The Defoe Project

Beyond Robinson Crusoe

Faithfully typeset editions of neglected and overlooked works by Daniel Defoe, restored for the modern reader.

Editorial Approach

Why These Editions Exist

Daniel Defoe's remarkable body of work has long sat in the shadow of Robinson Crusoe. These editions aim to restore his wider writings to the serious readership they deserve.

I

Faithful Text, Readable Edition

Each volume preserves Defoe's original prose — including his archaic spelling conventions and period punctuation — while presenting it in a clean, highly readable typographic layout.

II

Editorial Notes

Obscure historical references, Latin phrases, and period terminology are annotated with concise, unobtrusive footnotes — providing context without interrupting the reading experience.

III

Designed for Sustained Reading

Typeset using Junicode, a typeface designed for historical and humanist texts, and printed on cream-toned paper with generous margins and refined spacing.

Project Status

The Publication Roadmap

Near Complete — Releasing First

The Storm

Defoe's chronicle of the Great Storm of 1703 — one of the earliest masterpieces of English disaster journalism. Includes the full 1704 text with the original London Gazette advertisement and Defoe's companion pieces.

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In Development

Religious Courtship

Defoe's dialogues on the importance of shared religious conviction in courtship and marriage — a practical and searching work of moral prose, largely overlooked by modern readers.

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Planned

The Family Instructor

Defoe's two-volume guide to household governance, faith, and duty, presented as a series of instructive and sometimes very dramatic dialogues.

  • Vol. I In Relation to Fathers and Children, Masters and Servants, and Husbands and Wives.
  • Vol. II In Relation to Family Breaches and Divisions, along with dialogues on how sudden changes in fortune may affect the morals of the family.
Under Consideration

Satires, Pamphlets, & Other Prose

Future volumes may include A Journal of the Plague Year, The Consolidator, a collection of Defoe's satires, and selected pamphlets and shorter writings. Contact us to let us know which one you'd like to see published next.

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Be notified when The Storm is officially released and receive updates on upcoming Defoe editions.