Robert Louis Stevenson

Robert Louis Stevenson, long recognized as a master storyteller and essayist, was also one of the finest and most delightful of letter writers. Yale University Press is now publishing the definitive edition of Stevenson's collected letters in eight handsomely produced volumes. The edition will contain nearly 2,800 letters, only 1,100 of which have been published before. Volumes III and IV cover the period from August 1879 to June 1884. The six hundred letters tell for the first time the full story of Stevenson's reckless journey to California as an "amateur emigrant," during which he gained a wife but wrecked his health. They describe his return to Europe and his futile search to improve his health in Scotland, Switzerland, and France and reveal interesting aspects of the writing of Treasure Island, Virginibus Puerisque (his first volume of collected essays), and many poems later collected in Underwoods and in A Child's Garden of Verses. Volumes V and VI cover the period from July 1884 to September 1890 and comprise over nine hundred letters. During this time, Stevenson lived as a chronic invalid for three years in Bournemouth, England; searched for improved health in the United States and the South Seas; and achieved fame and success with the Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Kidnapped, and A Child's Garden of Verses. The letters convey Stevenson's courage and gaiety in the face of illness and his affection for his family and friends. They also reveal the devoted care given him by his wife, Fanny Stevenson. Ernest Mehew's detailed annotation provides all the background necessary to fully enjoy Stevenson's letters.

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.

Robert Louis Stevenson, long recognized as a master storyteller and essayist, was also one of the finest and most delightful of letter writers. Yale University Press is now publishing the definitive edition of Stevenson's collected letters in eight handsomely produced volumes. The edition will contain nearly 2,800 letters, only 1,100 of which have been published before. Volumes III and IV cover the period from August 1879 to June 1884. The six hundred letters tell for the first time the full story of Stevenson's reckless journey to California as an "amateur emigrant," during which he gained a wife but wrecked his health. They describe his return to Europe and his futile search to improve his health in Scotland, Switzerland, and France and reveal interesting aspects of the writing of Treasure Island, Virginibus Puerisque (his first volume of collected essays), and many poems later collected in Underwoods and in A Child's Garden of Verses. Volumes V and VI cover the period from July 1884 to September 1890 and comprise over nine hundred letters. During this time, Stevenson lived as a chronic invalid for three years in Bournemouth, England; searched for improved health in the United States and the South Seas; and achieved fame and success with the Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Kidnapped, and A Child's Garden of Verses. The letters convey Stevenson's courage and gaiety in the face of illness and his affection for his family and friends. They also reveal the devoted care given him by his wife, Fanny Stevenson. Ernest Mehew's detailed annotation provides all the background necessary to fully enjoy Stevenson's letters.

Robert Louis Stevenson, long recognized as a master storyteller and essayist, was also one of the finest and most delightful of letter writers. Yale University Press is now publishing the definitive edition of Stevenson's collected letters in eight handsomely produced volumes. The edition will contain nearly 2,800 letters, only 1,100 of which have been published before. Volumes III and IV cover the period from August 1879 to June 1884. The six hundred letters tell for the first time the full story of Stevenson's reckless journey to California as an "amateur emigrant," during which he gained a wife but wrecked his health. They describe his return to Europe and his futile search to improve his health in Scotland, Switzerland, and France and reveal interesting aspects of the writing of Treasure Island, Virginibus Puerisque (his first volume of collected essays), and many poems later collected in Underwoods and in A Child's Garden of Verses. Volumes V and VI cover the period from July 1884 to September 1890 and comprise over nine hundred letters. During this time, Stevenson lived as a chronic invalid for three years in Bournemouth, England; searched for improved health in the United States and the South Seas; and achieved fame and success with the Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Kidnapped, and A Child's Garden of Verses. The letters convey Stevenson's courage and gaiety in the face of illness and his affection for his family and friends. They also reveal the devoted care given him by his wife, Fanny Stevenson. Ernest Mehew's detailed annotation provides all the background necessary to fully enjoy Stevenson's letters.

First published as a serial in YOUNG FOLKS between May and July 1886 and now reprinted in an Everyman edition on the centenary of Stevenson's death. Rowland Hilder is famous for his paintings of the English countryside but his work in book illustration covered a much wider canvas.

