Robert Louis Stevenson

Treasure Island/The Black Arrow/The Treasure of Franchard/Will o' the Mill/The Sire de Malétroit's Door/The House of Eld/The Song of the MorrowStevenson is one of the world's great storytellers. From the gripping opening of Treasure Island, to the unforgettable portrait of Richard III in The Black Arrow, his gift for driving narrative and marvellously paced prose holds the attention of the reader from beginning to end. This volume is designed to showcase the full range of Stevenson's talents as a writer of adventure. Included are not only some of his most famous works but also lesser known gems from The New Arabian Nights and Fables.

Gripping trilogy of short stories about a club for people who wish to end their lives chronicles the exploits of Prince Florizel and his aide as they travel incognito through some of 19th-century London's most dangerous haunts.

The quintessential adventure story that first established pirates in the popular imagination, Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island is edited with an introduction by John Seelye in Penguin Classics. When a mysterious sailor dies in sinister circumstances at the Admiral Benbow inn, young Jim Hawkins stumbles across a treasure map among the dead man's possessions. But Jim soon becomes only too aware that he is not the only one who knows of the map's existence, and his bravery and cunning are tested to the full when, with his friends Squire Trelawney and Dr Livesey, he sets sail in the Hispaniola to track down the treasure. With its swift-moving plot and memorably drawn characters - Blind Pew and Black Dog, the castaway Ben Gunn and the charming but dangerous Long John Silver - Stevenson's tale of pirates, treachery and heroism was an immediate success when it was first published in 1883 and has retained its place as one of the greatest of all adventure stories. In his introduction John Seelye examines Stevenson's life and influences and the novel's place within adventure fiction. This edition also includes Stevenson's essay on the composition of Treasure Island. Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894) was born in Edinburgh, the son of a prosperous civil engineer. Although he began his career as an essayist and travel writer, the success of Treasure Island (1883) and Kidnapped (1886) established his reputation as a writer of tales of action and adventure. Stevenson's Calvinist upbringing lent him a preoccupation with predestination and a fascination with the presence of evil, themes he explored in The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1886), and The Master of Ballantrae (1893). If you enjoyed Treasure Island, you might like Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe, also available in Penguin Classics.

One of the most enduringly popular adventure tales, Treasure Island began in 1881 as a serialized adventure entitled -The Sea-Cook- in the periodical Young Folks. Completed during a stay at Davos, Switzerland, where Stevenson had gone for his health, it was published in 1883 in the form we know today. Set in the eighteenth century, Treasure Island spins a heady tale of piracy, a mysterious treasure map, and a host of sinister characters charged with diabolical intentions. Seen through the eyes of Jim Hawkins, the cabin boy of the Hispaniola, the action-packed adventure tells of a perilous sea journey across the Spanish Main, a mutiny led by the infamous Long John Silver, and a lethal scramble for buried treasure on an exotic isle. Rich in atmosphere and character, Treasure Island continues to mesmerize readers with its perceptive views of the changing nature of human motives.

This intriguing combination of fantasy thriller and moral allegory depicts the gripping struggle of two opposing personalities — one essentially good, the other evil — for the soul of one man. Its tingling suspense and intelligent and sensitive portrayal of man's dual nature reveal Stevenson as a novelist of great skill and originality.

A classic collection of poems captures the joy and magic of childhood with watercolors which pay tribute to a simpler time, celebrating both children and nature. By the illustrator of 1 is One. Reissue.

IN THE SOUTH SEAS records Stevenson's travels with his wife Fanny and their family in the Marquesas, the Paumotus and the Gilbert Islands during 1888-9. Originally drafted in journal form while Stevenson travelled, it was then ambitiously rewrittento describe the islands and islanders as well as Stevenson's own personal experiences. IN THE SOUTH SEAS was published posthumously in 1896. Its combination of personal anecdote and historical account, of autobiography and anthropology, of Stevenson and South Sea Islands, has a particular charm.

The author of Treasure Island and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde reveals his more sensitive, vulnerable face in this collection of verse that ranges widely in style, from folk lyrics to conversational musings, celebrating love, friendship, and nostalgia, among other topics dear to the writer. Reprint.

Richard Lloyd has combined a pastiche of the Robert Louis Stevenson classic with the essential elements of pantomime, including romantic interludes and knockabout fun. The swiftly moving scenes are interchangeable and allow for staging to be as simple or as sophisticated as facilities permit.

"Dublonen! Dublonen!" kreischt John Silvers Papagei, und schon segeln wir mit dem alten, verstockten Piraten und dem neugierigen jungen Jim Hawkins auf dem guten Schiff Hispaniola ins karibische Meer. Dort nämlich ruht auf einer einsamen Insel der Schatz des blutdürstigen Freibeuterkapitäns Flint. Ihn zu heben bedeutet Lebensgefahr. Nur gut, daß Jim im Apfelfaß die Schurken belauscht hat.

