The Robert Louis Stevenson Archive

Collected Editions of Robert Louis Stevenson's Works

Volume contents

suggest an addition or correction to the list

In the thirty years between 1894 and 1924, no fewer than 6 collected editions were issued in the UK (4 of them limited editions), and 2 in the USA - an unprecedented number.

name	editor	year	title	place pub	pub	vols	notes
Edinburgh Edition	Sidney Colvin	1894-8	The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson. Edinburgh Edition.	London	Charles Baxter & Sidney Colvin on behalf of Robert Louis Stevenson; ptd by Constable and distrib by Chatto & Windus	20 plus 8 suppl. vols.	Size: 8 ½ in./ 21.6 cm. Sets: 1000 [1035] sets . Price: £12:10:0 for the set of 20 vols. Bdg: burgundy cloth binding: with red-and-black printed spine label. Elegant edition, poss. modelled on Waverly Novels. In same binding: 1901 Balour's Life; 1895 ltd ed of Vailima Letters; 1899 ed of Letters to his Family and Friends; 1896 ltd ed of Child’s Garden of Verses; 1898 ltd ed of An Object of Pity; 1899 Stevenson Medley; 1903 From Saranac to the Marquesas and Beyond (ed. M. C. Balfour); 1910 Hammerton's Stevensoniana; 1928 E.V. Lucas’s The Colvins and their Friends. A printed slip loosely inserted into Vol. I reads: 'The contents of this and succeeding volumes are chosen and arranged under the sole and responsible editorship of Mr. Sidney Colvin: but it is to be understood that additions, ommissions, and corrections (other than those merely of press) have the sanction and approval of the author.' List of vol. titles.
[first] Thistle Edition	.	1895-9, 1911-12	[The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson. Thistle Edition.]	New York	Charles Scribner’s Sons	24, then 27	Size: 8 3/8 in. / 21.3 cm. (also reported as 20.4 cm and (by Spehner) as 20 cm.). Bdg: Red buckram with lettering and ornaments in gold. Sold by subscription. frontispieces; 2 vols of Balfour’s biog. added as vols 25-6 in 1911; ‘New Letters’ added as vol. 27 in 1912; headings vary on title pages: "The Novels and Tales of…", "The Travels and Essays of… etc. Issued to subscribers only. Individual vols. were also sold separately (in bindings without the thistle motif). List of vol. titles.
Author's Edition	.	1895-97	Works	New York	Charles Scribner's Sons	26	Corresponds in dates with the Thistle Edition. A bookseller has this note: 'WITH: [Short Stories, Plays, Letters]. Chicago: Stone & Kimball, 1896. Six volumes. Together, thirty-two volumes. Octavo and 12mo.' Not clear if the 'Author's Edition' is the 26 vols from Scribner's (which in this case have been bound identically with the other six) or the 32 vols of a publication co-ordinated by the two publishers, despite the difference in size. Also reported: a copies of Black Arrow (Scribner's 1915, Dynamiter> (Scribner's 1900), Familair Studies (Scribner's 1902), all described as part of '[Author's Edition]' on half-title page without any mention of 'Works' or 'Collected Works' etc.
.	.	1895-97	The Works of R.L. Stevenson	Philadelphia	John Wanamaker	.	22 cm.; Spehner 028
reprinting of [first] Thistle Edition	.	1901	[The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson. Thistle Edition.]	New York	Charles Scribner’s Sons	27	prospectus dated 1901 but includes title page of Treasure island with the date 1913
.	.	1904	Works	New York and London	The Cooperative Publishing Society	.8	24 cm./7¾- 9¾"; Spehner 037 (who says the edition has 6 vols, a mistake). List of volumes.
Biographical Edition	.	1905-12	The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson. Biographical Edition.	New York	Charles Scribner’s Sons	31	Size: 16.8 cm / 6 5/8”(Spehner has 20 cm). Bdg: Red cl, gold lettering. Unlimited edition. First title-page date is 1908, but vols started to be issued from 1905; preface to most vols. by Mrs Stevenson (these had been printed together in a book of Registration Prefaces in 1905); vol 31 is the abr 1-vol. ed of Balfour’s Biography. List of vol. titles.
variant of [first] Thistle Edition	.	1907 (?1902-7)	[The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson. Thistle Edition]	New York	Charles Scribner’s Sons	27	uniform with the Thistle edition, except for binding and date; sand-colored buckram; gilt-lettered maroon leather spine tags; gilt stylized RLS monogram and rectangular border to front cover; vols. 23-4 are Letters; vols 25-6 are Balfour’s biog.and vol. 27 has been reported as New Letters; headings vary on title pages, from "The Novels and Tales" to "Letters and Miscellanies"; information from W.B. Jones (whose set lacked vol. 27). List of vol. titles; this edition continued to be issued with updated dates on title pages, e.g. (i) a set (sand-coloured buckram) with 1909-1912 on title pages; (ii) another set (red buckram covers) with 1918-20 on title pages; (iii) also another quarter red leather and red cloth (possibly rebound) with no thistle motifs and with various dates (1902-1907) on the title pages, which might be a set made up form different issues and reissued, or might mean that the set was issued to subscribers over these years (and so it could be the set corresponding to the 1901 prospectus in the entry above).
