Treasure Island AND Kidnapped (Unabridged and fully illustrated)

Treasure Island, a coming of age novel, is perhaps the best adventure story of all time.  It is certainly the quintessential pirate tale, and together with its many movie adaptations it has created our idea of the pirate world: treasure maps with an “X”, the one legged pirate, the parrot on the shoulder, the eye-patch, the black spot and even phrases like “shiver my timbers,” and the captain's eternal song: 

“Fifteen men on the dead man's chest—

     Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!

Drink and the devil had done for the rest—

     Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!”

The young Jim Hawkins is hired by an old seadog Billy Bones to look out for a sailor with one leg.   Despite this precaution, Bones is found dead in suspicious circumstances. Searching through his belongings Jim finds a treasure map, which he shows to the local doctor and a wealthy squire. They hire a ship and captain, but unwittingly they hire the ruthless and immensely strong Long John Silver, who has designs on the treasure, as their cook …

Stevenson published Kidnapped a few years later, and it too was a success.  The seventeen year old Scottish lad David Balfour, whose parents have recently dies goes out to make his way in the world.  His first stop is his uncle, who in order to steal David’s inheritance, sells him to a ship’s captain, who in turn plans to sell him into slavery in the Carolinas.  The ship, encountering adverse winds and fog hits a small boat near the Hebrides, killing all on the boat but Alan Stewart, who is brought on board. As the story unfolds Alan and David encounter and overcome numerous dangers to achieve the justice that each desires.

This edition contains 130 illustrations by Louis Rhead, the well known children’s book illustrator.  In addition, each chapter begins with an illustrated capital. The text is modern crisp easy to read font and would be a pleasure for children or adults to read.

The Scottish writer Robert Louis Stevenson, a celebrity during his lifetime, is best known for Treasure Island, Kidnapped, The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, A Child's Garden of Verse. While being a writer he was great traveller, journeying to Europe, America and the South Pacific, where spent his last years in Samoa.  There he was loved by the Samoans who called him Tusitala (Samoan for "Teller of Tales").