The Classic Text: Traditions & Interpretations
Robert Louis Stevenson
Robert Louis Stevenson’s work is prominent among adventure genres. Author of Treasure Island, The Black Arrow, and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, he was also an accomplished poet and an avid traveler, despite his poor health.
Assessments of Stevenson’s literary reception has vacillated over the years, but he has remained a household name, largely due to the popularity of Treasure Island and its many film adaptations, and of A Child’s Garden of Verses, a collection of short poems for and about children. Stevenson’s works have long been favored for visual presentation, and today we present a few illustrated editions from Special Collections
Stevenson’s gothic novella Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, first published in 1886 by Longman, Green in London, is represented here by the Random House edition of 1929 with illustrations by W. A. Dwiggins, the first person to use the phrase “graphic designer”. Half of the illustrations were printed on the standard white paper and the other half were printed on thicker, colored paper. The front of the book also included a facsimile of a page of Stevenson’s original manuscript of the story in a fold out page.
Treasure Island is likely Stevenson’s best known work. It is well known for its many adaptions into film and TV specials, with versions coming from all over the world, including an anime film from the 1970s and at least three from the Soviet union. This edition was published by the Limited Editions Club in 1941 and illustrated by Edward A. Wilson.
While Stevenson lived in California in the late 1870s, he wrote The Old Pacific Capitol: Robert Louis Stevenson’s Story of Monterey. In 1944, Jane Grabhorn’s Colt Press in San Francisco issued a small printing of 500 copies. There are two plates illustrating California landscapes executed by Edward Vischer.
The 1944 edition of A Child’s Garden of Verses, originally published in 1885,was printed by the Limited Editions Club. This volume features an introduction by William Rose Benét and illustrations by Roger Duvoisin. The illustrations are a combination of black and white and color pieces, with cheerfully bright endpapers..
Towards the end of Stevenson’s life, he and his wife, Fanny Stevenson, lived in Upolu, Samoa, along with his step children. While there he wrote a short book of prayers titled Prayers, Written at Vailiam. Vailima was their home on the island. The UWM volume was printed in 1960 by the Macmillan Company, with calligraphy and illustrations by Hilda Scott. Pages feature images from nature, such as birds, flowers, butterflies, and the above fish and water.
While at Vailiam and so far from home in England, Stevenson struck up letter correspondence with several contemporary writers. One of those writers was J. M. Barrie, the author of Peter Pan and Neverland. In 1962 a number of the letters between Barrie and Stevenson were compiled for the first time and published as R. L. S to J. M. Barrie: A Vailima Portrait, with an introduction by Bradford A. Booth. It includes reproductions of images by Stevenson’s stepdaughter Isobel Strong who drew the household members and servants of Vailima. At the time the letters were written, Stevenson was already ill. Unable to write, he dictated the letters to Strong, who included her own commentary. It is presented in the letters in red text inside of parenthesis. A Vailima Portrait was published by Grabhorn Press in San Francisco, California in a limited printing of 475 copies for the California Book Club.
-Sharon Levy, Coe College intern
View Sharon’s previous Classic Text post.