus drei Jahrhunderten (1980) — Contributor — 10 copies
Fifty Strangest Stories Ever Told (1937) — Contributor — 8 copies
The Amorous Adventures of Moll Flanders [1965 film] (1992) — Original novel — 6 copies
Famous Stories of Five Centuries (1934) — Contributor — 4 copies
An English garner : ingatherings from our history and literature — Contributor, some editions — 4 copies
West Country Short Stories (1949) — Contributor — 2 copies
The Undying Past (1961) — Contributor — 2 copies
The Queen’s Story Book — Contributor — 2 copies
Later Stuart Tracts. An English Garner. (1964) — Contributor — 2 copies
The Childrens Classics Collection (6 Full Cast Audio Dramas) (2012) — Author, some editions — 1 copy
Gespenster — Contributor — 1 copy
The Adventures Of The Great Crime-Busters (1943) — Contributor — 1 copy

Tagged

1001 (143) 1001 books (161) 17th century (200) 18th century (1,171) 18th century literature (164) adventure (934) anthology (177) British (365) British literature (547) castaway (138) children's (138) classic (1,322) classic fiction (143) classic literature (276) classics (1,514) Daniel Defoe (158) Defoe (174) ebook (260) England (380) English (308) English literature (888) fiction (4,501) Folio Society (225) historical fiction (282) history (519) Kindle (282) literature (1,198) London (213) non-fiction (237) novel (897) own (146) pirates (188) plague (195) read (297) Roman (130) shipwreck (215) survival (348) to-read (1,211) travel (149) unread (248)

Common Knowledge

Canonical name
Defoe, Daniel
Legal name
Foe, Daniel
Birthdate
1660-09-13
Date of death
1731-04-24
Burial location
Bunhill Fields Cemetery, London, England, UK
Gender
male
Nationality
UK
Country (for map)
UK
Birthplace
London, England
Place of death
London, England, Great Britain
Cause of death
lethargy (official cause)
stroke (speculated cause)
Places of residence
London, England, Great Britain
Dorking, Surrey, England
Chadwell St Mary, Essex, England, Great Britain
Education
Newington Green Dissenting Academy
Occupations
writer
brick and tile works owner
merchant
journalist
spy
rebel (show all 7)
Commissioner of the Glass Duty
Organizations
Monmouth Rebellion
Short biography
Daniel Defoe; c. 1660 – 24 April 1731), born Daniel Foe, was an English trader, writer, journalist, pamphleteer and spy. He is most famous for his novel Robinson Crusoe. Defoe wrote many political tracts and was often in trouble with the authorities, and spent a period in prison.

Members

Discussions

A Journal of The Plague Year in Folio Society Devotees (October 2022)

Reviews

Sure to offend those who insist on applying 21st century mores to a novel published in 1719, but for the rest of us it is a rip-roaring good adventure and an interesting glimpse into the 18th century worldview. Nice illustrations too.
 
Flagged
NurseBob | 321 other reviews | Mar 9, 2024 |
This is a very dull, tedious book. It has some plot, but it is disorganized and not very compelling. Moll Flanders herself is flat and underdeveloped, and her many marriages and children seem to affect her very minimally, if at all, to a point that makes her seem unrealistic. While my copy of this book was under 300 pages long, it felt 4 times as long. If you have to read this book, take notes and pace yourself, and otherwise there are a lot of better classic novels to choose from.
 
Flagged
JBarringer | 101 other reviews | Dec 15, 2023 |
Liest sich ganz gut, ist aber eher ein Pulp-Klassiker
 
Flagged
Maxim2 | 321 other reviews | Nov 15, 2023 |
Interesting book to read during the COVID pandemic. A lot of eerie similarities.
 
