An Old Song and Edifying Letters of the Rutherford Family

Rarely do modern readers have the pleasure of discovering two new works by an author as well known as Robert Lewis Stevenson. "An Old Song, " a grim tale of family strife set in 19th century Scotland, is the first work of fiction Stevenson ever published. Yet until now it had remained undiscovered for than a century. "Edifying Letters of the Rutherford Family," the other new Stevenson work appearing for the first time here, comes from Stevenson's unfinished manuscript draft now in the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University. Clearly autobiographical, it gives the fullest picture of Stevenson's trials as a young man in late Victorian Edinburgh. This is a volume to alter and deepen one's impression of Stevenson, a major Scottish writer whose importance is only now beginning to be understood.