Island Nights' Entertainments

"Island Nights' Entertainments" (also known as "South Sea Tales") is a collection of short stories by Robert Louis Stevenson, first published in 1893. It would be some of his last finished works before he died in 1894.

It contains three stories:
*"The Beach of Falesá"
*"The Bottle Imp"
*"The Isle of Voices"

The Dedication

The dedication was written in January 1892 in a letter to Charles Baxter, Robert Louis Stevenson's friend and adviser, and the book finally published in 1893."The Letters of Robert Louis Stevenson. Volume Seven, September 1890 - December 1892." Bradford A. Booth and Ernest Mehew (Editors). Yale University Press. ISBN 9780300062137] The dedication reads:cquote|"To three old shipmates among the islands,":::"Harry Henderson," :::"Ben Hird,":::"Jack Buckland,"::::"their friend" :::::"R.L.S." All three were Robert Louis Stevenson's fellow cabin passengers on the 1890 "Janet Nicholl" voyage."The Cruise of the Janet Nichol Among the South Sea Islands", Mrs Robert Louis Stevenson, Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1914.] James Cowan, (1937). [http://www.nzetc.org/tm/scholarly/tei-Gov12_02Rail-t1-body-d14.html R. L. S. and his Friends Some Stevenson Memories] . "New Zealand Railways Magazine", 12(2):59-61.] Harry Henderson was a partner in the firm "Henderson and Macfarlane" (died 1926, Melbourne); Ben Hird, the supercargo and trader; Jack Buckland a copra trader and original of the Tommy Hadden character in "The Wrecker". [http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~tonyf/CSL/ "The Circular Saw Shipping Line."] Anthony G. Flude. 1993. (Chapter 7)] Jack Buckland’s dedication copy of "Island Nights’ Entertainments" was inscribed by Stevenson to "John B. Buncombe alias Buckland". A character called ‘young Buncombe’ makes a brief appearance in chapter 2 of "The Beach of Falesá".

References