The Letters of Robert Louis Stevenson

The Letters of Robert Louis Stevenson

Robert Louis Stevenson • Yale University Press

ISBN-10: 0300061900 · ISBN-13: 978‑0300061901 · 1995

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The Letters of Robert Louis Stevenson edited by Bradford A. Booth and Ernest Mehew. Yale University Press, New Haven and London. 1995, First Editions, Mixed States. Original Dust jackets, uniform dark green cloth binding measuring 9.25 x 6.25”, 8vos. Vol. I: 1854 - April 1874, Second Printing. Vol. II: April 1874 - July 1879, Second Printing. Vol. III: August 1879 - September 1882, First Printing. Vol. IV: October 1882 - June 1884, First Printing. Vol. V: July 1884 - August 1887, First Printing. Vol. VI: August 1887 - September 1890, First Printing. Vol. VII: September 1890 - December 1892, First Printing. Vol. VIII: January 1893 - December 1894, First Printing. In good condition. Dust jackets normally sc￭ at edges and corners, but remain attractive. Green cloth boards all lightly r믭 at edges and corners; heads and tails of spines bumped on Vol. VI. Text-blocks clean; light toning to edges of leaves. Bindings tight and intact. A complete set. Please see photos and ask questions, if any, before purchasing. 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 (1923 - 2011) was a schoolboy at Huntingdon Grammar School when he first became interested in the work of Robert Louis Stevenson, and it was a passion that was to last throughout his life. In the 1960s he was asked by Yale University Press to become assistant editor on the Letters of Robert Louis Stevenson and took over as sole editor in 1968. Working only with his wife, Joyce, as his assistant, and never using a computer, he located, sorted, transcribed, dated, annotated and linked some 2,800 letters, the majority of which had never been published before. The eight volumes of the letters were published in 1994 to 1995, and so represented over a quarter of a century’s assiduous work on Mehew’s part. Complete set, First Editions first or second issues.

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