Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 16

This Beadle and Adams Half Dime Library issue (No. 98) presents Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe, advertised as the cheapest edition available with twenty-seven illustrations. The text begins with Crusoe's family background—his father's opposition to seafaring and his earnest counsel extolling the virtues of middle-class life as the happiest state, neither exposed to the miseries of laborers nor the corruptions of the wealthy. Despite paternal warnings, the young Crusoe resolves to go to sea. After a year of obstinate resistance to settling into trade, he boards a ship bound for London in September 1651 without parental consent, accompanied by a companion. His voyage immediately encounters a violent storm, producing genuine remorse and religious vows to reform, which dissipate once the weather clears and his companion encourages drinking and merrymaking, drowning Crusoe's repentance within days. The narrative then describes the ship's arrival at Yarmouth Roads, where contrary winds force an eight-day anchorage, culminating in another severe storm with the crew deploying sheet anchors.