Defoe's Review 1704–13

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Editor: John McVeagh

Review of the State of the British Nation was one of Daniel Defoe’s greatest but least known works. It covered his many interests, both literary and historical, and was published twice and latterly three times a week in a tiny print run of 400. Surviving copies are very rare and the condition of the originals is poor.

Defoe’s Review played a significant role in the birth of the modern press. It was not a newspaper dealing in facts but a journal of opinion and discussion. Along with politics, war, trade and religion, Defoe also used the Review as an outlet for his amazing curiosity about ordinary human concerns. Defoe’s Review tapped into a new cultural community, helping to create the climate for Steele and Addison to develop the Tatler and Spectator in later years. But in some ways it was itself the most interesting example – as it was the first – of a new genre: the eighteenth-century periodical essay.

This series is the first complete scholarly edition of the entire run of Defoe's Review. It is fully reset and supported by full editorial apparatus, including a general introduction, volume prefaces, endnotes and an index in each volume. It will be useful to scholars researching the history and literature of the eighteenth century, as well as the history of print and the book.

• Includes every word Defoe wrote in the Review
• Restores a rare and forgotten periodical to modern scholarly attention
• Full editorial apparatus includes a general introduction, volume prefaces, endnotes, and an index in each volume

Sample pages

• Defoe's Review 6: Introduction
• Defoe's Review 6: Preface (Vol I)
• Defoe's Review 7: Numbers 26-29
• Defoe's Review 7: Index

Reviews

‘The edition is the product of considerable skill and work on the part of an outstanding Defoe scholar. It is unlikely to be replaced in many generations (if ever), and will remain the standard reference source for anyone using the Review from now on.’
– Pat Rogers, University of South Florida

'The editor is to be commended for producing such an eminently useful edition, replete with explanatory footnotes at the end of each issue and an Introduction that places Defoe's Review in the historical context of its time.'
– Dr Michael Shinagel, The Age of Johnson

'these volumes [3 and 4] are indispensable for the study of Defoe's development as a writer of for an understanding of the political and cultural issues of his time.'
– The Scriblerian

'... a significant addition to print history ...'
– Geoffrey Sill, The Scriblerian (on Volume 6)

Related titles

• A Critical Bibliography of Daniel Defoe
• Christianity Not as Old as the Creation : The Last of Defoe's Performances
• A Political Biography of Daniel Defoe
• The Examiner, 1808–1822

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