From a limited edition of 750, the first volume in the Library of Impostors: the tale of a fateful trip. It includes four plates reproduced from the first edition.

From a limited edition of 750, the first volume in the Library of Impostors: the tale of a fateful trip. It includes four plates reproduced from the first edition.

First published in 1751, this work has often been derided as a derivative work, and it certainly does not hesitate to include as many fabulous plot twists as it can accommodate. Our hero John Daniel shipwrecks on a desolate island, its bleakness tempered when he accidentally discovers a woman and they set about 'peopling the Island'. Obviously feeling that the Robinsonade has become stale, the second half of the book shifts focus to their son Jacob who, in his spare time, has contrived an engine to travel to the moon. John Daniel himself eventually returns to England by way of Lapland and Norway, his otherwise uneventful voyage livened up by a brief interlude with a sea monster.

Critical praise for the melange has been scant, and critical attention has mostly been dedicated to elaborating the work's influences (Paltock, Neville, Defoe, etc.), but this is a fascinating hybrid imaginary voyage.