Robert Lewis Balfour Stevenson was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, the son of a lighthouse engineer. As a child he was often sick, especially during the winter months, possibly due to chronic bronchiectasis. He often tutored at home due to his illnesses, but at age eleven he was sent to Edinburgh Academy. He was always interested in writing stories, and his father published his first book, The Pentland Rising: A Page of History, 1666, in 1866.
In 1867 he went to the University of Edinburgh for engineering, although the discipline did not interest him. In 1871, he told his father that he intended to be a writer. His parents convinced him to return to the University of Edinburgh to read Law. After travelling to London and Paris, becoming active in literary circles in both cities, and a physical collapse in 1873 and recovery in the French Riviera, qualified for the Scottish bar in 1875. However, he never practised law, engaging instead in travel and writing.
In the course of his travels, Stevenson met Fanny Vandegrift Osbourne, an American mother of two who was in France to study art, in 1876. They met again in 1877 and became lovers, and he spent much of his time visiting with her and her children in France, until she returned to in San Francisco in 1878.
In 1879 he set sail to the U.S. to join her, becoming sick along the way, and when he arrived in San Francisco he was very ill. The now-divorced Vandegrift came to his bedside and nursed him to recovery. They married in 1880, honeymooned in the Napa Valley of California, then sailed with back to Britain, where he was reunited with his family.
For the next seven years, Stevenson travelled in search of a home that would benefit his health. He spent his summers in Scotland and England and his winters in France. During this time he wrote some of his best known work: Treasure Island (1883), A Child's Garden of Verses (1885), Kidnapped (1886), and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1886).
When his father died in 1887, Stevenson moved with his mother and family to the Adirondacks. In 1888, they set sail in a chartered yacht for the South Pacific. For nearly three years they wandered the eastern and central Pacific, visiting the Hawaiian Islands, the Gilbert Islands, Tahiti, New Zealand and the Samoan Islands. They took a second voyage to the Equator in 1889, and a third in 1890 to the South Seas islands.
In 1890 Stevenson purchased some land on one of the Samoan islands and established an estate. He adopted the native name Tusitala, and became involved in local politics, whcih led to clashes with the European bureaucrats who ruled the islands. He died in his estate, probably of cerebral hemorrhage, in 1894.
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Most Editions | First Published | Most Recent
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Treasure Island
436 editions - first published in 1883 -
Kidnapped
199 editions - first published in 1886 -
Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
154 editions - first published in 1875 -
A child's garden of verses
114 editions - first published in 1885 -
David Balfour
89 editions - first published in 1892 -
The master of Ballantrae: a winter's tale
87 editions - first published in 1888 -
The black arrow: a tale of the two roses
75 editions - first published in 1888 -
An inland voyage
65 editions - first published in 1878 -
New Arabian Nights
64 editions - first published in 1882 -
Travels with a donkey in the Cevennes
60 editions - first published in 1879 -
An Inland voyage
59 editions - first published in 1878 -
The Silverado Squatters
53 editions - first published in 1883 -
Familiar studies of men and books
52 editions - first published in 1882 -
Kidnapped
51 editions - first published in 1886 -
Vailima letters: being correspondence addressed by Robert Louis Stevenson to Sidney Colvin, November 1890-October 1894.
51 editions - first published in 1895 -
Virginibus puerisque: and other papers
49 editions - first published in 1881 -
Works
48 editions - first published in 1800 -
Prince Otto: a romance
48 editions - first published in 1885 -
Across the plains: with other memories and essays
45 editions - first published in 1892 -
St. Ives: being the adventures of a French prisoner in England
44 editions - first published in 1897 -
In the South Seas: being an account of experiences and observations in the Marquesas, Paumotus and Gilbert Islands in the course of two cruises, on the yacht "Casco" (1888) and the schooner "Equator" (1889)
44 editions - first published in 1896 -
The ebb-tide: a trio and quartette
43 editions - first published in 1894 -
Poems
42 editions - first published in 1896 -
The wrecker
42 editions - first published in 1892 -
The wrong box
41 editions - first published in 1889 -
Memories and portraits
41 editions - first published in 1881 -
Weir of Hermiston: an unfinished romance
34 editions - first published in 1896 -
Island nights' entertainments: consisting of The beach of Falesá, The bottle imp, The isle of voices
31 editions - first published in 1893 -
Tales and Fantasies
26 editions - first published in 1900 -
Father Damien
26 editions - first published in 1890 -
The dynamiter
25 editions - first published in 1885 -
A footnote to history: eight years of trouble in Samoa
25 editions - first published in 1892 -
Memoir of Fleeming Jenkin: Records of a family of engineers.
23 editions - first published in 1887 -
Prayers written at Vailima
23 editions - first published in 1890 -
Edinburgh: picturesque notes
23 editions - first published in 1878 -
The works of Robert Louis Stevenson
22 editions - first published in 1904 -
Virginibus Puerisque, and other papers
21 editions - first published in 1881 -
The merry men, and other tales and fables: Strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
20 editions - first published in 1887 -
Virginibus puerisque, and other papers
20 editions - first published in 1881 -
Essays of travel
19 editions - first published in 1879 -
The novels and tales of Robert Louis Stevenson
17 editions - first published in 1895 -
The amateur emigrant
17 editions - first published in 1895 -
Merry Men: and other tales and fables
15 editions - first published in 1887 -
The Pocket R.L.S: being favourite passages from the works of Stevenson.
