Robert Louis Stevenson has an important place in the history of the short story in the British Isles: the form had been elaborated and developed in America, France and Russia from the mid-19th century, but it was Stevenson who initiated the British tradition. Stevenson's Calvinist creation and his constant struggle against ill health led to his preoccupation with death and the darker side of human nature as revealed in his work. Despite Stevenson's claim that "fiction is to adult man what the toy represents to the child," he had, at the end of his life, mastered a huge variety of types of fiction, from tales of historical adventures and novels of swordsmen to horror stories in Gothic style. In this selection of his most interesting works you will find the following stories: The Waif Woman The Bottle Imp Thrawn Janet Markheim The Body Snatcher Olalla Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

The complexity and range of Robert Louis Stevenson’s short fiction reveals his genius perhaps more than any other medium. Here, leading Stevenson scholar Barry Menikoff arranges and introduces the complete selection of Stevenson’s brilliant stories, including the famed masterpiece Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, as well as “The Beach of Falesá” and Stevenson’s previously uncollected stories. Arthur Conan Doyle has written that “[Stevenson’s] short stories are certain to retain their position in English literature. His serious rivals are few indeed.” This Modern Library Paperback Classics edition includes explanatory notes, a Scots’ Glossary, and a unique appendix dedicated to Stevenson’s influence on the Oxford English Dictionary.

Roslyn Jolly is Lecturer in English at the University of New South Wales, Australia. She is the author of Henry James: History, Narrative, Fiction (OUP, 1993).

Robert Louis Stevenson (1850 - 1894) was a Scottish novelist, poet, and essayist, best known for his classicn ovels, such as Treasure Island. This volume includes "The Dynamiter," a collection of connected short stories by Stevenson, including: Prologue of the Cigar Divan, Zero's Tale of the Explosive Bomb, and Story of the Fair Cuban.

"The Waif Woman" by Robert Louis Stevenson was a short story that didn't see the light of day until two decades after Stevenson's death. The author is famed for his stories of adventure and supernatural events, however, this story was suppressed by request of the writer. Written as a magical fairytale or myth, Stevenson weaves an atmosphere in his signature style. Thus, it is fortunate that this story was found and published before it could fade into obscurity forever.