Folio Archives 199: Moll Flanders by Daniel Defoe 1965/1997
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1wcarter
The Fortunes & Misfortunes of the Famous Moll Flanders who was born in Newgate, and During a Life of Continu’d Variety for Threescore Years, Besides Her Childhood, was Twelve Years a Whore, Five Times a Wife (Wherof Once to Her Own Brother), Twelve Years a Thief, Eight years a Transported Felon in Virginia, at Last Grew Rich, Liv’d Honest and Died a Penitent by Daniel Defoe 1965/1997
With what is probably the longest full title in the Folio Society oeuvre, Moll Flanders was first published in 1722. It purports to be the true account of the life of the eponymous Moll, detailing her extraordinary seductive and criminal exploits from birth until old age. Her life story beggars belief in its lewdness, incest, fraud, cruelty and theft – and this is because it is a fiction rather than biography, that combines events that may have occurred to numerous women encountered by Defoe but combined by him into one. The book was often the subject of banning and censorship in more puritanical times.
There is a drawing by Nigel Lambourne.at the beginning of each chapter as well as a frontispiece. The book is quarter bound in maroon cloth with light brown paper boards printed in black and maroon with text. The book has xi + 330 pages and plain maroon endpapers. There is a two page unattributed foreword. The cream slipcase is 23.6x15.5cm.
My edition is the rebound 1997 version, although the text is identical to the 1965 edition and this date still appears on the title page. There was an even earlier Folio Society edition in 1954, which is still reflected in the cover text of this edition where “The Folio Society, Westminster 1954” appears. The drawings are the same in all editions, but the text was revised slightly in 1965.
1954 edition – image from internet
1967 edition – image from internet
An index of the other illustrated reviews in the "Folio Archives" series can be viewed here.
With what is probably the longest full title in the Folio Society oeuvre, Moll Flanders was first published in 1722. It purports to be the true account of the life of the eponymous Moll, detailing her extraordinary seductive and criminal exploits from birth until old age. Her life story beggars belief in its lewdness, incest, fraud, cruelty and theft – and this is because it is a fiction rather than biography, that combines events that may have occurred to numerous women encountered by Defoe but combined by him into one. The book was often the subject of banning and censorship in more puritanical times.
There is a drawing by Nigel Lambourne.at the beginning of each chapter as well as a frontispiece. The book is quarter bound in maroon cloth with light brown paper boards printed in black and maroon with text. The book has xi + 330 pages and plain maroon endpapers. There is a two page unattributed foreword. The cream slipcase is 23.6x15.5cm.
My edition is the rebound 1997 version, although the text is identical to the 1965 edition and this date still appears on the title page. There was an even earlier Folio Society edition in 1954, which is still reflected in the cover text of this edition where “The Folio Society, Westminster 1954” appears. The drawings are the same in all editions, but the text was revised slightly in 1965.
1954 edition – image from internet
1967 edition – image from internet
An index of the other illustrated reviews in the "Folio Archives" series can be viewed here.
2whytewolf1
Wonderful, as always! Thank you. That typographic cover is unusual and striking.
3wcarter
>2 whytewolf1:
Welcome to FSD. Enjoy your addiction!
Welcome to FSD. Enjoy your addiction!
4LesMiserables
Very interesting. One of those titles I haven't read but was positive I had a copy. Nope.
Worth getting?
Worth getting?
5Betelgeuse
>4 LesMiserables: I loved it. Tragic and hilarious at the same time. I'm a sucker for first-person-narrative picaresque novels like this one.
6podaniel
>4 LesMiserables:
I was in the same boat--I thought I had the title but didn't. Luckily, it's fairly cheap to pick up on the secondary market. I wish FS had done a uniform set of Defoe like they did for Fielding. Instead, I have five red-headed step children crowding one of my bookshelves.
I was in the same boat--I thought I had the title but didn't. Luckily, it's fairly cheap to pick up on the secondary market. I wish FS had done a uniform set of Defoe like they did for Fielding. Instead, I have five red-headed step children crowding one of my bookshelves.
