The Black Arrow: A Tale of the Two Roses
The Black Arrow: A Tale of the Two Roses is an 1888 novel by Robert Louis Stevenson. It is both a historical adventure novel and a romance novel. It first appeared as a serial in 1883 with the subtitle "A Tale of Tunstall Forest" beginning in Young Folks; A Boys' and Girls' Paper of Instructive and Entertaining Literature, vol. XXII, no. 656 and ending in vol. XXIII, no. 672 —Stevenson had finished writing it by the end of summer. It was printed under the pseudonym Captain George North. He alludes to the time gap between the serialisation and the publication as one volume in 1888 in his preface "Critic [parodying Dickens's 'Cricket'] on the Hearth": "The tale was written years ago for a particular audience..." The Paston Letters were Stevenson's main literary source for The Black Arrow. The Black Arrow consists of 79,926 words.
The Black Arrow: A Tale of the Two Roses
A crucial moment in the novel when Sir Oliver, Sir Daniel, and Dick Shelton are surprised by a black arrow in the Moat House refectory hall
Cover of the first Scribner Brothers' American edition of 1888
Title page of the first edition of 1888, US edition a few weeks before the UK edition
Robert Louis Stevenson was a Scottish novelist, essayist, poet and travel writer. He is best known for works such as Treasure Island, Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, Kidnapped and A Child's Garden of Verses.
Stevenson in 1893
Daguerreotype portrait of Stevenson as a child
Stevenson's childhood home in Heriot Row
Stevenson at age 7