The Letters of Robert Louis Stevenson v. 8; January 1893 - December 1894 Robert Louis Stevenson, Bradford A. Booth, Ernest Mehew

The publications of volumes VII and VIII complete this edition of the letters of Robert Louis Stevenson, an edition comprising of 2800 letters. These volumes contain some 560 letters that provide a picture of the last four years of Stevenson's life, from 1890 to 1894. Stevenson spent these years in Samoa, where he had gone to improve his health. It describes Stevenson's exile in Samoa: the early pioneering days during the establishment of the Vailima Plantation; his life as the head of a large household composed of his wife, Fanny, her two children, his mother, native house servants and estate workers; his hospitality to native Samoan chiefs and to many white visitors; his passionate involvement in local politics; and his literary work - including "David Balfour", the sequel to "Kidnapped", and "Weir of Hermiston", which he died before completing. Ernest Mehew's annotation elucidates the complications of the Samoan background and provides information on Stevenson's letters.