New Releases by Robert Louis 1850-1894 Stevenson

Traditionally considered a coming-of-age story, Treasure Island is an adventure tale known for its atmosphere, characters and action, and also as a wry commentary on the ambiguity of morality — as seen in Long John Silver — unusual for children's literature then and now. It is one of the most frequently dramatized of all novels. The influence of Treasure Island on popular perceptions of pirates is enormous, including treasure maps marked with an "X", schooners, the Black Spot, tropical islands, and one-legged seamen carrying parrots on their shoulders

Set in 18th-century Scotland, *Kidnapped* follows the follies of young David Balfour. Betrayed by his uncle, he is forced into the terrible world of slavery. Following a shipwreck, David finds himself associated with the alluring Jacobite rebel Alan Breck Stewart. They travel through the Scottish Highlands, united in their desire to retrieve David's rightful fortune and exonerate themselves of a crime in which they had no involvement.

A kind and well-respected doctor can turn himself into a murderous madman by taking a secret drug he's created.

Mr. Gabriel Utterson is a serious, austere lawyer living a humdrum life in Victorian London. Yet there is a strange clause in his friend, Dr. Henry Jekyll's will: should he disappear for more than 3 months, everything will be inherited by Hyde. But after Edward Hyde's darker nature is revealed one dark winters night, Mr. Utterson begins to investigate the connection between the two men, and finds the dark secret binding them closer then he could have ever thought imaginable. Adapted countless times in film, some times in video game form, and referenced countless times in popular culture, here is the story that started it all: The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde!

While going through the possessions of a deceased guest who owed them money, the mistress of the inn and her son find a treasure map that leads to a pirate fortune as well as great danger.

First published as a serialized children's story in 1881–1882, Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island has become an enduring classic. It has all the elements of a great adventure story: a plot full of twists and turns, an escalating sense of treachery and impending disaster, and a quintessential villain. Teenager Jim Hawkins finds a map titled “Treasure Island” in the belongings of a stricken lodger at the Admiral Benbow Inn in 1750s England. He soon finds himself aboard the schooner Hispaniola with a crew of disguised pirates headed to the Caribbean on a quest to find buried treasure. Long John Silver, the peg-legged cook, is the leader of this wretched crew. He is both engaging and ruthless, feared by even his barbarous accomplices, and a shape-shifter, pretending to be Jim's good friend and enemy, secretly plotting a mutiny. When mutiny begins, Jim must save the day. This beloved adventure story is pure fiction—but fiction well grounded in historical and geographical reality. In The Annotated Treasure Island, editor and researcher Simon Barker-Benfield meticulously and lovingly annotates this voyage, offering crucial factual information, a sociopolitical context, and clear technical explanations that bring you closer to the action. Lavishly illustrated with pictures of nautical equipment, parts of ships, and period maps, The Annotated Treasure Island brings the seafaring vernacular to life. You'll learn about “blocks,” “backstays,” and “shrouds.” And you'll see Jim and the crew handle the Hispaniola, whether it's the “simple” chore of raising the anchor—which in a similar, real vessel could require three hours'-worth of hauling in a very slimy cable six inches at a time—or the difficulty and meaning of “warping” and “putting a man in the chains” in order to take depth soundings. The story illustrations by Louis Rhead (1857-1926) deftly draw out the escalating dramatic tension. Would all the risk and hardship have been worth it? Just how much treasure was the crew after? What could one have bought with 700,000 pounds sterling in the 1700s? Even that question is answered in this newly annotated edition: it would have been enough to buy and outfit a fleet of eleven 104-gun battleships of the period. Seven hundred thousand pounds sterling was serious money, enough money that some men would do almost anything to get it.