In the thirty years after Robert Louis Stevenson's death in 1894, no fewer than eight collected editions of his works were published. Even in an age when such projects were more common (and economically feasible) than they are now, that is an unusually high number, and it testifies to the endurance of Stevenson's popularity over the first portion of the twentieth century. For the publishers involved, these were commercial rather than scholarly ventures, understandably so. Little effort was made to establish the accuracy of individual works. In most cases the editions reprinted texts that drew, either directly or at several removes, on the twenty-eight-volume Works of Robert Louis Stevenson [Edinburgh Edition] (1894–98) overseen by Stevenson's literary executor, Sidney Colvin. With good intentions and what now looks like questionable judgment, Colvin actively re-edited all of the works, altered some and suppressed others. He also had neither the means nor any compelling motivation to try to untangle the often complicated transmission history of many of the texts in his care. As a result, though the Works of Robert Louis Stevenson [Edinburgh Edition] gathered and made widely accessible nearly all of Stevenson's numerous literary productions, it preserved them in forms that deviate in countless ways from what Stevenson actually wrote.

The New Edinburgh Edition of the Works of Robert Louis Stevenson pays titular tribute to Colvin's foundational assemblage. It aims, though, to provide what cannot be found in his or any subsequent collected edition, namely accurate texts for all of Stevenson's substantial oeuvre. The New Edinburgh Edition is designed to appeal both to the general reader and the scholar. Each volume supplies attractive, uncluttered reading texts. Individual works are thoroughly annotated, allowing readers to grasp the full range of Stevenson's allusions as well as to recover the myriad ways in which he responded to the contemporary world and his cultural heritage. Introductory essays trace composition and publication histories while providing contextual information designed to extend readers’ understanding and, we hope, enhance their appreciation. Textual essays describe the extant witness texts (e.g. manuscript, proof-sheet, periodical publication, single or multiple book editions) for each work as well as the relations among them, while laying out the rationales for the copy texts chosen for the New Edinburgh Edition.