The five dramatizations presented here are in no chronological order except historically. “The Black Arrow” was the last of these dramatizations, one of his very few attempts at a historical novel like those of Sir Walter Scott, and he was never happy with it himself. It contains though one of the most psychologically shockingly convincing portraits of Richard III ever written. “The Treasure Island” was one of his very first novels and actually written for youths. “The Heir of Ballantrae” I always regarded as his greatest novel, psychologically penetrating and in great sequence to Sir Walter Scott. “Doctor Jekyll’s Journal” was the first of these dramatizations, in which the greatest liberties have been taken with the original, which issue is being discussed after “The Black Arrow”. “The Wrecker” is one his least known novels but one of his best and most intelligent. Its labyrinthine mystery is difficult to follow, few could do that in the 19th century, but the explanation ...
