From its first publication in 1719, 'Robinson Crusoe' has been printed in over 700 editions. It has inspired almost every conceivable kind of imitation and variation, and been the subject of plays, opera, cartoons, and computer games. The character of Crusoe has entered the consciousness of each succeeding generation as readers add their own interpretation to the adventures so thrillingly 'recorded' by Defoe. Praised by eminent figures such as Coleridge, Rousseau and Wordsworth, this perennially popular book was cited by Karl Marx in Das Kapital to illustrate economic theory. However it is readers of all ages over the last 280 years who have given 'Robinson Crusoe' its abiding position as a classic tale of adventure. AUTHOR: Born Daniel Foe in London in 1660, Defoe was a prodigious writer on many subjects, producing over 500 books, pamphlets and articles. He is now remembered for his novels, primarily 'The Life and Strange Suprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, of York' and 'The Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Famous Moll Flanders' and is considered to be one of the key figures in establishing the format of the English novel.