KIDNAPPED:
[the fine Beverly Chew copy] being Memoirs of the Adventures of David Balfour in the Year 1751. [London:] Cassell & Company, 1886. 16 pp ads dated July 1886. Original bright red cloth.
First Edition, first issue. In mid-18th Century Scotland, 17-year-old David Balfour is cheated out of his inheritance by a greedy uncle, who has him kidnapped and shipped to the Carolinas; with numerous challenges Balfour manages to get back to Scotland to fight to regain his property and his name. Stevenson began KIDNAPPED early in 1885 "partly as a lark, partly as a pot-boiler" (according to himself); he finished it in Spring 1886 -- having interrupted it part way through to write DR JEKYLL AND MR HYDE. He had accepted Sidney Colvin's suggestion to cut short KIDNAPPED and leave the rest for a sequel -- which he did, with DAVID BALFOUR / CATRIONA, in 1893.
This is a copy of the first issue (with "name his business" on p. 40, "nine o'clock" on p. 64, and "Long Islands" on p. 101). The ads are dated July 1886, which was the month of publication (some copies, not necessarily issued earlier, curiously have ads dated April). This copy's color is bright red, one of several (five?) used without priority.
Condition is FINE: the bright red cloth is essentially without wear or soil or fading. The spine gilt remains bright, the original black-coated endpapers are clean and un-cracked, the foldout map is not torn, and there is no foxing on the leaves within. Beinecke 378; Princeton 31 (copies 1-4). Housed in a handsome morocco-backed slipcase with inner chemise.
Provenance: small armorial bookplate (created in 1895 by Edwin Davis French) of the banker Beverly Chew (1850-1924). Chew was a long-time supporter of the Grolier Club, editing some of their best catalogues (librarian 1887-1892, president 1892-1896). His extensive library was sold at Anderson Galleries in 1924. Item #15320
Price: $3,750.00