The Scottish writer Robert Louis Stevenson dashed off his Treasure Island story in 1881 while on holiday in Braemar. He was kept indoors by the damp Scottish weather and started on the story partly to amuse his stepson, Lloyd.
The cunning and opportunistic pirate Long John Silver was based on his friend WE Henley, who was an energetic and talkative man with a wooden leg due to tuberculosis of the foot.
The geography of Monterey, California, where Stevenson spent several months before marrying his wife Fanny, and the nearby island of Fidra inspired the scenery of Treasure Island.
Treasure Island was first published in a children's magazine Young Folks under the title "The Sea Cook". It wasn't published in book form for another couple of years, eventually being made available to the public on November 14, 1883, by Cassell & Co.
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| The very first edition of Treasure Island.. Wikipedia |
Treasure Island was Stevenson's first widely popular novel, and proved to be a huge financial success for him.
The 1950 movie adaptation of Treasure Island became the standard for screen portrayals of historical pirates. The actor Robert Newton, who played Long John Silver, exaggerated his West Country accent and is credited with popularizing the stereotypical "pirate voice."
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