15 editions - first published in 1904 -
More new Arabian nights: The dynamiter
14 editions - first published in 1885 -
Doctor Jekyll and Mr.Hyde
13 editions - first published in 1990 -
Lay Morals: and other papers
13 editions - first published in 1911 -
The Bottle Imp
12 editions - first published in 1949 -
An inland voyage and Travels with a donkey
12 editions - first published in 1910 -
Travels with a donkey
12 editions - first published in 1909 -
Underwoods
12 editions - first published in 1887 -
Essays of Robert Louis Stevenson
11 editions - first published in 1906 -
Essays in the art of writing
11 editions - first published in 1905 -
Records of a Family of Engineers
10 editions - first published in 1912 -
My shadow
10 editions - first published in 1989 -
Travels with a donkey in the Cévennes
10 editions - first published in 1879 -
Will o' the mill
9 editions - first published in 1895 -
A Christmas sermon
9 editions - first published in 1888 -
Fables
9 editions - first published in 1900 -
Kidnapped, being memoirs of the adventures of David Balfour in the year 1751 ..
9 editions - first published in 1886 -
Prince Otto: A Romance
9 editions - first published in 1885 -
Essays
8 editions - first published in 1918 -
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
8 editions - first published in 1911 -
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde: And Other Stories
8 editions - first published in 1950 -
The Master of Ballantrae: A Winter's Tale
8 editions - first published in 1889 -
The letters of Robert Louis Stevenson to his family and friends
8 editions - first published in 1896 -
The beach of Falesá
8 editions - first published in 1956 -
The Art of Writing
7 editions - first published in 2001 -
The lantern-bearers and other essays: Robert Louis Stevenson
7 editions - first published in 1988 -
Kidnapped and Catriona
7 editions - first published in 1952 -
The letters of Robert Louis Stevenson
7 editions - first published in 1995 -
Stories by English Authors: London (Dodo Press)
6 editions - first published in 2006 -
Letters to his family and friends: Selected and edited with notes and introd. by Sidney Colvin.
6 editions - first published in 1899 -
Novels and stories: selected with an introd. by V. S. Pritchett.
6 editions - first published in 1945 -
A child's garden of verse: and other poems.
6 editions - first published in 1899 -
The story of a lie
6 editions - first published in 1882 -
El Extrano Caso Del Dr. Jekyll Y Mr. Hyde / the Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll & Mr Hyde
6 editions - first published in 2000 -
El Extrano Caso del Dr. Jekyll y Mr. Hyde
5 editions - first published in 1995 -
The essay on Walt Whitman
5 editions - first published in 1900 -
The beach of Falesa
5 editions - first published in 1959 -
The pavilion on the links
5 editions - first published in 1913 -
Edinburgh Picturesque Notes: The Silverado squatters; Memories and portraits
5 editions - first published in 1896 -
Island nights' entertainment: [and] The body-snatcher ; [and] Fables
5 editions - first published in 1893 -
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and other stories
5 editions - first published in 1929 -
The suicide club
5 editions - first published in 1800 -
The merry men & other tales: Fables
4 editions - first published in 1924 -
The amateur emigrant ; Across the plains ; The Silverado squatters
4 editions - first published in 1895 -
Memoir of Fleeming Jenkin ; Records of a family of engineers
4 editions - first published in 1909 -
[Collected works]
4 editions - first published in 1890 -
Kidnapped
4 editions - first published in 2006 -
Catriona, A Sequel to Kidnapped: being memoirs of the further adventures of David Balfour at home and abroad (The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson)
4 editions - first published in 1947 -
The Body Snatcher: Planning and Resource Guide
4 editions - first published in 1982 -
Dr. Jekyll y Mr. Hyde
4 editions - first published in 1997 -
Ballads
4 editions - first published in 2006 -
Headwork Classics
4 editions - first published in 2000 -
Memories: [25 illustrations of Robert Louis Stevenson, his homes and his haunts].
4 editions - first published in 1912 -
Stevenson
4 editions - first published in 1971 -
The Master of Ballantrae; and Weir of Hermiston
4 editions - first published in 1925 -
When the devil was well: hitherto unpublished story.
4 editions - first published in 1921 -
Moral emblems: & other poems
4 editions - first published in 1921

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Alternative names
- Robert Louis Stevenson
- Robert Louis, Stevenson
- Robert, Louis Stevenson
- Louis Robert Stevenson
- Robert Louis stevenson
- Robert Louis, III Stevenson
- Stevenson Robert Louis
- ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON
- STEVENSON, ROBERT LOUIS, 1850-1894.
- Robert louis Stevenson
- Robert louis stevenson
- Robert, Louis Stevenson:
- Robert Louis ( Stevenson
- Robert Louis STEVENSON,
- Stevenson, Robert Louis
- Stevenson, Robert Louis, 1850-1894.
- Robert-Louis Stevenson
- Robert Stevenson
- Robert Lewis Stevenson
- robert stevenson
- Robert Loius Stevenson
- Robert Louise Stevenson
- Robert-Lou Stevenson
- Robert Louis et al Stevenson
- Robert L. Stevenson
- R.L. Stevenson
- R. L. Stevenson
- R.-L. Stevenson
- R L Stevenson
- R., L. Stevenson
- R.L.Stevenson
- Rl Stevenson
- R.L Stevenson
- R. L Stevenson
- Robert Luis Stevenson
- Roberts L. Stevenson
December 21, 2018 | Edited by LeadSongDog | merge authors |
July 31, 2018 | Edited by DriniBot | removing erroneous .comment |
March 31, 2017 | Edited by Clean Up Bot | add VIAF and wikidata ID |
September 19, 2016 | Edited by Bob Wakefield | corrected the year 1973 to 1873. |
April 1, 2008 | Created by an anonymous user | initial import |