Essay on a hitherto unknown Robinsonade-type of play "Zelis en Inkle", written by 18-19th century Dutch poet Willem Bilderdijk, and its genesis. The book presents as Dutch literary novelties the full text of the play together with prose and poetry by Bilderdijk on the same subject of the desert island. De Jong shows that de Dutch playwright was particularly influenced by Metastasio, Arthur Murphy, Lucas Pater and Chamfort.