Newell Convers Wyeth (October 22, 1882 – October 19, 1945), known as N. C. Wyeth, was an American artist and illustrator. He was the pupil of artist Howard Pyle and became one of America’s greatest illustrators. During his lifetime, Wyeth created more than 3,000 paintings and illustrated 112 books, 25 of them for Scribner’s, the Scribner Classics, which is the work for which he is best known for.
The first of these, Treasure Island, was one of his masterpieces and the proceeds paid for his studio. N.C. Wyeth was a realist painter at a time when the camera and photography began to compete with his craft. Sometimes seen as melodramatic, his illustrations were designed to be understood quickly. N.C. Wyeth, who was both a painter and an illustrator, understood the difference, and said in 1908, “Painting and illustration cannot be mixed—one cannot merge from one into the other.”
Treasure Island is an adventure novel by Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson, narrating a tale of “buccaneers and buried gold.” Its influence is enormous on popular perceptions of pirates, including such elements as treasure maps marked with an “X”, schooners, the Black Spot, tropical islands, and one-legged seamen bearing parrots on their shoulders.
Treasure Island was originally considered a coming-of-age story and is noted for its atmosphere, characters, and action. It is one of the most frequently dramatised of all novels. It was originally serialised in the children’s magazine Young Folks from 1881 through 1882 under the title Treasure Island or the mutiny of the Hispaniola, credited to the pseudonym “Captain George North”. It was first published as a book on 14 November 1883, by Cassell & Co, London.
Presenting the illustrations by N.C. Wyeth for the book Treasure Island. First edition, published by Charles Scribners, NY, 1911. Wyeth’s illustrations for Treasure Island has become a classic children’s book and is still in print today. Enjoy these amazing illustrations.
Art Gallery: N.C. Wyeth – Treasure Island 1911
