Anderson Design Group

Robinson Crusoe: Daniel Defoe By Derek Anderson, Joel Anderson, 2024


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For a significant period in world history, literary works that told stories of adventure, exploration, and survival were incredibly popular, few more so than Robinson Crusoe. The book, written by Daniel Defoe and first published in 1719, tells the story of Robinson Kreutznaer, a castaway who spends 28 years on a remote tropical desert island near the coasts of Venezuela and Trinidad, encountering cannibals, captives, and mutineers before being rescued. While itself a work of fiction, the story has been thought to be loosely based on the life of Alexander Selkirk, a Scottish castaway who lived for four years on a Pacific island called "Más a Tierra" (now part of Chile) which was renamed Robinson Crusoe Island in 1966. Pedro Serrano is another real-life castaway whose story might have inspired the novel, but it’s impossible to know for sure. To celebrate a classic story that still entertains readers to this day, the artists of Anderson Design Group rendered this iconic book cover, vintage poster design, and classic literature art as a part of the Literary Classics Collection, celebrating great books of all genres in 20th-century-inspired art, poster art, and original illustrations. This retro art is available as a poster, print, notecard, postcard, canvas, or metal sign. For the ultimate reader’s guide to the great literary classics, check out the website for the Tea and Ink Society.