Measures 8-7/32" X 6-1/4", 237 pp, b&w illustrations, written by Robert Louis Stevenson, hardcover with dist jacket published by Whitman Publishing Co. (WI), Whitman catalogue #2125. 

Since the age of two years old (in 1949!), I have always loved this particular edition of TREASURE ISLAND, largely due to the very unrepentent-appearing pirates on the front cover (I would regularly hide my brother's copy under my bed, attempting to build my own "personal" library at the age of TWO!).  My brother's copy disappeared over 50 years ago, and the next copy I would discover was over 20 years ago (since sold to another Whitman collector overseas); and so it was a rare thrill to find this copy a while back.  Researching Whitman publication dates is somewhat time-consuming, although I did discover 3 somewhat similar copies (out of over 3800!).  But this copy has some intriguing differences, that caused me to scratch my head in wonderment -- since this seems to be a cover variation with which I am unfamiliar.

First of all, Whitman Publishing did NOT necessarily match current dust jackets with current editions:  if a surplus of dust jackets was left over from an earlier edition, the old dust jackets were married to the newer editions -- and the same happened with older book editions, married to newer dust jacket printings.  These were NOT expensive books (about 25 cents retail); and so mismatches were common.  Thus, the book binding on this edition is the "threaded" variation, which Whitman began publishing in 1938, which was superceded by "pebbled" covers in 1941.  This copy has black ink on red boards, with NO number on either the spine or the rear cover; so we may conclude that the book was printed between 1938 and 1941.

But the dust jacket is a REAL tease!  The dust jacket spine is NOT the dark black spine listed in the February 1940 "Whitman Book Catalog," but rather the later robin's-egg blue spine, featuring the silhouette in a cameo,  of a child reading a book, surrounded by the legend "The Classic Series."  Furthermore, there is NO number on the dust jacket spine -- the Whitman catalog number "2125" is printed in very small numerals, on the rear lower right corner.  And the rear cover illustration has also changed from the previous 1940 edition -- instead of a cover divided into quadrants, with the sailing ship centered amongst them, the rear cover on THIS edition is a simple field of yellow, in the center of which is the sailing ship.

The listings of other available Whitman titles on the flyleaves is also revealing.  The front flyleaf features "BOYS' AND GIRLS' CLASSICS," listing 18 titles.  Again according to the "Whitman Book Catalogue" for Fall 1940, the seven titles at the top of the list (beginning with LITTLE WOMEN) were new, previously unpublished Whitman titles -- and NO titles from the following years have been added.  And the rear flyleaf  shows the "TOM SWIFT Series (9 titles)," which again appears in the Fall 1940 catalogue, replacing the listing from the previous "CHILDRENS' BOOKS -- WHITMAN LINE" catalogue from Fall-Winter 1939-40, which had listed 10 TOM SWIFT titles (TOM SWIFT AND HIS PLANET STONE had been deleted by Fall 1940).  In addition, absolutely none of the early 2300 series titles from 1941 are listed on either flyleaf, or at the rear of the book.

Due to the preponderance of evidence, I would have to conclude that this edition of the dust jacket was printed in 1940, and no later than very early 1941, while the book itself could have been published between 1938 and 1941

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