Audiobook · read by volunteers
Treasure Island (version 2)
Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–1894)
Read by Adrian Praetzellis · 17 chapters · 7 h 32
About the book
A mysterious map, a band of pirates and a chest full of pieces of eight: young Jim Hawkins, who lives at the Admiral Benbow inn, finds himself drawn into the most famous treasure hunt in English fiction. A rough old sea captain arrives at the inn, a blind man follows with a black spot, and soon Jim is sailing for a distant island with Squire Trelawney, Doctor Livesey and the one-legged cook Long John Silver. Who can be trusted, and who is a pirate in disguise? Robert Louis Stevenson tells it with great speed and a dry humour, and his villains are among the most memorable in literature. This version is read entirely by one LibriVox volunteer, in seventeen parts lasting around seven and a half hours, and it is a perfect adventure for listeners of any age.
Introduction
Robert Louis Stevenson, born in 1850 in Edinburgh and dead in 1894, was a Scottish novelist, essayist and poet who wrote Treasure Island in 1883. It began as a story for his stepson and became one of the most widely read adventure novels in English, often credited with shaping the popular image of pirates, from the treasure map to the sea chest and the parrot on a shoulder.
The book is told chiefly by Jim Hawkins, a boy who grows up quickly over the course of the voyage, and it balances excitement with moral ambiguity. The charming, dangerous Long John Silver is its most famous creation, and his mixture of warmth and treachery has fascinated readers for generations. Stevenson wrote with a lightness of touch and a talent for atmosphere, whether in a lonely inn, on the deck of a ship or among the marshes of the island.
This is the second LibriVox recording of the novel, and it is read by a single volunteer, which gives the long adventure a consistent voice. The seventeen parts each combine two of the original chapters, such as the arrival of Black Dog and the black spot, and together they last about seven and a half hours.
Today the novel remains a model of the adventure story, and it rewards both first-time listeners and those who know it well. Hearing it read aloud by one voice restores something of the pleasure of being told the story by a fireside.
Public domain
Robert Louis Stevenson died in 1894: the work is in the public domain in Switzerland, more than 70 years after the author’s death.
The LibriVox volunteers dedicated this recording to the public domain.
Sources : LibriVox page · Files at the Internet Archive · Original text