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  • Published: 18 September 2000
  • ISBN: 9780140437683
  • Imprint: Penguin Classics
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 240
  • RRP: $19.99

Treasure Island




First time in Penguin Classics for this quintessential adventure story

The quintessential adventure story that first established pirates in the popular imagination 

When a mysterious sailor dies in sinister circumstances at the Admiral Benbow inn, young Jim Hawkins stumbles across a treasure map among the dead man's possessions. But Jim soon becomes only too aware that he is not the only one who knows of the map's existence, and his bravery and cunning are tested to the full when, with his friends Squire Trelawney and Dr Livesey, he sets sail in the Hispaniola to track down the treasure. With its swift-moving plot and memorably drawn characters—Blind Pew and Black Dog, the castaway Ben Gunn and the charming but dangerous Long John Silver—Stevenson's tale of pirates, treachery and heroism was an immediate success when it was first published in 1883 and has retained its place as one of the greatest of all adventure stories.

For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

  • Published: 18 September 2000
  • ISBN: 9780140437683
  • Imprint: Penguin Classics
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 240
  • RRP: $19.99

Other books in the series

Emma
Persuasion
A Dog's Heart
The Black Tulip
The Lady of the Camellias
Selected Poetry
On Sparta
Man and Superman
Saint Joan
Botchan
Kusamakura
Sanshiro
Love
Annals
Military Dispatches

About the author

Robert Louis Stevenson

Robert Louis Stevenson was born in Edinburgh in 1850. Chronically ill with bronchitis and possibly tuberculosis, Stevenson withdrew from Engineering at Edinburgh University in favour of Studying Law. Although he passed the bar and became an advocate in 1875, he knew that his true work was as a writer.

Between 1876 and his death in 1894, Stevenson wrote prolifically. His published essays, short stories, fiction, travel books, plays, letters and poetry number in dozens. The most famous of his works include Travels With A Donkey in the Cevennes (1879), New Arabian Nights (1882), Treasure Island (1883), The Strange Case of Doctor Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1887), Thrawn Janet (1887) and Kidnapped (1893).

After marrying Fanny Osbourne in 1880 Stevenson continued to travel and to write about his experiences. His poor health led him and his family to Valima in Samoa, where they settled. During his days there Stevenson was known as ‘Tusitala’ or ‘The Story Teller’. His love of telling romantic and adventure stories allowed him to connect easily with the universal child in all of us. ‘Fiction is to grown men what play is to the child,’ he said.

Robert Louis Stevenson died in Valima in 1894 of a brain haemorrhage.

Also by Robert Louis Stevenson

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Praise for Treasure Island

"Over Treasure Island I let my fire die in winter without knowing I was freezing."

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Article
Classic of the month: Treasure Island

In January we took a voyage through time to revisit Robert Louis Stevenson’s enduring classic, Treasure Island.

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