Stevenson conceived of the idea of Treasure Island (originally titled, "The Sea Cook: A Story for Boys") from a map of an imaginary, romantic island idly drawn by Stevenson and his stepson on a rainy day in Breamar, Scotland. Stevenson had just returned from his first stay in America, with memories of poverty, illness and adventure (including his recent marriage), and a warm reconciliation between his parents has been established. Stevenson himself said in designing the idea of the story that, "It was to be a story for boys;' no need of psychology or fine writing; and I had a boy at hand to be a touchstone. Women were excluded. . and then I had an idea for Long John Silver from which I promised myself funds of entertainment; to take an admired friend of mine. .. to deprive him of all his finer qualities and higher graces of temperament, and to leave him with nothing but his strength, his courage, his quickness, and his magnificent geniality, and to try to express these in terms of the culture of a raw tarpaulin." Completing 15 chapters in as many days, Stevenson was interrupted by illness and, after leaving Scotland, continued working on the first draft outside London. Wile there, his father provided additional impetus, as the two discuses points of the tale, and Stevenson's father was the one who suggested the scene of Jim in the apple barrel and the name of Walrus for Captain Flint's ship. Two general types of sea novels were popular during the nineteenth century: the navy yarn, which places a capable officer in an adventurous situations amid realistic settings and historical events; and the desert island romance, which features shipwrecked or marooned characters confronted by treasure-seeking pirates or angry natives. Around 1815 the latter genre became one of the most popular fictional style in Great Britain, perhaps because of the philosophical interest in Rousseau and Chateaubriand's "noble savage." It is obvious that Treasure Island was a climax of this development. The growth of the desert island genre can be trace back to 1719, when Daniel Defoe's legendary Robinson Crusoe was published. A century later, novels such as S. H. Burney's The Shipwreck (1816), and Sir Walter Scott's The Pirate (1822) continued to expand upon the strong influence of Defoe's classic. Other authors, however, in the mid 19th century continued this work, including James Fenimore Coopers' The Pilot (1823). During the same period, Edgar Allan Poe wrote "MS Found in a Bottle"(1833) and the intriguing tale of buried treasure, "The Gold-Bug" (1843). All of these works influenced Stevenson's end product. I've read this book :-) a lot of time and it like me always like the first time i've read it I hope you like this image too smaccck Orietta