Robert Louis Stevenson completes The Black Arrow
- When
- 1883
- Where
- Unspecified; Publication Venue
- Episodes
- 2
Robert Louis Stevenson completed writing The Black Arrow by the end of summer 1883. The novel was serialized in Young Folks magazine from June to October 1883. Stevenson later modified the text for its 1888 book publication, citing the Paston Letters as his primary literary source.
Episodes
- Completion of Manuscript
Stevenson finished writing The Black Arrow by the end of summer 1883, prior to the serialization's conclusion.
- Serialization in Young Folks
The novel was serialized in Young Folks magazine from June to October 1883.
Background and detail
Background. The Black Arrow is a historical adventure novel and romance set during the Wars of the Roses. The Paston Letters were Stevenson's main literary source for The Black Arrow. The work was initially published as a serial in Young Folks, a boys' and girls' paper, before being revised for a single-volume book edition in 1888.
Serialization. The story first appeared as a serial in 1883 with the subtitle 'A Tale of Tunstall Forest'. It ran in Young Folks from June 30 to October 20, 1883. Stevenson had finished writing the manuscript by the end of summer, prior to the final installment's publication.
Book Publication. Stevenson modified the 1883 serial text for publication as a book in 1888. In his preface, he alluded to the time gap between the serialization and the volume publication, noting the tale was written years earlier for a specific audience.
People involved
- Robert Louis Stevenson · Author
Sources
- The Black Arrow: A Tale of the Two Roses Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-02
- Robert Louis Stevenson Wikipedia, revision of 2026-10-07
Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.