Robert Louis Stevenson First Editions

• Travels with a Donkey in the Cévennes — 1879 · C. Kegan Paul & Co.The true first edition, with a first printing limited to 750 copies, is bound in original gilt-decorated green cloth octavo, with a half-title, a frontispiece illustration by Walter Crane, and a leaf of publisher's advertisements bound in before the half-title. This was Stevenson's third published book, following An Inland Voyage (1878) and Edinburgh: Picturesque Notes (1878), and is an early landmark of the…. The C. Kegan Paul & Co. London edition of 1879 is the true first; a separate American edition from Roberts Brothers of Boston followed later the same year.
• New Arabian Nights — 1882 · Chatto & WindusFirst collected in book form in two volumes by Chatto & Windus in 1882, gathering stories including 'The Suicide Club' and 'The Rajah's Diamond' that had run in magazines from 1877. The first edition collates [12], 269, [3]; viii, 234, [2], 32 pp., the final 32 pages being a publisher's catalogue dated May 1882 bound at the rear of volume II. The publisher's binding is light green cloth stamped decoratively in…. A Henry Holt & Co. New York edition (Leisure Hour Series, no. 141) appeared the same year; the Chatto & Windus London edition of 1882 is the true first. Second-edition Chatto & Windus printings are marked 'Second Edition' on the title page and can be distinguished by additional signature marks and device leaves not present in the first printing.
• Treasure Island — 1883 · Cassell & CompanyFirst book edition: Cassell & Company, London, published 14 November 1883 (title page dated 1883), first printing of 2,000 copies, following serialization in Young Folks (1881-82) as 'The Sea Cook.' Frontispiece map of Treasure Island printed in four colours (often with a tissue guard, frequently now lacking). Earliest-state rear advertisements coded '5R-10.83' (October 1883). First-issue textual points: 'dead…. The UK Cassell 1883 edition is the true first book edition; the 1884 US (Roberts Brothers, Boston) edition follows. Serialization in Young Folks (1881-82, as 'The Sea Cook') predates the book but is not a book edition. The dated rear advertisements ('5R-10.83') and the uncorrected textual readings above confirm the earliest state; because these points are heavily faked, verify several together rather than relying…. Later printings carry an edition statement on the title page or later-dated advertisements, and correct the textual points (e.g., 'vain' for 'rain,' capitalised 'Dead Man's Chest,' a full stop after 'opportunity,' and full pagination on page 127). A copy showing the corrected readings or later ads is a later issue, not the first.
• A Child's Garden of Verses — 1885 · Longmans, Green, and Co.First printing of 1,000 copies, small octavo, collating [2], x, 101, [3]pp, bound in original blue cloth with the spine lettered in gilt, a gilt publisher's device on the front cover, bevelled edges, and top edge gilt. On accepted first-issue copies, the word 'of' in the spine title is set in smaller type than the rest of the lettering, and the list of the author's other works at the front makes no mention of a….
• Prince Otto — 1885 · Chatto & WindusFirst published in one volume by Chatto & Windus on 1 November 1885, shortly after its serialization concluded in Longman's Magazine (April-October 1885). The first edition runs viii, 300 pages, with 32 pages of publisher's advertisements ('Chatto & Windus's List of Books') dated April 1885 stitched in at the rear. The publisher's cloth is green, decorated with a red-brown floral motif stamped on the cover and…. A Roberts Brothers Boston edition followed in 1886; the Chatto & Windus London edition of 1 November 1885 is the true first. A second edition followed later in 1885, and the novel was completely re-set for a the printed price edition in 1900; only the original 1885 setting, with its ad leaves dated April 1885, represents the first-edition text as issued.
• Kidnapped — 1886 · Cassell & CompanyFirst book edition, London 1886. The first-issue points are textual: page 40 line 11 reads 'business'; page 64 line 1 reads 'nine o'clock'; page 101 lines 9-10 read 'Long Islands' (these readings were altered in later printings). The folding map of David Balfour's wanderings is present as a frontispiece and the half-title is present; green cloth gilt. Rear publisher's advertisements bear date codes (such as…. The Cassell London 1886 edition is the true first; the US Scribner edition is secondary. The folding map is part of the book in all copies and is not itself a first-issue point — the textual readings on pages 40, 64, and 101 are the decisive points. Later printings correct the page 40, 64, and 101 readings and carry differently dated rear advertisements.
• Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde — 1886 · Longmans, Green, and Co.Issued simultaneously in light tan printed paper wrappers and in salmon-colored cloth. The book was originally prepared for December 1885; because the date had passed, the '5' in the date on the front wrapper was altered by hand to '6,' so the earliest wrappered copies show this hand-corrected '1886' date. Title reads 'Strange Case' without a leading 'The.' Wrappers are generally taken to precede cloth within the…. Precedence is between editions: the US Charles Scribner's Sons edition (published 5 January 1886) appeared four days before the UK Longmans wrappered issue, so the US edition has chronological priority; the UK Longmans is the first English edition. Within the Longmans issue, wrappers precede cloth. Cloth-only Longmans copies and copies with later-dated advertisements are later states; numerous reprints exist.
• The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde — 1886 · Longmans, Green & Co.Issued in printed paper wrappers and in cloth. On wrappered copies the front-wrapper date was printed '1885' with the final figure altered by hand to '6' (publication was delayed from December 1885 to January 1886); this altered date is the key first-issue point. The Scribner US printing was about 3,000 copies, only roughly 1,250 of them in cloth. The US Scribner edition was issued 5 January 1886, four days before the UK Longmans edition of 9 January 1886, so the US is technically the true first by date — a classic precedence point. Both are collected; wrappered copies are far rarer than cloth. Later printings carry a cleanly printed '1886' wrapper date with no altered figure; any reset text or post-1886 advertisements denote reprints. Cloth copies are common, original-wrapper copies far scarcer.
• The Black Arrow — 1888 · Cassell & Co.First published in book form by Cassell & Co. in 1888 without illustrations (an illustrated edition with plates by H. M. Paget followed only in 1891). The first edition, first issue, is octavo, viii + 324 pages, with rear advertisements dated '5 G. 7.88' and '5 B. 7.88' (July 1888). The publisher's binding is red cloth, the front cover decorated and lettered in black, the rear cover decorated in black, and the…. A Scribner's first American edition was issued the same year. The 1891 Cassell illustrated edition with H. M. Paget's plates is a later, separate edition, not the plain 1888 first.
• The Master of Ballantrae — 1889 · Cassell & Co.First published in book form by Cassell & Co. in the autumn of 1889, after serialization in Scribner's Magazine (November 1888-October 1889). The first issue carries 20 pages of publisher's advertisements at the rear dated July 1889, bound in the publisher's original red cloth stamped in black on the front and rear panels and in black and gilt on the spine. An early-issue textual point is the dropped 'l' from…. Charles Scribner's Sons issued the authorized American edition in New York at nearly the same time; the July-1889-dated Cassell London issue is generally treated as the primary first edition, with Scribner's following within weeks.
• Catriona — 1893 · Cassell & Co.First published by Cassell & Co. in 1893, after serialization in Atalanta (December 1892-September 1893). The first edition is octavo, ix + 371 pages, with publisher's advertisements dated 8.93 (August 1893), an important issue point since later printings carry differently dated ad leaves. The binding is dark blue cloth with gilt titling on the spine, flower-and-leaf patterned endpapers, and untrimmed edges. The American edition, titled David Balfour, was published by Charles Scribner's Sons in 1893 as a separately titled issue with its own textual variants; Cassell's Catriona is the standard first edition under the book's usual title.
• Island Nights' Entertainments — 1893 · Charles Scribner's SonsThe first edition was published in New York by Charles Scribner's Sons in 1893, five days ahead of the first English edition from Cassell & Co., London. The Cassell first English issue is identified by the price on the leaf before the half-title being corrected by over-stamping, and by rear advertisements dated 7G-3.93; its binding is gilt-stamped pictorial blue cloth, the upper cover blocked in gilt with a…. The Scribner's New York edition preceded the Cassell London edition by five days and is the true first; the illustrated Cassell first English edition is nonetheless the state most commonly sought by British-fiction collectors.

More Literary Fiction (US) & Award Winners shelves: Robert Lowell, Robert Ludlum, Robert Penn Warren, Robert Silverberg, Robert Smith Surtees, Robert Stone.

← All authors · All genres · part of the First-Edition Identification resource.