Treasure Island
by Robert Louis Stevenson
Allyn and Bacon, 1915, Boston
CONDITION:
This book is in good condition. Hardcover, No Dust Jacket. This is a used book with some shelf wear. Please take a look at the pictures to ascertain the condition and state of this item. Blue cloth boards are worn along edges and corners with some surface rubbing. Bumped corners. Rear hinge cracked. Binding square. Text block is evenly toned; supple. Some penciled inscriptions on rear endpaper.
ATTRIBUTES:
Illustrated edition. Hardcover. No dust jacket. Bound in cloth over boards.
DESCRIPTION:
Treasure Island is a classic adventure and coming-of-age novel that follows young Jim Hawkins as he embarks on a perilous voyage to find buried pirate gold. The story is driven by themes of greed, loyalty, and the complex ambiguity of human morality, notably embodied by the multifaceted and charismatic pirate Long John Silver. Beyond its gripping plot of mutiny and maritime exploration, the book explores the tension between duty and self-preservation, presenting a world where heroes and villains are rarely absolute.
Authored by Robert Louis Stevenson, a celebrated Scottish writer of the late 19th century, the novel originated from an imaginative map he drew during a holiday with his stepson. Though plagued by health issues throughout his life, Stevenson channeled his vivid storytelling gifts and youthful romanticism into a narrative style that revolutionized adventure fiction. Initially serialized in a children's magazine under a pseudonym, the work became Stevenson's first major commercial and critical breakthrough.
Historically, Treasure Island is widely credited with shaping modern popular culture's perception of pirates, popularizing tropes such as deserted tropical islands, one-legged buccaneers, and maps marked with an explicit target. Its literary significance lies in its elevation of children's adventure literature into a masterclass of atmospheric prose and psychological depth. For book collectors, this timeless adventure holds immense appeal as a cornerstone of 19th-century literature and a foundational text in the adventure genre.
FLASHBACK TO 1915 WHEN THIS BOOK WAS PUBLISHED:
When this book was published in 1915, the industrial rumble of Boston’s shipyards echoed a world abruptly upended by the unprecedented carnage of the Great War raging across Europe and the destructive debut of the German U-boat blockade. Amidst this geopolitical turmoil, Albert Einstein radically reshaped our understanding of the universe by completing his general theory of relativity, while the cultural landscape mourned the loss of Booker T. Washington, a towering architect of American civil rights.
Page Count: 259
Location: ABS-1-1-013