Kidnapped - Catriona - The Master of Ballantrae - Weir of HermistonThese four great novels take us deep into Robert Louis Stevenson's imaginative and bitter-sweet relationship with his native country. Kidnapped, and its sequel Catriona, are renowned the world over as supreme stories of adventure and romance. On another level they also explore the subtle divisions of Scottish history and character in the eighteenth century, and (some would say) the present day. The Master of Ballantrae takes a darker and more disturbing turn, with its tale of rival brothers caught in a webof hatred, obsession, love and betrayal which draws them to their end in the frozen wastes of North America. Stevenson's fascination with the divided nature of the human self (most obviously demonstrated in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde) appears again in the Weir of Hermiston with its terrible confrontation between a father and his son. With an unsurpassed combination of physical adventure and psychological insight, The Scottish Novels have moved and thrilled readers and writers from Stevenson's contemporaries to the present day.

A superb adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson's famous story of the unassuming Dr Jekyll and his dark alter-ego Mr Hyde. During one of his audacious experiments trying to separate good from evil in human nature, the kind and gifted Dr Jekyll inadvertently unleashes an alternative personality of pure evil … the mysterious Mr Hyde. As this sinister figure starts causing terror and havoc in foggy London, Jekyll must race to find a cure for his monstrous alter-ego before it takes over for good. This version by David Edgar, first performed at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre in 1996, is a revised and partially re-written version of the adaptation premiered by the Royal Shakespeare Company at the Barbican Theatre, London, in 1991.

Set at the time of the Jacobite uprising, The Master of Ballantrae tells of a family divided. James Durie, Master of Ballantrae, abandons his ancestral home to support the Scottish rebellion - leaving his younger brother Henry, who is faithful to the English crown, to inherit the title of Lord Durrisdeer. But he is to return years later, embittered by battles and a savage life of piracy on the high seas, to demand his inheritance. Turning the people against the Lord, he begins a savage feud with his brother that will lead the pair from the Scottish Highlands to the American Wilderness. Satanic and seductive, the Master was regarded by Stevenson as 'all I know of the devil'; his darkly manipulative schemes dominate this subtle and compelling tragedy. This edition takes as its text the Edinburgh Edition of the novel, the last approved by the author. The introduction considers the novel's inspiration and its place as one of Stevenson's greatest studies in cruelty.

In 1878 Robert Louis Stevenson set out on a walking tour of the Cevennes behind Modestine, the donkey that carried his baggage. The one hundred twenty-mile trip was through difficult country, and Modestine proved to be less than agreeable, too. Although Stevenson's adventure lasted only twelve days, his account suggests a much longer journey, with all sorts of backward glances, detours, and retracing of steps, both on the terrain and in spirit. Stevenson's third book, Travels with a Donkey was originally intended as a lighthearted sketch, a companion-piece to his recent Inland Voyage. Although he would not be recognized as a major author until the publication of Treasure Island and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, one can see his voice developing. Full of charm and instruction, Travels with a Donkey serves as a guide to alternatives to the restless and distracted standard of contemporary travel.

Sommaren 1888 lade skonaren Casco ut från San Francisco och satte kurs på Marquesasöarna. Ombord fanns författaren Robert Louis Stevenson tillsammans med hustru, mor och styvson. Under de kommande åren seglade Stevenson runt i Söderhavet och slog sig slutligen ned på en av Samoaöarna. I Söderhavet är berättelsen om dessa resor och om livet tillsammans med människorna i denna sällsamma övärld. Boken är inte bara en spännande reseskildring utan också en tidig socialantropologisk rapport och en personlig berättelse om en äventyrlig färd som inte alltid leder till det på förhand bestämda målet. Stevenson är en skarpsynt iakttagare och berättar medryckande om livet på Söderhavsöarna. Han skildrar olika folkslag, deras egenskaper ? och enskilda personers egenheter ?språk, myter och legender, tabun och kannibalism, andetro och inställningen till döden. "... en av mitt livs starkaste läsupplevelser. Stevensons språk var unikt i sin fulländning. Man sitter förtrollad, oceantagen, gripen." (Anderz Harning.) "Boken är ett personligt och värdefullt tidsdokument, som än idag är en spännande läsning. Översättaren har väl lyckats fånga Stevensons nyansrika språk." (Gunilla Arvidsson, Btj.)

The publication of Volumes VII and VIII completes this major edition of the letters of Robert Louis Stevenson, an edition comprising 2,800 letters, almost two-thirds of which have never been in print before. These volumes contain some 560 letters that provide a vivid picture of the last four years of Stevenson's life, from 1890 to 1894. Stevenson spent these years in Samoa, where he had gone to improve his health. We learn a great deal about Stevenson's exile in Samoa: the early pioneering days during the establishment of the Vailima Plantation; his life as the head of a large household composed of his wife, Fanny, her two children, his mother, native house servants, and estate workers; his hospitality to native Samoan chiefs and to many white visitors; his passionate involvement in local politics; and his literary work--including David Balfour, the sequel to Kidnapped, and Weir of Hermiston, a masterpiece that he died before completing. Ernest Mehew's detailed annotation elucidates the complications of the Samoan background and provides all the information necessary to enjoy Stevenson's letters to the full.