KIDNAPPED is a memoir of the activities of David Balfour in the year 1751. Young Balfour is cheated of his inheritance by his malicious Uncle Ebenezer who has him kidnapped and put on a ship bound for the Carolinas. Not many days underway, the ship runs into a small boat in the fog. Only one man is rescued from the smaller vessel. He is Alan Breck, a Scotsman returning from political exile in France. Balfour and Breck are thrown together on their voyage, and thus begins a tale of events which includes shipwreck, murder, flight and intrigue.

Robert Louis Stevenson, celebrated author of such treasured classics as Treasure Island, Kidnapped, and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, has long been recognized as a master storyteller and essayist. But he was also a delightful and instructive letter writer. Now, in the centenary of his death, Yale University Press is publishing the definitive edition of Stevenson's collected letters in eight handsomely produced volumes. The edition will contain nearly 2800 letters; only 1100 have been published before, and many of these were abridged or expurgated. The letters make fascinating reading, not only for those interested in Stevenson's life and work but also for everyone interested in nineteenth-century literature and social history. The letters in volumes I and II, which cover the years from 1854 to 1879, reveal Stevenson's struggles to achieve success as an author. We learn of his years as a student, his work, and his travels. We meet the people who became his chief correspondents for the rest of his life, including Sidney Colvin, who was to be his literary mentor and lifelong friend; the poet and critic W. E. Henley; and Fanny Osbourne, who later became Stevenson's wife. During this period Stevenson published stories and essays and two books, An Inland Voyage and Edinburgh: Picturesque Notes, and set off on the journey to the Cevennes later immortalized in his famous Travels with a Donkey. Ernest Mehew's introduction and detailed annotation place the letters in a biographical framework that gives a chronology of Stevenson's life; explains his family background; and identifies the people he met, the literary projects he planned, and the contemporary events to which he refers.

Robert Louis Stevenson, long recognized as a master storyteller and essayist, was also one of the finest and most delightful of letter writers. Yale University Press is now publishing the definitive edition of Stevenson's collected letters in eight handsomely produced volumes. The edition will contain nearly 2,800 letters, only 1,100 of which have been published before. Volumes III and IV cover the period from August 1879 to June 1884. The six hundred letters tell for the first time the full story of Stevenson's reckless journey to California as an "amateur emigrant," during which he gained a wife but wrecked his health. They describe his return to Europe and his futile search to improve his health in Scotland, Switzerland, and France and reveal interesting aspects of the writing of Treasure Island, Virginibus Puerisque (his first volume of collected essays), and many poems later collected in Underwoods and in A Child's Garden of Verses. Volumes V and VI cover the period from July 1884 to September 1890 and comprise over nine hundred letters. During this time, Stevenson lived as a chronic invalid for three years in Bournemouth, England; searched for improved health in the United States and the South Seas; and achieved fame and success with the Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Kidnapped, and A Child's Garden of Verses. The letters convey Stevenson's courage and gaiety in the face of illness and his affection for his family and friends. They also reveal the devoted care given him by his wife, Fanny Stevenson. Ernest Mehew's detailed annotation provides all the background necessary to fully enjoy Stevenson's letters.

Robert Louis Stevenson, celebrated author of such treasured classics as Treasure Island, Kidnapped, and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, has long been recognized as a master storyteller and essayist. But he was also a delightful and instructive letter writer. Now, in the centenary of his death, Yale University Press is publishing the definitive edition of Stevenson's collected letters in eight handsomely produced volumes. The edition will contain nearly 2800 letters; only 1100 have been published before, and many of these were abridged or expurgated. The letters make fascinating reading, not only for those interested in Stevenson's life and work but also for everyone interested in nineteenth-century literature and social history. The letters in volumes I and II, which cover the years from 1854 to 1879, reveal Stevenson's struggles to achieve success as an author. We learn of his years as a student, his work, and his travels. We meet the people who became his chief correspondents for the rest of his life, including Sidney Colvin, who was to be his literary mentor and lifelong friend; the poet and critic W. E. Henley; and Fanny Osbourne, who later became Stevenson's wife. During this period Stevenson published stories and essays and two books, An Inland Voyage and Edinburgh: Picturesque Notes, and set off on the journey to the Cevennes later immortalized in his famous Travels with a Donkey. Ernest Mehew's introduction and detailed annotation place the letters in a biographical framework that gives a chronology of Stevenson's life; explains his family background; and identifies the people he met, the literary projects he planned, and the contemporary events to which he refers.

