The Fortunes and Misfortunes of the famous Moll Flanders &c by Daniel Defoe - 1722

ondon- W Chetwood and T Edling], 1722 Book. Good. Hardcover. First edition.. A very scarce first edition of this celebrated novel by Daniel Defoe. One of Defoe's most famousworks, second only to Robinson Crusoe, Moll Flanders is a first-person picaresque novel purportedly written by the heroine herself. Very scarce. Only twocopies held in UK collections, one in the British Library, the other at Trinity College Cambridge. Collated:LackingTitle page but consistent with the first edition of 1722 and the only edition to have this pagination. A facsimile title page can be obtained if required. Title pagefor this edition states 1721, but thework was actually published in January of 1722. With the blank leaf to A8, almost always removed in rebinding. (Moore 446, ESTCT70314)In a contemporarybinding. Title page likely removed due to the notoriety of the work. Moll Flanders was written and published after Defoe had become a recognised and successful novelist. Though the work was originallypublished as if it were an autobiography, it was attributed to Defoe after his death. Partially based on the life of notorious London criminal Moll King, whom Defoe personally met in Newgate prison, Moll Flanders was a sensational novel in which the heroine manages to retain the sympathy of the reader despite her various trials and tribulations and her questionable morality. An important work, now part of the literary canon andkey in the development of the novel and an insight into social and cultural issues of the 17th and 18th century, particularly crime and punishment and the position of women in society. Condition: In original full calf binding. Externally, sound with rubbing. Bumping to extremities and loss to leather at extremities, head and tail of spine and joints. Frontjoint cracked and front hinge tender. Small ink signature to front pastedown. Internally, generally firmly bound although strained in places, particularly to page 387 whichis loosening slightly. Pagesslightlybrowned withlight spotting, usage marks andlight tidemarks to the earlypart of the work. Lackingtitle page. Overall: GOOD.