for I knew in general what it contain’d
*
(reverse of map, facing page 81, rotated 90º, cropped; levels: 60 .90 240)
Daniel Defoe. The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, of York, Mariner: Who lived eight and twenty Years all alone in an un-inhabited Island on the Coast of America, near the Mouth of the Great River of Oroonoque... The Third Edition, London. 1719.
Bodleian copy, digitized July 12, 2006
Crusoe starts with something like his own hardware store —
“...for I had other things which my Eye was more upon, as first Tools to work with on Shore, and it was after long searching that I found out the Carpenter’s Chest, which was indeed a very useful Prize to me, and much more valuable than a Ship Loading of Gold would have been at that time; I got it down to my Raft, even whole as it was, without losing time to look into it, for I knew in general what it contain’d... ¶ ...and besides the Tools which were in the Chest, I found two Saws, an Axe, and a Hammer, and with this Cargo I put to Sea...”
p 58
and, on his second trip to the wrecked ship —
“...I brought away several Things very useful to me; as first, in the Carpenter’s Stores I found two or three Bags full of Nails and Spikes, a great Skrew-Jack, a Dozen or two of Hatchets, and above all, that most useful Thing call’d a Grindstone...”
p 62 (misnumbered p 63)
“So that had my Cave to be seen, it look’d like a general Magazine of all Necessary things, and I had every thing so ready at my Hand, that it was a great Pleasure to me to see all my Goods in such Order, and especially to find my Stock of all necessaries so great.&lrdquo;
p 80
—
Like many of the figures in my examples of “hardware store” fiction, Crusoe ends up, where he does, by accident.