Kidnapped — Stevenson/Lee, Garden City 1932

📖 Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson (1932, Garden City Publishing Co.) — a historical adventure novel first serialized in 1886, here in the Garden City printing illustrated in color by Manning de V. Lee. Blue cloth hardcover with a two-page color frontispiece, three additional plates, and two-tone pictorial endpapers; Very Good condition, complete and clean.

QUICK FACTS

• Author: Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894)
• Illustrator: Manning de V. Lee (1894-1980)
• Publisher: Garden City Publishing Co., Garden City, New York
• Year: 1932 (copyright date printed on the title page)
• Format: Hardcover, blue cloth boards with pictorial paste-down label; pictorial endpapers; no dust jacket
• Plates: Two-page color frontispiece + 3 additional color plates by Manning de V. Lee
• ISBN: None (pre-ISBN era)
• Condition: Very Good- (VG-)/Very Good (VG) — full report below

THE STORY

Kidnapped is a historical adventure novel by Robert Louis Stevenson, first serialized in the magazine Young Folks from May to July 1886 and published in book form the same year by Cassell & Company, London, under the title “Kidnapped: Being Memoirs of the Adventures of David Balfour in the year 1751.” The story pairs staid young Lowlander David Balfour — betrayed by his uncle and kidnapped aboard the brig Covenant — with Alan Breck Stewart, a noble, hot-headed Highland Jacobite, and follows the two as circumstance throws them together and binds them in loyal friendship across the Scotland of 1751.

THIS EDITION

Garden City Publishing Co. was established by Nelson Doubleday as a separate firm; its books were primarily reprints of titles first offered by Doubleday, printed from the original plates but on less expensive paper. This printing carries the copyright line “COPYRIGHT, 1932, BY GARDEN CITY PUBLISHING CO.” on the title page and presents the text with color work by Manning de V. Lee: a two-page frontispiece, three additional plates, and printed maritime endpapers.

COVER ART & ILLUSTRATIONS

The front board is lettered KIDNAPPED in arched orange-red capitals above a painterly scene of figures in 18th-century Scottish dress set against a rocky coastal landscape, with the GARDEN CITY imprint and 1932 date below; a thin light-green border frames the design. The spine carries gilt lettering — title, author, a small ship device, the credit “Illustrated by MANNING de V. LEE,” and the publisher — on blue cloth. The endpapers are printed in blue and white with a full-page maritime scene of sailors, seagulls, and stylized waves; the front endpaper carries a decorative panel printed THIS IS MY BOOK. The two-page frontispiece shows Alan Breck Stewart charging on a ship’s deck, captioned “ALAN RAN UPON THE OTHERS LIKE A BULL, ROARING”; a further plate shows David Balfour clinging to a cliff face above the Sound of Iona, captioned “THE SUNSHINE SET ME THINKING HOPEFULLY OF DELIVERANCE.”

WHY IT MATTERS

• Manning de V. Lee (1894-1980) illustrated more than 200 books after training at the Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia; his color work for 1930s reprints is well represented in this volume.
• Stevenson wrote Kidnapped as a boys’ novel; it remains among the most widely read works of Scottish historical fiction, still read and adapted more than a century after its 1886 magazine serialization.
• Garden City printings made illustrated classics affordable in the Depression-era book trade — collectible today as period artifacts of that reprint culture.

FREQUENTLY ASKED

What edition is this? A 1932 Garden City Publishing Co. printing, illustrated in color by Manning de V. Lee — the title page carries the copyright line “COPYRIGHT, 1932, BY GARDEN CITY PUBLISHING CO.” No dust jacket.

What condition is it in? Very Good- (VG-)/Very Good (VG) — square, tight binding with solid hinges; lightly bumped corners; frayed spine head and tail with crisp gilt; clean interior with complete plates, one with a small circular punch in the upper margin. Full report below.

Is it signed or jacketed? Not signed; no dust jacket — blue cloth boards with the color pictorial paste-down label described in the edition points below.

FOR COLLECTORS

A complete Manning de V. Lee color-plate program — frontispiece, three plates, and printed maritime endpapers — in a tight Doubleday-era Garden City binding, priced as a reading copy of a classic boys’ adventure. The pencil name on the endpaper panel and the single plate punch are honest signs of a used, cared-for book.

Book Details

Author: Robert Louis Stevenson

Illustrator: Manning de V. Lee

Publisher: Garden City Publishing Co., Inc.

Binding: HARDCOVER

Edition Points: Circa 1932 Garden City Publishing edition featuring a two-page color frontispiece and 3 additional plates and pictorial endpapers illustrated by Manning de V. Lee; blue cloth boards with color pictorial paste-down label and gilt-lettered spine.

Condition Report

Overall Grade: Very Good- (VG-)/Very Good (VG)

Cover & Spine: Board corners are mostly lightly bumped, with upper rear tip worn through to the board; front color paste-down has some scuffs on the outer edge but retains the vivid central illustration. Spine head and tail are frayed, lettering and decoration on the spine remain crisp and bright.

Text Block & Pages: Text block edges are somewhat age-toned with sprayed upper edge relatively uniform, not spotted; illustrated blue-and-white endpapers clean with vintage pencil name on the “This Is My Book” panel; interior text and color plates complete and remain clean and bright. One internal plate has a small circular punch in the upper margin.

Binding: Square and tight, with solid hinges, front and back.

See accompanying images for full condition details. Will ship promptly, carefully packaged.

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