NOTES
This essay, which is commonly (and justly) regarded as Stevenson's masterpiece of literary composition, was first printed in the Cornhill Magazine for April 1878, Vol. XXXVII, pp. 432-437. In 1881 it was published in the volume Virginibus Puerisque . For the success of this volume, as well as for its author's relations with the editor of the _Cornhill_, see our note to An Apology for Idlers . It was this article which was selected for reprinting in separate form by the American Committee of the Robert Louis Stevenson Memorial Fund; to every subscriber of ten dollars or more, was given a copy of this essay, exquisitely printed at the De Vinne Press, 1898. Copies of this edition are now eagerly sought by book-collectors; five of them were taken by the Robert Louis Stevenson Club of Ya
