Artunderwraps

First Edition Prices, Values and Auction Results

There is a fascination with the idea of Robinson Crusoe who must face what it is to be human as a stranded man on a deserted island. Daniel Defoe's protagonist exudes perseverance and the will to survive in The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe. This title poses some lively challenges for the collector in that there are a variety of early publications. Even the early 1719 publication printed for W. Taylor (London) is noted to be a third edition with the extended title: The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, of York, Mariner. It has a copper-engraved frontispiece with a cover in brown leather which sells for $1000-$2000. Many later copies were issued by many different publishers (Stockdale, Mackenzie, and others) and deserve close looks for the price of $100-$1000. Wading through misleading "first edition" claims requires an informed eye; there are many versions and diverse appearances for this popular 18^th century novel.

We collected a sample of 16 auction results of Defoe, Daniel's The Life and Adventures of Robinson Crusoe from 3 different auction houses. The lowest overall price realized in our sample was $112 and the highest overall price realized was $2750. The overall average price was $733 and the median price realized for the book was $405. There were 5 auctions (56%) with a price realized below the low estimate, 2 auctions (22%) exceeding the high estimates, and 2 auctions (22%) within the range of the low and high estimates.