Edinburgh: Picturesque Notes

The book began as a series of articles which appeared in the magazine, The Portfolio.It was then published as a book divided into ten chapters and consisting of a series of essays describing different areas of Edinburgh: the Old Town, the Parliament Close, Greyfriar’s Kirkyard, the New Town, the villas in Morningside, Calton Hill and the Pentland Hills. == Reception ==

Despite his affection for the city, Stevenson did not shy away from detailing the darker aspects of life in Edinburgh however; including references to its more gruesome history and inhabitants such as Deacon Brodie, whose dual life proved inspiration for Stevenson's Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, and Major Thomas Weir, who was executed for adultery, bestiality and incest and accused of witchcraft. which not every reader appreciated upon the book's publication. == Illustrations ==

In 1878, the magazine articles were illustrated by etchings which were subsequently used in the first edition of the book. Further editions, in 1896, in 1912 and in 1923, would be illustrated with drawings and with coloured decorations. These editions included work by: • Alfred-Louis Brunet-Debaines • Thomas Hamilton Crawford • Sam Bough • William Ewart Lockhart • James Heron The American photographer Alvin Langdon Coburn helped illustrate a later edition of the book in 1954 with a series of photographs he had taken half a century earlier in 1905. These photographs he regarded as some of his "very best" work though he always regretted that he never got to meet Stevenson himself, who had died in 1894."I never met Stevenson in the flesh. It is one of my great regrets that I came just a little too late to make his portrait, but I have all his books and have read them many times, so that I seem to know him better than some of my other friends. Through his Edinburgh and in his Edinburgh I seem to know him best of all".- Alvin Langdon Coburn. == References ==