Quire Trelawney, Dr. Livesey, and the rest of these gentlemen having asked me to write down the whole particulars about Treasure Island, from the beginning to the end, keeping nothing back but the bearings of the island, and that only because there is still treasure not yet lifted, I take up my pen in the year of grace 17__ and go back to the time when my father kept the Admiral Benbow inn and the brown old seaman with the sabre cut first took up his lodging under our roof. I remember him as if it were yesterday, as he came ...
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Quire Trelawney, Dr. Livesey, and the rest of these gentlemen having asked me to write down the whole particulars about Treasure Island, from the beginning to the end, keeping nothing back but the bearings of the island, and that only because there is still treasure not yet lifted, I take up my pen in the year of grace 17__ and go back to the time when my father kept the Admiral Benbow inn and the brown old seaman with the sabre cut first took up his lodging under our roof. I remember him as if it were yesterday, as he came plodding to the inn door, his sea-chest following behind him in a hand-barrow-a tall, strong, heavy, nut-brown man, his tarry pigtail falling over the shoulder of his soiled blue coat, his hands ragged and scarred, with black, broken nails, and the sabre cut across one cheek, a dirty, livid white. I remember him looking round the cover and whistling to himself as he did so, and then breaking out in that old sea-song that he sang so often afterwards: "Fifteen men on the dead man's chest- Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!" in the high, old tottering voice that seemed to have been tuned and broken at the capstan bars. Then he rapped on the door with a bit of stick like a handspike that he carried, and when my father appeared, called roughly for a glass of rum. This, when it was brought to him, he drank slowly, like a connoisseur, lingering on the taste and still looking about him at the cliffs and up at our signboard. - Taken from "Treasure Island" by Robert Louis Stevenson
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I ordered the "Treasury of Illustrated Classics Storybook Collection" edition of Treasure Island (ISBN 9780766631854) and was very disappointed to find that it is heavily abridged and written in a very large font, obviously intended for children. The description of this edition does not specify that it is abridged, so I was under the impression that it was the original text with illustrations added. I was quite disappointed when I received my copy and will be donating it.
In case anyone else makes the same mistake -- do not order the "Illustrated Classics" edition if you are expecting the original work! Instead order one of the many other editions of this celebrated classic.
Martin R
Jun 27, 2014
Childhood Revisited
It has been MANY years since I first read this story. I found myself reading this straight thru and enjoying the illustrations.
John Z
Jan 31, 2013
Everyman / Peake edition great for adults
This was my first look at a Treasure Island illustrated by Mervyn Peake (Everyman's Children's Classics), and though I gave this as a gift I would purchase another for myself. High quality edition in every respect, with evocative illustrations. For reading to a child, a larger print / larger size edition might be better, and a child might prefer the N.C. Wyeth iillustrations, which are also masterful.
Rosie1954
Jul 11, 2007
A True Classic
Young lad, Jim Hawkins, narrates this tale of high seas adventure, talk of mutiny, buried treasure and pirates. A great timeless classic. And that fearsome pirate, Long John Silver, as sinister and troublesome as ever.
I introduced my sons to Stevenson when they were merely boys. A Child's Garden of verses, Dr. Jekel and Mr. Hyde and Kidnapped.... An exceptional and creative writer. A very nice edition to any home library...
