Treasure Island — The Companion Edition (eBook)

It began with a map. On a rainy holiday in Braemar in 1881, Robert Louis Stevenson drew an island — Spy-glass Hill, Skeleton Island, three red crosses — to amuse his stepson, and then wrote the novel to fit it. Every pirate you have met since lives in its shadow.

This is Stevenson's complete Treasure Island — all thirty-four chapters in six parts, unabridged, in the text of the 1883 first book edition (Cassell & Company), with the dedication to "S.L.O." and the verses "To the Hesitating Purchaser" restored to their first-edition places — and, facing the title page as it did in 1883, the first edition's own chart of the island, restored from a scan of the first edition: the three red crosses, "Bulk of treasure here," Flint's Savannah inscription of 1754, and the printed note that J. Hawkins struck out the latitude and longitude. Wrapped around the novel is a companion written for reading together: an original introduction — the map that started it, the Young Folks serial published under the name "Captain George North," and Stevenson's stepson's part in the book's making; a Who's Who of the Hispaniola's company, from Jim Hawkins and Long John Silver to Ben Gunn and the parrot Captain Flint; four explainers — a glossary of nautical terms and shipboard life, the 18th-century money of pieces of eight and the £700,000 hoard, the real pirate history behind Flint's crew (the real Israel Hands, marooning, and the one documented case of buried treasure), and how Stevenson builds suspense; a short life of Stevenson; a three-meeting reading schedule; and forty-four discussion questions, spoiler-fenced part by part, so no meeting spoils the hunt.

The novel's text and the 1883 chart are public domain worldwide. All companion material is original to this edition. This is an independent publication, not affiliated with or endorsed by any screen adaptation of the novel.

Formats: EPUB eBook ($9.99, this listing). Paperback ($14.99) and hardcover ($24.99) follow on KDP; the printable Book Club Kit is available in this store.