Treasure Island / Kidnapped

Sebastian Kelly hardcover edition. 1999 edition, first printing, complete number line. Faux leather spine and quarter binding; gold printing. Decorated endpapers, massively illustrated in black and white throughout, with sixteen full color illustrations by Eleanor Plaisted Abbott, Wall Paget, and David Price. EVERYONE DREAMS OF FINDING BURIED TREASURE, and that is why Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island is such an enduring classic. Treasure Island, published in 1883, gave Stevenson his first popular success, and it's easy to see why it remains a favorite of readers of all ages. The tale of young Jim Hawkins and his unlikely band of adventurers strikes at the very heart of our own desire to lose ourselves among hidden chests, cryptic maps, and treacherous companions. If you loved it when you read it earlier, you owe it to yourself to revisit the deceitful Long John Silver, the dull but reliable Dr. Livesey, and the pompously naive Squire Trelawney. If this is your first visit to the high seas, find yourself a comfortable chair, because you won't be putting the book down until the last mutineer is brought to justice and last gold coin counted. KIDNAPPED: Set against the aftermath of the 1745 Jacobite Rebellion, the gripping drama of Kidnapped-originally published in 1886-takes readers to the danger and intrigue of a Scotland sundered by revolution. The story is told by David Balfour, a young Whig and Lowlander whose odyssey is a microcosm of the struggles besetting his country. Tricked by a miserly uncle, he survives attempted murder, kidnap, and shipwreck, only to escape through the Highlands in the company of Alan Breck-a Jacobite adamantly opposed to Whigs like Balfour. Running for their lives, the two fugitives must rely on each other even as the ancient misunderstandings between them force tensions to the breaking point. A riveting page-turner and work of social commentary, Kidnapped is one of Robert Louis Stevenson's greatest works.