Robert Louis Stevenson: Four Complete Novels/Treasure Island/The Master of Ballantrae/The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hype/Kidnapped

by Robert Louis Stevenson

Four classic novels by the acclaimed adventure and science fiction novelist include Treasure Island, Kidnapped, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and The Master of Ballantrae.

Genres: Classics, Fiction

583 pages, Hardcover

First published July 1, 1988

About the author

Robert Louis Balfour Stevenson was a Scottish novelist, poet, and travel writer, and a leading representative of English literature. He was greatly admired by many authors, including Jorge Luis Borges, Ernest Hemingway, Rudyard Kipling and Vladimir Nabokov.

Most modernist writers dismissed him, however, because he was popular and did not write within their narrow definition of literature. It is only recently that critics have begun to look beyond Stevenson's popularity and allow him a place in the Western canon.

Reviews

[GoldGato · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Mr. Stevenson's books are not for the shelf, they are for the hand; even when you lay them down, let it be on the table for the next comer. Being the most sociable that man has penned in our time, they feel very lonely up there in a stately row. I think their eye is on you the moment you enter the room, and so you are drawn to look at them, and you take a volume down with the impulse that induces one to unchain the dog."

J.M. Barrie, the creator of Peter Pan, wrote that terrific summation of Robert Louis Stevenson and his works, so I won't even dare do a review on each of the masterpieces in this collection.

Instead, I'll review the actual printed book itself. By using a dark green leatherette with gilt and red imprints for the cover, this volume will be the star of the bookshelf. The edge pages are gold gilted and the endpapers are marbled. Beautiful. Since every collector should have some form of Stevenson in the library, this edition of four classics is a very good choice.

Book Season = Year Round (the adventure never ends)

[Jonathan Jerden · Rating 5 out of 5]

Most of my recent reads have been with used paperbacks. Certainly sufficient. But this one is a beautiful leather-bound, where the print and the slightly brown, slightly rough paper has the feel of being aboard a 1790 brig fighting 30-foot seas looking up to the Jolly Roger, with a heavy, death-grip hand on my shoulder belonging to that most evil-eyed Long John Silver.

Treasure Island, and especially Kidnapped are the best . . . the former an excellent read for an early teen, the latter better suited for a late teen or a 20-something.

Wonderful Scottish lore . . . 'fording the firth of Forth' . . . and original pirate talk; the Campbell, Stewart, Mclearen & Mcgreggor clans with their centuries-old tribal fighting; the aftermath of being conquered by the English Crown and the on-going resistance to the invading Redcoats and King George; and the treeless barren of the rugged coastal landscape.

Takes a while to get into Stevenson's style and the Scottish brogue dialect, but once there what a treat!

[Priyesh Waghmare · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just read kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson when i was kid, infact it was my first novel borrowed from a friend who had borrowed it from school library. I had to finish that book quickly caz he had to return it back to library and because i could see my friend engrossed in reading that book so much i had to read it and guess what it was the most best decision of my life. The book is jus fantastic wow jus wow.

[Lora Offord · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked "Treasure Island" and "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde".

"The Master of Ballantrae" was good to start with, but then I kind of lost interest.

"Kidnapped" was also very good, but a little long.