The discovery of a treasure map sets young Jim Hawkins in search of buried gold, along with a crew of buccaneers recruited by the one-legged Long John Silver. As they near their destination, and the lure of Captain Flint's treasure grows ever stronger, Jim's courage and wits are tested to the full. Robert Louis Stevenson reinvented the adventure genre with Treasure Island, a boys' story that appeals as much to adults as to children, and whose moral ambiguities turned the Victorian universe on its head. This edition celebrates the ultimate book of pirates and high adventure, and also examines how its tale of greed, murder, treachery, and evil has acquired its classic status. The book features an informative Introduction and explanatory notes by Peter Hunt, an updated bibliography, a revised chronology, and a glossary of nautical terms. Hunt includes a Note on the Text that highlights important variants between serial and volume publication and he's added additional appendices, featuring Stevenson's short fable "The Persons of the Tale" and appendix of comparative episodes from Stevenson's sources. - Publisher.