Who Owns Robinson Crusoe's Island? It was research into Chile's 1910 "Islas Juan Fernandez" overprints that transported me back to my boyhood reading of the Classics Illustrated version of Robinson Crusoe. When Gibbons' Stamp Weekly announced these new issues on October 1, 1910, the editors commented, "It will be remembered that it was on one of the islands of this group that our old friends Robinson Crusoe and Man Friday led the simple life." Many years later, this same myth raised the ire of R.W. Davis, a contributor to the Gibbons' publication, who dismissed the Chilean claim in an article entitled "TOBAGO Robinson Crusoe's Island?" Why was there such a controversy?
Another philatelic commentator, the Reverend C.S. Morton, alluded to the commercial roots of this territorial dispute in an article entitled "As it Was in Tobago." He argued that issuing a pictorial stamp depicting Robinson Crusoe would be profitable to both the stamp issuing authorities and the London stamp shops; Morton stated, "I can imagine nothing more likely to arouse the interest of our youth than a stamp depicting that traditional, but well-known, picture of Crusoe with upraised hands. That would cause cues in the Strand and no dealer would have any long rest." If properly exploited, a connection between an island and the famous castaway could be a lucrative one. The prospect of profit often raises interesting questions of jurisdiction and sometimes stamps can help to answer such questions. However, the answers provided by philately are not always definitive and this has been the case in the following exploration of the question, "Who owns Robinson Crusoe's island?" A quick Google search yields two answers to this question. There is a Robinson Crusoe Island in Fiji off the southwest coast of Viti Levu island. Originally known as "Likuri Island," it has a history dating back 3,500 years. To my knowledge, it has never been the subject of a postage stamp. A second Robinson Crusoe Island, formerly known as Mais a Tierra, is located in Chile's Juan Fernandez Islands, 670 kilometres from the mainland. Its philatelic story, quite different from that of the Fijian island, will be examined later.
It is disconcerting to note that both of these islands are located in the Pacific Ocean. The title page of the 1719 edition of Daniel Defoe's adventure story places Robinson Crusoe's island in the Caribbean or the Atlantic: it is "an uninhabited island on the coast of America, near the mouth of the great river Oroonoque [Orinoco]." Crusoe explains how his storm-battered ship found itself "upon the coast of Guiana, or the north part of Brazil, beyond the river Amazon, toward that of the river Orinoco, commonly called the Great River." Crusoe was hoping for refuge in Barbados before an additional storm left him marooned on a deserted island closer to the mainland. What claim could Fiji or Chile have on an island in such a location? Hints about a much broader claim to ownership of the island can be found on stamps from Romania, Israel, Jersey, Monaco, Grenada and Trinidad and Tobago, and on a pre-stamped postcard from Bulgaria. In its 1960 cultural anniversaries issue, Romania chose to honour the 300th anniversary of the birth of Daniel Defoe. Other artists honoured in the same issue are Leo Tolstoy, Mark Twain, Hokusai, Alfred de Musset, Janos Bolyai, Anton Chekov, Robert Koch and Frederick Chopin. The design of the Defoe stamp is based on an engraving made by M. Van Der Gucht in 1706 (based on a line engraving by Jeremiah Taverner) from Britain's National Portrait Gallery.
Why did Romanian postal authorities choose to recognize Defoe as a member of the international cultural elite? Perhaps the author's "common" origins as the son of a butcher appealed to Communist authorities; more likely, they were acknowledging the universal appeal of his fictional "autobiography" of Robinson Crusoe which, by the end of the nineteenth century, had broken a record in western literature having been the subject of more than 700 adaptations and translations. Bulgaria paid a further tribute to the popular book and its author in 2010 when it issued a pre-stamped postcard honouring the 350th anniversary of the birth of Daniel Defoe. The "stamp" on the postcard depicts a sailing vessel and a cachet on the left side of the postcard depicts Robinson Crusoe carrying his musket superimposed on a portrait of Defoe.
