ABSTRACT
Stevenson’s rst illustrated novel was published in 1884 in America, with four illustrations that he would later complain were “disgusting”.1 The novel was Treasure Island, which had been previously published in serial format in the boys’ magazine Young Folks Paper with one illustration; the artist referred to unceremoniously was Frank T. Merrill, who had gained a reputation in America as an illustrator of novels by, among others, Nathaniel Hawthorn, Mark Twain and Louisa May Alcott. The rst European illustrated edition of Treasure Island was published in 1885 by Cassell and Co., using illustrations by the French artist Georges Roux, whose style of illustration was much more to Stevenson’s liking. In fact, as this book will demonstrate, Stevenson had clear and evolving ideas about the importance of suitable illustration of his novels, and that he was keen to marry his texts to imagery that would entice the reader, reect and compliment his texts in the appropriate manner, and produce an attractive physical object for the purchaser. The problem lies in dening what Stevenson dened as “suitable” and “appropriate” illustration. This is further problematised by the vast array and long history of illustrated texts that had proliferated by the time Stevenson was publishing his novels. By the 1880s, there were many theories, practices and innovations within the eld of illustrated literature, and there were many disagreements about its application and suitability for “serious” or high literature. The 1890s, in particular, saw the Arts and Crafts Movement of William Morris, Walter Crane and Aubrey Beardsley create sumptuous illustrated books that were heavily designed from cover to cover, almost making the text a facet of the books’ designs. At the same time, “children’s” illustrators were earning a reputation of their own: they were revered, publically and critically, but not considered as serious artists so much as highly skilled popular draughtsmen and women, interpreters of texts and trusted purveyors of popular culture and taste. Stevenson admired this latter group, which included luminaries such as Randolph Caldecott, Kate Greenaway and, in America, Howard Pyle. These artists in particular were attempting to marry imagery and text of their own composition, in addition to creating illustrations for famous authors of the day and great authors of the past. Stevenson did not necessarily see popular and high art as mutually exclusive; for him, a good story published for the masses in illustrated format
could achieve the status of great art if appropriately conceived. Indeed, his novels tread this ne line between high art and popular entertainment, and his reputation as a serious artist has been threatened through popular interpretation as a consequence; we need only to consider the multifarious cinematic and television treatments and derivatives of Treasure Island and Jekyll and Hyde to appreciate this phenomenon.
