The Publishing History of the Isle of Pines (The Isle of Pines: Textual History‪)‬

The most striking feature of The Isle of Pines is its complicated publishing history. Not only did the piece appear in three different parts, it also soon developed a life of its own as it travelled around the world through many foreign translations and a variety of adaptations. Judging by the attention it has received since its first publication from both contemporary readers and modern scholars, The Isle, not Plato Redivivus--a weighty political treatise of 1681--should thus be considered Neville's most important and arguably most influential work. In what follows, we will outline the history of The Isle as far as it can be reconstructed from the material available to date. We will do so by building on the work of earlier scholars, such as Max Hippe, Worthington Chauncey Ford, Karl Reichert, Paul Ries, Onofrio Nicastro, and others. The first part of The Isle, which we will call the core text, appeared on June 27, 1668. It consists of the narrative of the English bookkeeper George Pines, who is shipwrecked in the Pacific Ocean while on his way to India in the time of Queen Elizabeth and settles on a lonely island together with four women. The second part appeared on July 22, 1668. It consists of the letter by the Dutch sailor Henry Cornelius Van Sloetten, which relates the discovery of the English Pines on the Pacific island and the story of William Pines, the present ruler of the Isle. The third version of the pamphlet is dated July 27, 1668, exactly a month after the first edition appeared. (1) It consists of the core story narrated by George Pines, Van Sloetten's letter, and some linking material. However, July 27 may not be the actual publication date, for the word "June" may simply have been replaced by "July" on the new title page for the sake of ease. (2) From there, the story of the English Pines began to travel to continental Europe and America.