Household Edition	Charles Curtis Bigelow & Temple Scott	1906	The Works of R.L. Stevenson. Household Edition.	New York	The Lamb Publishing Co. (also listed as National Library Company, New York, 1906)	10	Size: 8 ¼ in / 20.1 cm. Bdg: 3 qu. blue morocco, fp. and ill, in text. Sets: 1000 sets printed, but then also published as Bournmouth, Casco, Marquesan, Monterey, Ticonderoga, Manhattan, Beacon Editions, published by the Jefferson Press, Boston, 1906, (and poss others): all ten volumes, all claiming to be limited editions of 1000 copies; see following entries. Vol 9 incl ‘A Critical Essay on Robert Louis Stevenson’ by Leslie Stephen.
Manhattan Edition	Charles Curtis Bigelow & Temple Scott	1906 (?1905)	The Works of R.L. Stevenson. Manhattan Edition.	New York	Bigelow, Smith & Co / Davos Press	10	Size: 21 cm. (8vo). Sets: ill. de luxe ed. of 1000 copies. Bdg: One set is described as: ‘Marbled boards, leather spine and corners, laid paper, black & white illustrations and tissue covered frontis, marbled endpapers. Beautifully illustrated by John Rueben Bacon.’ Spehner lists publisher as ‘Bigelow, Smith & Co, National Library, 1906, Davos Press. The U. of Texas at Austin catalogue gives publisher as ‘New York: National Library Co.’ and doesn’t mention the name ‘Manhattan Edition’. Vol 8 includes ‘Stevenson as a Poet’ by Edmund Gosse; vol 9 includes 'A critical essay on Robert Louis Stevenson’ by Leslie Stephen; vol. 10 includes ‘Life of Robert Louis Stevenson’ by Sidney Colvin. A correspondent has a copy dated 1905.
Beacon Edition	Charles Curtis Bigelow & Temple Scott	1906	The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson. Beacon Edition.	Boston/ New York	Charles A. Lind & Co.	10	de luxe ed. of 1000 copies
Pentland Edition	Edmund Gosse	1906-7	The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson. Pentland Edition.	London	Cassell (in association with Chatto & Windus, W. Heinemann and Longmans, Green)	20	Size: 8 ¾ in/ 22.2 cm. Sets: 1500 [1550] sets. Price: £10:10:0 per set. Bdg: Black buckram with ltrs on spine in gold. Text set from the Edinburgh Edition; introductory essay and bibliography by Gosse; incomplete; in same binding: Prideaux Bibliography. Gosse’s bio-bibliog notes issued as sep. vol. ptly printed 1908. List of volumes.
.	Charles Curtis Bigelow & Temple Scott	1908?	The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson	Chicago/ Philadelphia	Nottingham Society	10	de luxe ed. ‘with illustrations from 1908’; information from Mikhail Slobodinskii; sounds like a version of the Manhattan Edition
.	.	1907	Works	Boston	Standard Publishing Co.	.	22 cm.; Spehner 049
Aberdeen Edition	.	1908	The Works of R.L. Stevenson. Aberdeen Edition.	Boston/London.	Bigelow, Smith & Co / Edinburgh Society	10	Size: 21 cm.; Spehner 051 Sets: ill. de luxe ed. of 1000 copies. illustrated by John Rueben Bacon. on the copyright page: 'The Aberdeen Edition - One thousand impressions, registered at Clement's Inn, have been taken of this edition for England and America', the title pages have 'Edinburgh Society - Boston - London'. Vol 8 is 'Poems and Plays with an Essay on Stevenson as a poet by Edmund Gosse'; 9 is 'Essays and Reviews with a Critical Essay on the Author by Leslie Stephen'; 10 is 'Familiar Studies, A Family of Engineers, Three Letters, With a Life of the Author by Sidney Colvin'. The illustrations are protected by a sheet of tissue paper with title printed on it .
Medallion Edition		1909	The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson. Medallion Edition.	New York	New York Current Literature Publishing Co.	9	Size: 18 cm. Bdg: maroon/red binding with gold lettering; portrait photograph in each volume. A part edition. List of vol. titles.
