The first publication of KIDNAPPED was serialized in YOUNG FOLKS from May to July 1886 and is now reissued in an Everyman edition to commemorate the centenary of Stevenson's death. KIDNAPPED is an adventurous story that has become the prototype for every escape and suspense thriller. Set in 1751, the escape of David Balfour and Alan Breck in the Highlands of Scotland is based on true events. Stevenson wrote the book to earn money while living as an invalid in Bournemouth. He was proud of it, having marked a copy with the saying: "Here is the one true page of all my writing. The one I am proud of and enjoy." Rowland Hilder is famous for his paintings of the English countryside, but his work in book illustration covered a much wider range. His designs for KIDNAPPED were first published in 1930 and, unfairly, were absent for a long time.