Among the crew, however, is the treacherous Long John Silver, one of the great originals in English literature, who wants the treasure all to himself. Livesey and Squire Trelawney, Jim sets off in a hired ship in search of Captain Flint' s buried treasure. Like his American soulmate Tom Sawyer, young Jim repeatedly disobeys the orders of his adult companions - and by so doing always saves the day. The tale is told by an adventurous boy, Jim Hawkins, who spirits a treasure map away from the clutches of the menacing Blind Pew.

Treasure Island, Stevenson' s first full-length work of fiction, immediately secured his fame and, unlike sundry other 'entertainments' of the period, continues to captivate readers of all ages. During a holiday in his native Scotland, a tubercular and struggling writer and his step-son devised a map that led to imaginary treasure - and enduring literature. If you enjoyed Treasure Island, you might like Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe, also available in Penguin Classics. Stevenson's Calvinist upbringing lent him a preoccupation with predestination and a fascination with the presence of evil, themes he explored in The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1886), and The Master of Ballantrae (1893). Although he began his career as an essayist and travel writer, the success of Treasure Island (1883) and Kidnapped (1886) established his reputation as a writer of tales of action and adventure. Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894) was born in Edinburgh, the son of a prosperous civil engineer. This edition also includes Stevenson's essay on the composition of Treasure Island. In his introduction John Seelye examines Stevenson's life and influences and the novel's place within adventure fiction.

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. 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. 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.

Treasure island book