Flagged
Moshepit20 | 63 other reviews | Nov 4, 2023 |

Lists

1720s (1)
My TBR (1)
AP Lit (2)
1710s (1)

Awards

You May Also Like

Associated Authors

Milo Winter Illustrator
George Sand Contributor
George Gissing Contributor
Margaret Cavendish Contributor
Rebecca West Contributor
Benjamin Disraeli Contributor
Grant Allen Contributor
Mary Shelley Contributor
John Cleland Contributor
Susan Coolidge Contributor
H. Rider Haggard Contributor
Maxim Gorky Contributor
Vatsyayana Contributor
Lucius Apuleius Contributor
Jr. Horatio Alger Contributor
Arthur Morrison Contributor
Jane Austen Contributor
O. Henry Contributor
Herman Melville Contributor
G.K. Chesterton Contributor
L. Frank Baum Contributor
Victor Hugo Contributor
H. P. Lovecraft Contributor
Edgar Allan Poe Contributor
Marcel Proust Contributor
Jack London Contributor
Jonathan Swift Contributor
Hollis Godfrey Contributor
Thomas Mann Contributor
Upton Sinclair Contributor
Stendhal Contributor
Elizabeth Gaskell Contributor
Dale Carnegie Contributor
Leo Tolstoy Contributor
Pieter Harting Contributor
Nikolai Gogol Contributor
James Joyce Contributor
Mark Twain Contributor
A.S. Hornby Retold by
Salma Gabol Adapter
Michael West Simplified by
D.K. Swan Adapted by
Gilbert Burnet Attributed Name.
John Dunton Attributed Name.
Jean-Christophe Vergne Dessins, Couleurs
Robert Trumbull Contributor
Henry Morley Editor, Introduction
Pat Rogers Editor
Sean Price Adapter
Leon Gregori Illustrator
Gerald McCann Illustrator
John Green Illustrator
Mark Hennessy Introduction
Maud Jackson Adapted by
Adeline Richards Activities by
Pat Boyette Illustrator
Jan Mens vertaler/bewerker
Thomas Leclere Adaptation
N. C. Wyeth Illustrator
Julio Cortázar Translator
Walter Paget Illustrator
J. Finnemore Illustrator
Guy N. Pocock Introduction
Pierre Falké Illustrator
John Richetti Introduction
M. Zwiers Translator
Tom Casaletto Narrator
Jean Grandville Illustrator
Jim Hodges Narrator
Wm. Robertson Engraver
Ron Keith Narrator
Virginia Woolf Introduction
Avi Foreword
Edgardo Dell'Acqua Illustrator
Odette Vincent Illustrator
Simon Vance Narrator
William Rowlands Translator
Geoff Taylor Cover artist
J. Cuthbert Hadden Introduction
Fritz Kredel Illustrator
Co Loerakker Illustrator
Cees Buddingh' Translator
Derick Bown Illustrator
Angus Ross Editor
Lynd Ward Illustrator
Roger Duvoisin Illustrator
Nigel Anthony Narrator
Harvey Swados Afterword
David Blewett Contributor, Editor
Alexander King Illustrator
John T. Winterich Introduction
Mark Schorer Introduction
Michael Seidel Introduction
Reginald Marsh Illustrator
Pedro Barreto Translator
Godfrey Davies Introduction
John Austen Illustrator
Joseph Grabisch Translator
Kenneth Rexroth Afterword
Regina Barreca Afterword
John Allen Maxwell Illustrator
Earl Schenck Miers Introduction
Marcel Schwob Translator
Linda Bree Contributor
Arthur Wragg Illustrator
Miquel Desclot Translator
Samuel K. Workman Introduction
Heather Bell Narrator
Davina Porter Narrator
J. H. Plumb Foreword
Peter Pendrey Illustrator
James R. Sutherland Introduction
Carlos Pujol Translator
George Cruikshank Cover artist
Domenico Gnoli Illustrator
Aldo Sorani Contributor
Kaarina Jaatinen Translator
Guido Biagi Translator
André Dugo Illustrator
Jeanne Polderman Translator
E. San Martin Translator
Edward Garnett Introduction
Alan Hodge Foreword
Pierre Borel Translator
Heide Lipecky Translator
Camilla Gripe Translator
Kim-Lan Delahaye Notes et carnet de lecture
Bruguera Editor
Christophe Blain Illustrator
arrouvignodpatricia Adaptation abrégée)

Statistics

Works
780
Also by
54
Members
45,054
Popularity
#363
Rating
½ 3.6
Reviews
604
ISBNs
3,316
Languages
39
Favorited
45

Charts & Graphs