Index of the Project Gutenberg works of Robert Louis Stevenson

In Short

This volume serves as a complete structural catalog of the public-domain writings of Robert Louis Stevenson available through Project Gutenberg. Rather than offering a single continuous narrative, it compiles title pages, chapter headings, table of contents listings, and edition details for his entire literary output. The collection encompasses landmark adventure novels, historical romances, collections of children's poetry, island memoirs, personal letters, and collaborative fiction. It endures as an essential bibliographical map for scholars and general readers navigating Stevenson's broad contributions to nineteenth-century English literature.

The Story

The progression of this volume follows the bibliographic arc of Robert Louis Stevenson’s creative lifetime, systematically arranging his works by genre, publication date, and formal structure. It opens with his classic fiction of high sea adventure and historical intrigue. The detailed listings trace Treasure Island from the ominous arrival of an old seaman at an isolated inn through mutiny, island skirmishes, and the recovery of buried gold. It moves directly into historical romances like Kidnapped and its sequel David Balfour, mapping out chapters that detail family betrayal in Scotland, shipwrecks, high-altitude flights across heathered moors, and complex legal maneuverings in Holland.

From high adventure, the record transitions into Stevenson's poetic output. Detailed contents pages record the full scope of A Child's Garden of Verses, capturing the small domestic routines, imaginative plays, and bedtime thoughts of youth. The catalog then presents his broader poetic collections, including Underwoods, Ballads, and posthumously compiled variant verses. These sections document verses written in standard English alongside works written in Scots dialect, reflecting both his native roots and his far-reaching travel experiences in the South Seas.

The non-fiction and travel portions of the book trace Stevenson’s physical journeys and personal reflections. Detailed chapter structures outline The Silverado Squatters, An Inland Voyage, and Essays of Travel, documenting his observations of French waterways, Californian mining camps, and Alpine health resorts. The work also indexes his extensive personal correspondence, most notably the Vailima Letters addressed to Sidney Colvin, which chronicle his final years in Samoa month by month from 1890 to 1894.

The volume concludes by indexing Stevenson's shorter fiction, collaborative works, and late-career island stories. It lists chapter breakdowns for dark tales like The Body-Snatcher, whimsical adventures like New Arabian Nights, and collaborations with Lloyd Osbourne such as The Wrecker, The Wrong Box, and The Ebb-Tide. The text finishes by gathering these diverse structural paths into a final, unified record of his published canon.

How It Unfolds

Mapping the classic tales The volume begins by setting out the exact chapter frameworks of Stevenson's major narrative works, laying out the six-part structure of Treasure Island and the thirty-chapter arcs of Kidnapped and The Black Arrow. Each entry documents the narrative progression from initial crisis to final resolution.

Cataloging verse and childhood memory The focus shifts to verse, presenting complete table of contents listings for A Child's Garden of Verses across multiple illustrated editions. It pairs these gentle childhood poems with the broader, dialect-rich arrangements found in Underwoods and Ballads.

Documenting real-world travel The collection systematically records Stevenson's non-fiction travel writing and personal essays. It itemizes his canoe trips through Europe in An Inland Voyage, his life in a California mining town, and his oceanic journeys recorded in Essays of Travel.

Tracking the final correspondence The structural record details four years of continuous correspondence written from Samoa. It lays out forty-four individual letters sent to Sidney Colvin, marking the passage of time up to Stevenson's death in late 1894.

Gathering late collaborations The text closes with chapter outlines for his darker short fiction and joint projects. It itemizes the complex, multi-narrative structures of The Wrecker, The Dynamiter, and The Ebb-Tide, completing the total scope of the author's available works.

The People

Because this volume is a master index of Stevenson's published output, the central figures are the key characters, correspondents, and historical subjects who drive the individual works cataloged within its pages.

• Jim Hawkins and David Balfour represent the classic Stevenson protagonists. Both begin their journeys as young men thrust into sudden peril—Jim facing pirate mutineers over pirate gold, and David fighting against a treacherous uncle who has him kidnapped to sea. Each matures through physical hardship, navigating moral grey areas to claim their rightful inheritance.
• Long John Silver and Alan Breck Stewart stand as the morally complex catalysts of their respective adventures. Silver operates as a charismatic yet ruthless pirate ringleader who sways between ally and enemy, while Alan Breck serves as a fierce, proud Jacobite soldier who guides David through the Scottish Highlands. Both characters test the ethics of the younger heroes.
• Sidney Colvin serves as the primary real-world figure in the non-fiction sections. As Stevenson's trusted friend and correspondent, he receives the detailed monthly letters from Samoa, acting as the sounding board for the author's final literary and personal reflections.

In Its Own Voice

The following exact excerpts demonstrate the varied structural forms, contents listings, and thematic categories preserved throughout this volume:

"PART ONE—The Old Buccaneer 1. The Old Sea-dog at the 'Admiral Benbow'"

This entry opens the chapter listings for Treasure Island, establishing the narrative framework of the pirate adventure.

"LETTER I. November 1890 1"

This line marks the beginning of the four-year chronological sequence of personal correspondence contained in the Vailima Letters.

"Bed in Summer 10 Young Night Thought 11"

This simple table of contents listing captures the early entries of A Child's Garden of Verses, documenting the volume's focus on youth.

What It's Really About

At its core, this work is about the architecture of a literary career. By reducing novels, poems, and personal essays to their structural outlines and contents pages, the volume reveals the sheer scope of Stevenson's versatility. It highlights how a single writer navigated seamlessly between high-stakes adventure fiction, tender childhood poetry, sharp cultural commentary, and intimate personal correspondence. The index raises fundamental questions about literary form, showing how careful structural planning underpins vivid storytelling. It demonstrates how disparate genres—from Pacific travelogues to medieval historical romances—share common structural foundations. Ultimately, the book serves as a monument to textual organization, illustrating how individual creative acts consolidate into an enduring literary legacy.

Why Read It Today

This volume appeals directly to literary historians, bibliophiles, research scholars, and dedicated fans of Victorian literature. Rather than offering a traditional story to get lost in, it provides a crisp, panoramic overview of Stevenson's total oeuvre. Reading through these index entries feels like walking through a well-organized library of late-nineteenth-century literature, allowing you to trace thematic connections across different periods of the author's life.

The primary difficulty a reader will face is the total absence of narrative prose; the book consists entirely of title pages, edition notices, chapter lists, and contents tables. It requires a reader who appreciates structural clarity and historical context over standard storytelling. What remains with you after exploring this volume is a profound appreciation for Stevenson’s relentless discipline and broad artistic range. It acts as an invaluable roadmap for anyone planning a deep dive into public-domain classics, helping you decide exactly which path of adventure, verse, or personal history to explore next.