With an Introduction and Notes by DoreenRoberts,RutherfordCollege,University of Kent at Canterbury Fromitsfirstpublication in 1719,Robinson Crusoe has been printed inover700editions. It hasinspired almost every conceivablekindofimitation and variation,and been the subject ofplays,opera,cartoons, and computer games.The character of Crusoehasenteredthe consciousness of eachsucceeding generation asreadersaddtheir own interpretation to theadventuressothrillingly'recorded' by Defoe. Praised by eminentfigures suchasColeridge,Rousseau and Wordsworth, this perenniallypopularbookwas cited byKarl Marx in Das Kapital to illustrateeconomictheory.However itis readers of all ages over the last 280years whohavegivenRobinson Crusoe its abiding position as aclassictaleofadventure.