The Political and Economic Writings of Daniel Defoe

---

General Editors W R Owens and P N Furbank
Volume Editors: J A Downie, P N Furbank, W R Owens, D W Hayton and John McVeagh

Works of Daniel Defoe
The Pickering Masters

Defoe’s writings on politics and economic affairs are of great significance. Highly influential in their own day, they have constantly been drawn upon by modern political, social and economic historians, as well as by literary scholars. These writings, however, are not only very numerous but, in very many cases, have never been reprinted and often exist only in a small handful of surviving copies; to all intents and purposes they have hitherto been unavailable to the majority of scholars.

This extensive selection, running to almost 100 works, reflects the many facets of Defoe’s economic and political thought, and for the first time makes these writings available in well-edited, scholarly texts. Each volume includes an individual introduction and full explanatory and textual notes.

Contents

Volume 1: Constitutional Theory

Some Reflections on a Pamphlet Lately Publish’d (1697); An Argument Shewing that a Standing Army ... is not Inconsistent with a Free Government (1698); A Brief Reply to the History of Standing Armies (1698); The Original Power of the Collective Body (1702); Some Remarks on ... Davenant’s Essays (1704); Memorandum to Robert Harley [1704]; Reasons against the Succession (1713); And What if the Pretender should Come? (1713); An Answer to a Question that No Body Thinks of (1713); From the Review (1705-10).

Volume 2: Party Politics

The Six Distinguishing Characters of a Parliament Man (1700); Legion’s Memorial (1701); The History of the Kentish Petition (1701); The Address (1704); Advice to All Parties (1705); The High-Church Legion (1705); Remarks on the Letter to the Author of the State-Memorial (1706); The Secret History of the October Club (1711); Eleven Opinions about Mr. H[arle]y (1711); Reasons why this Nation Ought to put a Speedy End to this Expensive War (1711); The Conduct of Parties in England (1712); A Seasonable Warning and Caution (1712); The Secret History of the White Staff (1714); The Secret History of the Secret History (1715); An Account of the Conduct of Robert Earl of Oxford (1715); Some Considerations of a Law for Triennial Parliaments (1716); The Quarrel of the School-Boys at Athens (1717).

Volume 3: Dissent

A Letter to a Dissenter from his Friend at the Hague (1688); An Enquiry into the Occasional Conformity of Dissenters, in Cases of Preferment (1697); A New Test of the Church of England’s Loyalty (1702); An Enquiry into Occasional Conformity (1702); The Shortest Way with the Dissenters (1702); A Brief Explanation of a Late Pamphlet (1703); A Dialogue between the Observator and a Dissenter (1703); The Shortest Way to Peace and Union (1703); The Dissenters Answer to the High-Church Challenge (1704); A New Test of the Church of England’s Honesty (1704); The Dissenter Misrepresented and Represented (1704); From the Review (1705); ‘Preface’ to Delaune’s Plea for the Non-Conformists (1706); Wise as Serpents (1712); A Letter to the Dissenters (1713); The Weakest Go to the Wall (1714).

Volume 4: Union with Scotland

An Essay at Removing National Prejudices against a Union with Scotland, Part I (1706); An Essay ... Part II (1706); An Essay ... Part III (1706); A Fourth Essay ... (1706); A Fifth Essay ... (1707); Two Great Questions Considered ... Being a Sixth Essay ... (1707); The Vision [1706]; A Reply to the Scots Answer [1706]; Caledonia (1706); An Historical Account of the Bitter Sufferings ... of the Episcopal Church in Scotland (1707); The Scot’s Narrative Examin’d (1709).

Volume 5: International Relations

The Two Great Questions Consider’d (1700); The Two Great Questions Further Considered (1700); The Danger of the Protestant Religion Consider’d (1701); Reasons Against A War With France (1701); The Succession to the Crown of England, Considered (1701); An Essay at a Plain Exposition of that Difficult Phrase A Good Peace (1711); The Felonious Treaty (1711); Imperial Gratitude (1712); The Validity of the Renunciations of Former Powers (1712); An Enquiry into the Danger and Consequences of a War with the Dutch (1712); A View of the Real Dangers of the Succession (1713); Reasons Concerning the Immediate Demolishing of Dunkirk (1713).

Volume 6: Finance

The Villainy of Stock-Jobbers Detected (1701); An Essay upon Publick Credit (1710); An Essay upon Loans (1710); The True State of the Case between the Government and the Creditors of the Navy (1711); Fair Payment No Spunge (1717); The Anatomy of Exchange-Alley (1719); The Chimera (1720); The Case of Mr. Law (1721); The Director (1720-21).

Volume 7: Trade

An Essay upon the South Sea Trade (1712); A Brief Account of the Present State of the African Trade (1713); The Trade to India Critically and Calmly Consider’d (1720); Brief Observations on Trade and Manufacture (1721); A Plan of the English Commerce (1728).

Volume 8: Social Reform

An Essay upon Projects (1697); An Essay on the Regulation of the Press (1704); Giving Alms No Charity (1704); Remarks on the Bill to Prevent Frauds Committed by Bankrupts (1706); Every-Body’s Business, is No-Body’s Business (1725); The Protestant Monastery (1727); Augusta Triumphans (1728); Some Objections ... Relating to the Present Intended Relief of Prisoners (1729).

Reviews

‘For those of us who have been digging around on microfilm, this is a godsend: finally a reliable and scholarly edition of the works of this prolific scribbler.’
– Stephen H Gregg, British Journal of Eighteenth-Century Studies

‘I’ve spent a few weeks in the British Library reading a good deal of this very material in its original eighteenth-century condition, and this edition would have saved me a good deal of eyestrain. Impressive volumes in just about every respect, exhaustively annotated and carefully introduced, Political and Economic Writings represents a triumphant beginning to what promises to be an enormous and indispensable venture, the biggest, most ambitious publishing plan that Defoe scholarship has ever seen.’
– John Richetti, The Age of Johnson: A Scholarly Annual

'Essential reading...the new Pickering & Chatto edition should help redeem the critical neglect [Defoe's] work has suffered.’
– Tom Paulin, London Review of Books

Related titles

• A Critical Bibliography of Daniel Defoe
• Defoe's Review 1704–13
• A Political Biography of Daniel Defoe
• Satire, Fantasy and Writings on the Supernatural by Daniel Defoe
• The Novels of Daniel Defoe
• The Religious and Didactic Writings of Daniel Defoe
• Writings on Travel, Discovery and History by Daniel Defoe

Return to top