.	.	1910?	.	Boston	Jefferson Press	10	ill.; 22 cm.; Spehner 055
.	.	1910	The Works of R.L. Stevenson	New York	Charles Scribner’s Sons	4	20 cm.; Spehner 056; this is unlikely to be the complete works—maybe 4 vols from the Thistle Edition
Swanston Edition	Andrew Lang	1911-2	Works by R.L. Stevenson	London	Chatto & Windus (in assoc. with Cassell, Heinemann & Longmans, Green); printed by Cassell	25	Size: 17 ½ in / 19 cm. Sets: 2000 [2060] sets. Price: £7:10:0 for the set. Bdg: Red buckram (another in black). Text set from the Edinburgh Edition; fp.; ‘Introduction’ in vol. 1 (long personal reminiscence and literary evaluation) by Andrew Lang; printed by Cassell; ‘clean page setting; sits well in the hand’ (Andrew Nash). List of volumes.
		1911-2	The Novels and Tales of Robert Louis Stevenson		Charles Scribner’s Sons	28	Size: 8vo. Bdg: burgundy half-morocco, each vol with 5 raised bands and t.e.g.. Engraved fp to each vol.
[first] Vailima Edition	.	1912	The Works of R.L. Stevenson. Vailima Edition.	New York	Peter Fenelon Collier	15	Size: 21 cm. Bdg: burgundy ?leather (also green cloth), t.e.g., gilt lettering on spine, frontispieces. No date in volumes (or: just 1912); Spehner 030; also quoted as 6 vols. 1902 and half-leather binding See 1922-3 for the second Vailima Edition.
New Century Library Edition	.	1912	[The Works of R.L. Stevenson]	New York	Thomas Nelson & Sons	6	Title diff. for each vol; limp maroon leather; Spehner 064, McKay 747
.	.	1918	The Works of R.L. Stevenson	New York	Charles Scribner’s Sons	25	20 cm; Spehner 069 [This is probably the [first] Thistle Edition]
		1920		New York	Charles Scribner’s Sons	10	‘Uniform edition’; 3/4 crimson calf over marbled boards; spines with gilt letters and decoration; raised bands; illustrated
[second] Vailima Edition	Will D. Howe & L. Osbourne	1921-3	The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson. Vailima Edition.	New York/ London	Scribner’s/ Heinemann(in association with Chatto & Windus, W. Heinemann and Longmans, Green); set up and printed by Doubleday, Page & Company, New York	26	Size: 8 7/8 in / 22.6 cm. Sets: 1000 [1060] sets (UK) and 1000 [1030] sets (USA); 24 cm.. Bdg: blue buckram and printed paper labels. Pprefatory material by Fanny Stevenson; many plates and facsimiles, includes material not in earlier editions, but faulty transcription by Lloyd Osbourne makes it not totally reliable; Letters ed. Balfour; recently reprinted (?Garland ?Kraus); ‘looks handsome, but difficult to use’ (Andrew Nash); a bookseller describes it as ‘Perhaps the most desirable’ of the complete works; Robert Kiely (1978) calls it 'the most beautiful collection'. Stern (1982) has NY: 1921-3, London: 1922-3. (Howe was a professor of English at Indiana University 1907-20 and then a Scribner editor and director 1922-43). List of volumes,
Tusitala Edition	L. Osbourne & F. Van de G. Stevenson	1923-4 (Pub. also given as 1923-7)	[title different in each volume; can be listed as: The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson. Tusitala Edition (on the half-title page)]	London	Heinemann(in association with Chatto & Windus, W. Heinemann and Longmans, Green); printed by Cassell, bound by The Ship Binding Works (Longman), distrib. by Heinemann	35	Size: 6 ½ in /16.5 cm (Spehner has 17 cm). Bdg: blue cloth. Unlimited uniform edition; the best complete edition (incl. the additional material from the 2nd Vailima Ed.); the editing team also included Sidney Colvin (Letters), W.E. Henley, and Quiller-Couch. About half the vols have prefaces by Mrs F. Stevenson (from Biog. Ed.) and intro articles by Lloyd Osbourne. No volume number or indication of the collected edition on the cover or title page (allowing the volumes to be sold separately). 'The contract is between the syndicate of publishers – Heinemann, Chatto & Windus, Cassell and Longman - but it is with the approval of Lloyd and he gets the royalties. Lloyd has also dictated the contents and the order of the series. Colvin is not named in the contract' (Jean Rose, Library Manager, Random House Group Archive & Library). A reprint with reset typography in 35 paperback volumes was issued by Cambridge Scholars Publications in 2009 with a General Introduction in Vol. 1 by Barry Menikoff and two other additional features: vol. 13 contains ‘The Beach of Falesá’ both in the version published in the Tusitala Edition and Barry Menikoff’s manuscript-based 1987 edition; and vol. 21 includes An Object of Pity from the 1900 New York Dodd, Mead edition.List of volumes.
