Though better known for his novels and prose tracts, Defoe regarded his verse as his finest achievement and this rare autograph was sold at £22,000 to a collector at Sotheby's on December 14.
Nibbling at Defoe’s verse…
UK: WRITTEN in Daniel Defoe’s characteristically neat hand, this is one of only nine recorded examples of his autograph verse, and though small creatures have nibbled into this copy of his poem, Of resignation, seven of those other verse specimens are in the celebrated Defoe notebook in the Huntington Library and the other is in the Portland Collection at the University of Nottingham, leaving this as the only example still in private hands.
