The Wrong Box by Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894) and Lloyd Osbourne - 1889

vii+244 pages. Small octavo (7 1/2" x 5")gound in variant publisher's red cloth with gilt lettering to spine and blind stamped ruled edges. First American edition. The Wrong Box is a black comedy novel co-written by Robert Louis Stevenson and Lloyd Osbourne, first published in 1889. The story is about the last two remaining survivors of a tontine, who also happen to be brothers. The book is notable for being the first of three novels that Stevenson co-wrote with Osbourne, who was his stepson. The second was The Wrecker (1892) and The Ebb-Tide (1894) was the third. Osbourne wrote the first draft of the novel late in 1887 (then called The Finsbury Tontine), Stevenson revised it in 1888 (then called A Game of Bluff) and again in 1889 when it was finally called The Wrong Box. Condition: Corners bumped with moderate rubbing, spine ends lightly rubbed, soiled, previous owner's name on front end paper else a very good copy.