RLS in the South Seas: An Intimate Photographic Record

In June 1888 Robert Louis Stevenson and his family sailed through San Francisco’s Golden Gate, heading for the perils of the Pacific and the cannibal islands.

Among the equipment they carried with them were a camera and a magic lantern. Stevenson intended illustrating his history of the South Seas – the excuse for his cruise. Very few of these photographs survive, although constant references to photography sessions are contained in his letters. In R.L.S. in the South Seas, these remarkable photographs are published, many for the first time, together with linking narrative from Stevenson’s letters and essays written at sea and during his visits to the islands.

For those of us who remember Stevenson the writer of Treasure Island and childhood’s poems, here is a glimpse of Stevenson the man. This important book brings his black and white photographs vividly to life, painted in the colours of his own warm humour and humanity.