I brought this copy of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and Other
Stories by Robert Louis Stevenson at The Writer’s Museum in Edinburgh. The free
museum is dedicated to lives of Edinburgh’s literary greats, Stevenson, Sir
Walter Scott and Robert Burns. You can find it after hefty walk up the Mound
Steps, just to the right of St Giles’ Cathedral, tucked away in Markars’ Court.
The courtyard’s flagstones are forever marked with the words of Edinburgh’s writers,
and perhaps on a more seasonal basis, dotted with leftover bottles of wine from
Fringe Festival revellers.
I was surprised to learn about the life of the author of one
of my all time favourites, Treasure
Island. The exhibition displayed photographs of Stevenson lounging in his
final home in Samoa in camel coloured trousers and long riding boots, twirling
his very impression moustache. After reading a timeline of his exploits in Europe,
New York, San Francisco and New Zealand – to name a few – I hope one day to add
his biography to my ever increasing home library.
This edition of the Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is
accompanied by stories which reflect the life of the globe-trotting author. If
you want to read a gothic tale set in every Victorian metropolis, London,
Edinburgh and Paris, this version is for you. While the witchy tale of Thrawn Jane
is written in a such strong Scottish
dialect, I must plead ignorance of what actually happened – donning an
appalling Frankie Boyle/ Billy Connery impression didn’t help in the slightest
– the ghoulish tales of Burke and Hare in The Body Snatchers gave me a full blown case of holiday blues
and promise myself I would one day go back to "Auld Reekie”.
