An Essay Upon Projects
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
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{{Infobox book
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|author = Daniel Defoe
|country = London, England
|language = English
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|publisher = Printed by R. R. for Tho[mas] Cockerill, at the Three Legs in the Poultrey
|pub_date = 1697
|media_type = Print
|pages = xiv; 336
|oclc = 6978589
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An Essay Upon Projects (1697){{cite book|author=Daniel Defoe|title=An Essay Upon Projects|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-5oxAQAAMAAJ&pg=PP10|location=London|publisher=Printed by R. R. for Tho[mas] Cockerill, at the Three Legs in the Poultrey|year=1697|oclc=6978589}} was the first volume published by Daniel Defoe.{{cite book|last=P. B.|first=Backscheider|date=1989|title=Daniel Defoe.His Life|location=Baltimore and London|publisher=The Johns Hopkins University Press|page=517}} It begins with an introduction containing a portrait of his time as a "Projecting Age",Defoe, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=-5oxAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA1 1]. and subsequently illustrates plans for the economic and social improvement of England,{{cite web|url=http://www.indiana.edu/~liblilly/defoe/projects.html#essayprojects|title=Social Projects|author=|date= 2008|website=Indiana.edu|publisher=Indiana University Bloomington|access-date= 10 September 2015|quote=}} including an early proposal for a national insurance scheme.
Publication
The text was written in 1693 and published in 1697. The title page states that it was "[p]rinted by R. R. for Tho[mas] Cockerill, at the Three Legs in the Poultrey. MDCXCVII." There is no known manuscript of the work. The essay was reprinted several times and reached a wide audience.{{cite book|last1=Zekonyte|first1=Kristina|title=Projectors in seventeenth-century England and their relevance to the field of project management — The University of Brighton|date=2018|publisher=University of Brighton|location=Brighton|url=https://research.brighton.ac.uk/en/studentTheses/projectors-in-seventeenth-century-england-and-their-relevance-to-}}{{rp|105}} The book was dedicated to Dalby Thomas.
Subsequent publications on the same theme
Many of its issues were later revised in a series of pamphlets which were published under the nom-de-plume of Andrew Moreton. They are titled Every-body's Business, Is No-body's Business (1725), The Protestant Monastery (1726), Parochial Tyranny (1727), Augusta Triumphans (1728) and Second Thoughts are Best (1729). Compared to these works, however, An Essay Upon Projects is more focused on moral criticism than being project-oriented.{{cite book|last=M E|first=Novak|title=Daniel Defoe. Master of Fictions|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=United States of America|date=2001|page=680}}
A list of the chapters
- Author's Preface – to Dalby Thomas, Esq.
- Author's Introduction
- The History of Projects
- Of Projectors
- Of Banks
- Of the Highways
- Of Assurances
- Of Friendly Societies
- The Proposal is for a Pension Office
- Of Wagering
- Of Fools
- Of Bankrupts
- Of Academies
- Of a Court Merchant
- Of Seamen
- The Conclusion
References
{{Reflist}}
Bibliography
- Backscheider, P B, Daniel Defoe.His Life, The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore and London, 1989.
- “Social Projects”, Daniel Defoe. The Collection of the Lily Library, Indiana University Bloomington, 2008, retrieved 25 October 2015,
- George, M D, London Life in the Eighteenth Century, Penguin Books, Great Britain, 1979.
- {{cite journal|last1=Maldonado|first1=Tomás|title=Defoe and the 'Projecting Age'|journal=Design Issues|date=2002|volume=18|issue=1|pages=78–85|doi=10.1162/07479360252756313|jstor=1512032|s2cid=57567525}}
- {{cite journal|last1=Moore|first1=John Robert|title=Defoe's Persona as Author: The Quaker's Sermon|journal=SEL: Studies in English Literature 1500–1900|date=1971|volume=11|issue=3|pages=507–516|doi=10.2307/449910|jstor=449910}}
- Novak, M E, “Last Productive Years”, Daniel Defoe Master of Fictions. His Life and Ideas, Oxford University Press, United States of America, 2001.
External links
- [http://www.indiana.edu/~liblilly/defoe/index.html Daniel Defoe – The Collection of the Lily Library]
- [https://archive.org/details/bim_early-english-books-1475-1640_an-essay-upon-projects_defoe-daniel_1697/mode/1up An Essay Upon Projects by Daniel Defoe at the Internet Archive]
- [https://books.google.com/books?id=-5oxAQAAMAAJ&pg=PP10 An Essay Upon Projects by Daniel Defoe at Google Books]
- [http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/4087?msg=welcome_stranger An Essay Upon Projects by Daniel Defoe in the Gutenberg Project]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Essay upon projects}}
Category:1693 non-fiction books
Category:1697 non-fiction books
Category:Works by Daniel Defoe
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