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The Annotated Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde/Dedication

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To

KATHARINE DE MATTOS[1]


It's ill to loose the bands that God decreed to bind;
Still we will be the children of the heather and the wind.
Far away from home, O it's still for you and me
That the broom is blowing bonnie[2] in the north countrie.[3]

Notes

[edit]

In the first edition, the dedication page was the first page of the book, coming before the Table of Contents page, containing the 6 lines above.

  1. Dedicated to Stevenson's cousin Katharine with whom he had a friendly relationship.
  2. ..broom is blowing bonnie ie. the Scots broom, a type of bush found in Scotland, is flowering beautifully
  3. The poem is an excerpt from a longer poem Stevenson wrote for Katherine a few months before the publication of the book. It was about their mutual love of their Scottish heritage.