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First edition of the author's first book. 8vo. Stevenson's first book, inscribed on the half-title: "My dear Mother / May I present you with an unworthy grandchild? I am sure it would have been fifty times better, if I had been fifty times liker you; and I am sure, if it had been a hundred times worse, you would have given it a kind welcome for my sake. So be it in this, and in all. To you and my dear father be the dedication, for what it is worth of this book; if it offends anywhere, think what charity you have for my offences; if anywhere it pleases you, let me have a share of the gratitude. And above all things, my dear mother, put away this copy; and understand all that I have written upon it here, in the sense in which it was intended, and so, with my dearest love, believe me / your loving child / the Author / Swanston Cottage / May 1878." The first edition of An Inland Voyage has no printed dedication (the second edition of 1881 contains one to Sir Walter Grindlay Simpson), but the nature and wording of Stevenson's inscription suggests that this could be considered in effect the virtual dedication copy. With numerous marginal penciled markings and annotations in an unidentified (perhaps his mother's?) hand. In 1867, Stevenson's family took a lease on Swanston Cottage, in the village of Swanston at the foot of the Pentland Hills, for use as a summer holiday home. They held the lease until 1880. During their tenancy, the young Robert Louis made frequent use of the cottage, being attracted by the quiet country life and the feeling of remoteness. It is likely that the time he spent there influenced his later writing as well as his wider outlook on life, particularly his love of nature and of wild places. The house and its romantic location are thought to have inspired several of his works. Stevenson was the only child of Thomas and Margaret "Maggie" Stevenson, and he inherited poor pulmonary health from his mother's side of the family. Expected to take up his father's family business of lighthouse engineering, he disappointed his parents by informing them that he would instead take up a life of letters. He also quarreled with them over his views on religion, his refusal to practice law - studied in order to appease them - and his romance with his future wife, the older, married, Fanny Osbourne, whom he met while traveling around France in 1876. Nevertheless, his wife did well do help mend the rift between the family, and after his father's death in 1887, Maggie went with Fanny and Robert to America and on to the South Seas. Life revolved around Stevenson's writing. After his sudden death in 1894, Maggie returned to Edinburgh to mourn. Beinecke 12 Original pale blue-gray pictorial cloth, blocked in gilt and black, spine gilt-lettered. Extremities slightly rubbed; minor soiling to cloth; hinges tender; rear pastedown with slight glue remnants near inner hinge; bottom edges of four leaves irregularly opened; binder's ticket of Burn & Co. on rear pastedown; quarter morocco folding case First edition of the author's first book.
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