TREASURE ISLAND

Robert Louis Stevenson's cherished, unforgettable adventure magically captures the thrill of a sea voyage and a treasure hunt through the eyes of its teenage protagonist, Jim Hawkins. Crossing the Atlantic in search of the buried cache, Jim and the ship's crew must brave the elements and a mutinous charge led by the quintessentially ruthless pirate Long John Silver. Brilliantly conceived and splendidly executed, it is a novel that has seized the imagination of generations of adults and children alike. And as David Cordingly points out in his Introduction, Treasure Island is also the best and most influential of all the stories about pirates.

Edinburgh-born Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894) began his writing career as an essayist and travel writer, but the success of TREASURE ISLAND (1883) and KIDNAPPED (1886) established his reputation for tales of adventure and action. During the final years of his life, Stevenson's creative range developed and he wrote The Beach of Falesa and began The Weir of Hermiston. John Seelye is graduate research professor of American Literature at the University of Florida.