Q 01/05

Although published in the 1880s, Treasure Island is set in which period?

A) The 1700s

B) The 1600s

C) The 1500s

D) The 1800s

Answer · why

A) The 1700s

The 1700s: Jim dates his tale only 'the year of grace 17—', and he vows never to go back for the silver still buried on that 'accursed island'.

Q 02/05

Stevenson admitted he couldn't handle a brig, so what kind of ship did he make the Hispaniola?

A) A sloop

B) A schooner

C) A cutter

D) A ketch

Answer · why

B) A schooner

A schooner: when Jim retakes her from the mutineers, a wounded pirate coaches him to beach her in the island's northern inlet.

Q 03/05

Treasure Island was first serialised in 1881–82 in which children's magazine?

A) Young Folks

B) Boy's Own Paper

C) The Strand

D) Chums

Answer · why

A) Young Folks

Young Folks: the serial flopped with its young readers, and only as a book did Treasure Island become Stevenson's first real success.

Q 04/05

Under what pseudonym was the serialised Treasure Island credited?

A) Captain George North

B) Captain Charles Johnson

C) Captain Frederick Marryat

D) Captain Mayne Reid

Answer · why

A) Captain George North

The serial was credited to 'Captain George North'; Stevenson, then little known, put his own name on the later book edition.

Q 05/05

Stevenson admitted borrowing Flint's skeleton pointer from which Poe story?

A) MS. Found in a Bottle

B) The Gold-Bug

C) The Black Cat

D) The Purloined Letter

Answer · why

B) The Gold-Bug

The Gold-Bug: a servant drops a beetle through a skull's eye to set the line Legrand follows, but he uses the wrong eye, so the first dig finds nothin...