Kidnapped

Robert Louis STEVENSON

Item#: 126252 We're sorry, this item has been sold

Kidnapped
Kidnapped

“ONE OF THE MOST BRILLIANT ADVENTURE STORIES OF ALL TIMES”: STEVENSON'S KIDNAPPED—THE HOGAN COPY

STEVENSON, Robert Louis. Kidnapped. [London]: Cassell, 1886. Octavo, original red cloth. Housed in a custom chemise and half morocco slipcase.

First edition, first issue of one of Stevenson’s most enduring works, with the wonderful, large color map tracing “David Balfour’s Wanderings.” From the library of renowned collector Frank Hogan, with his bookplate.

"One of the most brilliant adventure stories of all times" (Carpenter & Prichard, 292), Kidnapped debuted the same year as Stevenson's wildly popular Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and, like its predecessor, met with great success; "the austere Henry James [went] so far as to call Alan Breck 'the most perfect character in English literature'" (Kunitz & Haycraft, 592). First issue, with "business" on page 40, "nine o'clock" on page 64 and "Long Islands" on page 101. With first state 16-page ad catalogue dated April 1886 ("5 G. 4.86" and "5 B. 4.86"). With color folding frontispiece map. Issued in several different colors of cloth; no priority established. Prideaux 18. Princeton 31. Grolier Stevenson 79. Morocco-gilt bookplate of Frank J. Hogan, distinguished attorney and celebrated bibliophile. "As a collector, Hogan worked with all the energy and enthusiasm that contributed to his success in the legal profession… He was a frequent and favored guest at meetings of the Grolier Club in New York and the Zamorano Club in Los Angeles… In 1941 he gave the Library of Congress a choice collection of rare children's books, but the bulk of his collection remained intact. After weighing all the options, Hogan decided that the library should be enjoyed by other collectors instead of going to an institution. The books, as he put it, 'should be the intimates of others, whose loving hands will fill the place left vacant by my passing'… His library was an appealing and highly personal selection of literary treasures" (Dickinson, 163-64).

Interior lovely with expert reinforcement to text block and rear inner paper hinges; cloth in beautiful condition. An exceptional copy.

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