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.

Acclaimed by Henry James as Robert Louis Stevenson's best novel, Kidnapped achieves what Stevenson called, "the particular crown and triumph of the artist...not simply to convince, but to enchant." Spirited, romantic, and full of danger, Kidnapped is Robert Louis Stevenson's classic of high adventure. Beloved by generations, it is the saga of David Balfour, a young heir whose greedy uncle connives to do him out of his inherited fortune and plots to have him seized and sold into slavery. But honor, loyalty, and courage are rewarded; the orphan and castaway survives kidnapping and shipwreck, is rescued by a daredevil of a rogue, and makes a thrilling escape to freedom across the wild highlands of Scotland.

With an Introduction and Notes by Dr Tim Middleton, Head of English Studies, University of Ripon and York. In seeking to discover his inner self, the brilliant Dr Jekyll discovers a monster. First published to critical acclaim in 1886, this mesmerising thriller is a terrifying study of the duality of man's nature, and it is the book which established Stevenson's reputation as a writer. Also included in this volume is Stevenson's 1887 collection of short stories, The Merry Men and Other Tales and Fables. The Merry Men is a gripping Highland tale of shipwrecks and madness; Markheim, the sinister study of the mind of a murderer; Thrawn Janet, a spine-chilling tale of demonic possession; Olalla, a study of degeneration and incipient vampirism in the Spanish mountains; Will O' the Mill, a thought-provoking fable about a mountain inn-keeper; and The Treasure of Franchard, a study of French bourgeois life.

‘Fifteen men on the dead man's chest-Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum!’ Treasure Island is a tale of pirates and villains, maps, treasure and shipwreck, and is perhaps the best adventure story ever written. When young Jim Hawkins finds a packet in Captain Flint's sea chest, he could not know that the map inside it would lead him to unimaginable treasure. Shipping as cabin boy on the Hispaniola, he sails with Squire Trelawney, Captain Smollett, Dr Livesey, the sinister Long John Silver and a frightening crew to Treasure Island. There, mutiny, murder and mayhem lead to a thrilling climax.

First published in 1885, Stevenson's verses so truly reflect the feelings of young children--about being small, the bliss of going up in a swing so high, discovering one's shadow, happiness and sorrow and dreaming--that they have never ceased to be an essential part of a child's library. Robinson's beautiful pictures originally appeared in 1896 in the first illustrated edition.

Perhaps the greatest of all adventure stories for boys and girls, Treasure Island began, a brave boy who finds himself among pirates, and of the sinister pirate-cook Long John Silver holds children as entranced today as it did a century ago. It has appeared with illustrations by many leading artists, but none so apt as Peake's--first published in 1949 and out of print until now.

Stevenson's great adventure story, set in the 18th century, was conceived in the Scottish Highlands, where the author and his 12-year-old stepson amused themselves by making a map that showed the location of buried treasure on an island. The illustrations first appeared in 1949.

Stevenson's gift as an author and poet for children lay partly in his lack of condescension towards them, and he preserved a large element of the child in his own personality. He wrote many of these poems whilst ill in bed, and the illustrations were first published shortly after his death.

Two of Stevenson's historical novels set against the Scottish landscape and featuring psychological studies of individuals. The unfinished "Weir of Hermiston", on which the author was working at the time of his death, is an account of the conflict between a powerful father and his rebellious son.

The doppelganger, the ghostly double infecting the soul, was a popular fictional subject for late nineteenth-century writers, and it found its most brilliant realization in Robert Louis Stevenon's story of Dr Jekyll, whose reckless genius allows him to bring his own appalling double to life. The finest horror story in our language, Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde is also a metaphysical fairy-tale of stunning perspicacity. Also included in this collection are Markheim, A Lodging for the Night, Thrawn Janet, The Body-Snatcher and The Misadventures of John Nicholson.