Defoe’s Essay Upon Projects, published in 1697, was his first full-length work, and also one of the few that he openly acknowledged: he signed the Preface with his initials D F. The Essay is very much a work of its time. The Royal Society, established in 1660, was flourishing. Newton, Boyle, Hooke and Halley were all active and it was also a period of rapid commercial expansion and technological development during which Britain was to emerge as the dominant power in world trade. Applied science had a dramatic impact on both industry and trade and as a businessman and spokesman for mercantile interests, Defoe was particularly interested in how the new ways of thinking about both the material and the social world …
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Citation: Frank, Katherine. "Essay on Projects". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 08 November 2005 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=5293, accessed 24 November 2024.]