Skerryvore Edition	Lloyd Osbourne & F. Van de G. Stevenson	1924 (pub. date also given as 1924-6)	The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson. Skerryvore Edition.	London	Heinemann (in association with Chatto & Windus, W. Heinemann and Longmans, Green)	30	Size: 7 7/8 in / 20 cm. Price: 7/6 per vol. Bdg: red cl., top edge gilt. Unlimited uniform edition; crown octavo version (or ‘Library Edition’) of the Tusitala Edition (contains same prefaces and introductory notes), spine has ‘The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson’ and ‘Skerryvore edition’ on the spine; printed by Cassell, bound by The Ship Binding Works (Longman), distrib. by Heinemann. This ed. sold poorly and was sold off at reduced prices. List of volumes.
Waverley Edition	.	1924-5	The Works of R.L. Stevenson. Waverley Edition.	London	Waverley Book Company, in assoc. with Chatto & Windus; Cassell, Heinemann, Longmans	26	gilt-lettered dark blue cloth, top edge gilt; the thickness of paper in individual volumes has been chosen so that all are very closely the same width. Similar to the Skerryvore Edition (possibly identical with it): vols I to XXVI have the same contents (it does not include the Letters which form Volumes XXVI to XXX of the Skerryvore). Each volume has a tipped in small note headed "This Edition is specially prepared for Subscribers." and also a rather crude sketch of Sir Walter Scott. List of vol. titles.
[second] Thistle Edition		1924	[The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson. Thistle Edition.]	New York	Charles Scribner’s Sons	25	Size: 19.5 cm. Bdg: blue buckram with vertical ribbing, gilt lettering and thistle ornament on spine; sunk RLS monogram (not gilt) on front cover (no border); t.e.g.; frontispieces. Headings vary on title page; vols as for the 1907 ed., vol. 25 is ‘New Letters’. List of vol. titles
South Seas Edition	Lloyd Osbourne	1925	The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson. South Seas Edition.	New York	Scribner’s Sons	32	Size: 6 1/r in/ 16.5 cm. Bdg: issues exist in green cl. and in red cl.; feint green pictorial wrappers. The editing team also included Sidney Colvin and W.E. Henley; this corresponds to the UK Tusitala/ Skerryvore Ed. with the same prefaces and intro articles. List of vol. titles.
Lothian Edition		1926-7	The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson.	London	Everleigh, Nash and Grayson	21 (perhaps: 18)	Size: 8vo. Bdg: red cloth binding, t.e.g., gilt embossed lion rampant on front board. List of volumes
Balmoral Edition		1930			Orsamus Turner Harris (printed by The Standard Book Company, NY)	10	embossed circular (RSL) monogram on the green board cover. May be related to the 1907 Edition by the 'Standard Publishing Company'. Copies have been also seen published by Thomas Nelson and Sons, with the same monogram, and a 'Balmoral Edition' by Nelson (red cloth, n.d.) is reported with '1906 Current Literature Publishing Co.' on the copyright page. List of volumes
		1968		London/Geneva	Heron Books	21	Bdg: gilt ornamental faux-leather bindings, gilt decorative endpapers, silk bookmark. Series of volumes, not presented as a set; illustrated. Also recorded as 23 vols. – but may be from different “Heron Books” or may have been repackaged in various volumes. See List of volumes.
Centenary Edition	Catherine Kerrigan	1995-2004 (incomplete)	The Collected Works of Robert Louis Stevenson. Centenary Edition.	.	Edinburgh University Press	.	Left incomplete after the publication of five volumes: Weir, Ebb-Tide, Treasure Island, Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and Collected Poems. EUP will be relaunching an edition with new editors and new editorial policy: the 'New Edinburgh Edition' from 2012.
.	Barry Menikoff	2009	The Complete Works of Robert Louis Stevenson.	Newcastle on Tyne	Cambridge Scholars Publications	.	A reprint of the Tusitala Edition with reset typography in 35 paperback volumes with a General Introduction in Vol. 1 by Barry Menikoff and two other additional features: vol. 13 contains ‘The Beach of Falesá’ both in the version published in the Tusitala Edition and Barry Menikoff’s manuscript-based 1987 edition; and vol. 21 includes An Object of Pity from the 1900 New York Dodd, Mead edition

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