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's detailed annotation provides all the background necessary to fully enjoy Stevenson's letters.

Robert Louis Stevenson, celebrated author of such treasured classics as Treasure Island, Kidnapped, and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, has long been recognized as a master storyteller and essayist. But he was also a delightful and instructive letter writer. Now, in the centenary of his death, Yale University Press is publishing the definitive edition of Stevenson's collected letters in eight handsomely produced volumes. The edition will contain nearly 2800 letters; only 1100 have been published before, and many of these were abridged or expurgated. The letters make fascinating reading, not only for those interested in Stevenson's life and work but also for everyone interested in nineteenth-century literature and social history. The letters in volumes I and II, which cover the years from 1854 to 1879, reveal Stevenson's struggles to achieve success as an author. We learn of his years as a student, his work, and his travels. We meet the people who became his chief correspondents for the rest of his life, including Sidney Colvin, who was to be his literary mentor and lifelong friend; the poet and critic W.E. Henley; and Fanny Osbourne, who later became Stevenson's wife. During this period Stevenson published stories and essays and two books, An Inland Voyage and Edinburgh: Picturesque Notes, and set off on the journey to the Cevennes later immortalized in his famous Travels with a Donkey. Ernest Mehew's introduction and detailed annotation place the letters in a biographical framework that gives a chronology of Stevenson's life; explains his family background; and identifies the people he met, the literary projects he planned, and the contemporary events to which he refers.

Millions of readers throughout the world continue to enjoy Treasure Island, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, A Child's Garden of Verses, and other books by Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894). A celebrated author in many different fields of literature, Stevenson is also recognized as a highly engaging and prolific correspondent: he penned over 2,800 letters, which are contained in eight critically acclaimed volumes published by Yale University Press. In this book, 317 of Stevenson's most interesting and revealing letters represent each stage of his mature life. With a linking narrative and full annotation, Ernest Mehew sets the letters in the context of Stevenson's remarkable life. Beginning with the days of his troubled youth in Edinburgh, Stevenson's letters go on to tell of his love for Frances Sitwell, a beautiful, older married woman; a reckless journey to California in pursuit of Fanny Osbourne, the woman who became his wife; their worldwide but vain search for a healthy place to live; and a period of adventure in the South Seas, where Stevenson wrote some of his best work and became passionately involved in Samoan life. The letters show the author's zest for living despite daunting illnesses, his struggles with his own writing, his literary tastes, and his affection for his friends. Stevenson writes in many moods, ranging from playful and witty to deeply serious. Better than any biography ever could, these letters in Stevenson's own words tell the real story of his life.