The Master of Ballantrae

The Master of Ballantrae: A Winter's Tale is an 1889 novel by the Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson, focusing upon the conflict between two brothers, Scottish noblemen whose family is torn apart by the Jacobite rising of 1745. He worked on the book in Tautira after his health was restored. Variant openings In the first edition of 1889 the book began with Chapter One, "Summary of Events During the Master's Wanderings". For the second edition (known as the Edinburgh Edition) Stevenson added a preface in which he pretended to have been given the manuscript by an acquaintance. There is also an "Art-Type Edition" which includes a preface and contains an Editorial Note. Stevenson stated in a letter that he made this change because he wanted to draw a portrait of a real-life friend of his upon whom the acquaintance in the preface is based. In the many reprintings since then the preface has sometimes been included and sometimes not. Nothing in the preface, however, has any direct relevance to the story. Plot summary