A more recent tribute to Defoe appears on an Israeli miniature sheet that, according to its description on Ebay, was issued in 2015. The portrait of the author is on a label se-tenant with a stamp depicting a white rose. The same portrait is printed on the selvage for the sheet of twelve stamps and labels. The lack of any obvious connection between Daniel Defoe and the white rose raised questions about the legitimacy of this miniature sheet. No stamp honouring Daniel Defoe was included in Israel's U.P.U. listings for 2015 (www.wnsstamps.post/en). However, further browsing on the Internet led to recognition of one of Israel's "My Own Stamp" designs. The Israel Philatelic Federation explains, "the Israel Philatelic Service initiated the 'My Stamp' project in 2003, by which the public may order sheets of official Israeli stamps, with each official stamp bearing an attached personalized image. All you do is send a picture of yourself, or anyone you choose, or a logo of any kind, and the Philatelic Service will print it as an attached 'stamp' to the official stamps in the sheet you select." The rose cyclamen "My Own Stamp" design by Ygal Gabay Tuvia Kurtz was issued on April 28, 2008. In this case, the 2015 tribute to Defoe comes from an entrepreneur rather than from a government postal agency, although the product is sanctioned by the post office. Monaco paid a direct and more official tribute to Defoe's most famous book on October 17, 1994, when a commemorative celebrating the 275th anniversary of the publication of Robinson Crusoe was included in a series of four stamps honouring artists and writers. The stamp, by French artist Odette Baillais, shows the protagonist in his homemade clothing in front of his shelter working on a piece of pottery while his servant, Friday, brings a basket of fruit. It reflects the comfortable life Crusoe made for himself after many years on the island. A souvenir sheet from Liechtenstein issued on September 3, 2012 includes a shipwrecked Robinson Crusoe amongst eight "Characters from Literature."
A scene from an earlier part of the story is presented in the mid-nineteenth century painting "Robinson Crusoe Landing Stores from the Deck" by Australian painter John Alexander Gilfillan. This work was featured in the set of stamps issued by Jersey in 1984 honouring artists born on that island in the English Channel. The stamp depicts Crusoe shortly after he is shipwrecked as he salvages materials from his wrecked ship.
A further philatelic illustration of the popularity of Defoe's story comes from an island that could be a close neighbour to Robinson Crusoe's island. On March 4, 1972, Grenada issued a set of seven stamps to commemorate the 25th anniversary of UNICEF (in 1971). The two and seventy-five cent denominations depict Robinson Crusoe. Other values depict King Arthur, Robin Hood and Mary and her little lamb. The inclusion of Robinson Crusoe with popular works of children's literature reflects the way in which the story has morphed from a didactic morality tale for adults in the eighteenth century to an adventure for children in more modern times. The image of Robinson Crusoe as a castaway on an exotic island has overshadowed other aspects of his life as an entrepreneur and Christian faith-seeker. The character has become more closely associated with travel adventures than with spiritual reflection.
Even closer to the mouth of the Orinoco than Grenada are the islands of Trinidad and Tobago. They too have issued stamps that reflect the modern emphasis on Robinson Crusoe as a book about exotic adventures. Despite the suggestion by Reverend C.S. Morton cited earlier, the post office in Trinidad and Tobago has not issued any stamps depicting the castaway; however, Tobago's claim to being the primary setting of the story is acknowledged in a stamp depicting the Robinson Crusoe Hotel, one of five stamps featuring local hotels issued on January 17, 1978. The Robinson Crusoe Hotel stamp was reissued on April 8, 1980 with an overprint to commemorate the national census. In linking the name of Robinson Crusoe to tourism, the issues from Trinidad and Tobago illustrate the commercial value of their claim to Robinson's Crusoe's island.
Chile has made an even more concerted effort to profit from the name. As noted earlier, Robinson Crusoe Island appears in the atlas as a Chilean possession, formerly known as Mas a Tierra. It was on this island that Alexander Selkirk, a sailor widely identified as the real life prototype who inspired Defoe's character, had been a castaway. In 1965 Chile issued a stamp depicting Robinson Crusoe on the island. Officially, the name of the island was changed the following year. Like the owners of the hotel in Tobago and the resort in Fiji, Chilean authorities hoped to capitalize on the name to promote tourism on the second largest of the Juan Fernandez Islands. At the same time, the largest island in the group, Isla Mas Afuera was renamed Alejandro Selkirk Island. The 1974 Chilean stamps marking the 400th anniversary of the discovery of the Juan Fernandez Islands, and other issues since, affirm Chile's claim to jurisdiction over their Robinson Crusoe Island.
All of this sometimes contradictory philatelic evidence can be reconciled if a confused stamp collector can accept the conclusion that the real Robinson Crusoe Island, the refuge off the coast of Guiana invented by Daniel Defoe, is found in the imaginations of an international audience that has been transported to that obscure location in hundreds of editions, translations and adaptations over the almost three hundred years since the story of Robinson Crusoe was first published. It is the property of those who have been entertained and inspired by the story of the castaway, including collectors like me who have been reminded of that experience by stamps paying tribute to the story or its author.
Go to the Robinson Crusoe's Stamps Home Page. Go to the Eclectic Philatelist Home Page. © Derrick Grose, 2023 |
