Jekyll and Hyde was published in 1886 and gained Stevenson international acclaim: a prime example of his strengths as a writer at the outset of a relatively short literary career, the book introduces themes and preoccupations that remained with Stevenson throughout his life, themes that have become part of the consciousness of many generations of readers. Weir of Hermiston was the novel upon which he was working on the day of his death; promising to be 'the best of his novels', it explores and refines issues that were first brought to light by him in Jekyll and Hyde.

...

The hand which I now saw, dearly enough, in the yellow light of a mid-London morning, lying half shut on the bed clothes, was lean, corded,knuckly, of a dusky pallor and thickly shaded with a swart growth of hair.

First published in 1886, Dr Jekyll andMr Hyde was described by The Times as a 'finished study in the art of the fantastic'~ Inspired by a dream (this edition includes Stevenson's important essay 'A Chapter on Dreams'),Jekyllis both a superb tale of a divided consciousness and a spine-chilling thriller. Filmed many times, it continues to disturb audiences through the power of its narrative and its underlying psychological implications.

Weir of Hermiston, posthumously published in 1896, is Stevenson's final study in duality. In its brilliant portrayal of the father-son relationship,Weir has many autobiographical links with Stevenson's turbulent relationship with his own father; in Lord Hermiston the book offers one of the finest examples of Scottlsh character in nineteenth-century fiction,and the novel is a fitting conclusion to a magnificent literary career.

Introduction

Note on the Texts

Select Bibliography

A Chronology of Robert Louis Stevenson

THE STRANGE CASE OF DR JEKYLL AND MR HYDE

WEIR OF HERMISTON

Appendix A: The Continuation of Weir of Hermiston

Appendix B: A Chapter on Dreams

Explanatory Notes

Glossary