1-344-939 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

'Robinson Crusoe Saves the Crew of a Ship on Fire at Sea', c1719. Illustration from Daniel Defoe's The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe of York, Mariner, the story of a fictional English castaway who spends 28 years on a remote island. The book, first published in 1719, was probably based on the real-life experiences of the castaway Alexander Selkirk and is considered by many as the first English novel.