Treasure Island Map

Every now and then I will submit a map for your viewing pleasure. Those of you who are adventurous, or foolhardy, may want to travel to these far away lands and see what they hold.

Below you will find an authentic map of Treasure Island used by Long John Silver.

Chronology of AJ Raffles, The Amateur Cracksman

1863
Arthur J (AJ) Raffles is born

1867
Harry “Bunny” Mathers is born

1880
Raffles and Bunny meet it a Public School

1882
Le Premier Pas

1891

Sunday, March 15
The Ideas of March

Sunday, April 5 to Wednesday, April 8
A Costume Piece

Wednesday, May 24 to Thursday, May 25
Out of Paradise

Friday, May 26
Raffles returns to Palace Gardens to speak with Bunny’s ex fiancee

Monday, July 13 to Saturday August 15
Gentlemen and Players

Saturday August 15
Raffles tells Bunny of his first crime

Early October
Raffles and Bunny in Ireland

Mid October
Willful Murder (1day)


1892

April
The Spoils of Sacrilege

July
The Field of Philippi

Late October
Nine Points of the Law (2 days)

November
The Return Match (1 day)

1893

February
The Criminologists’ club

April (before Easter)
The Chest of Silver

Thursday, July 20
A Bad Night


1894

March
To Trap a Cracksman

Before July 10th
Raffles in Calsbad for two weeks

Tuesday, July 10 to Tuesday July 17
Mr. Justice Raffles

Tuesday, July 17 to later July
Raffles and Bunny escape to the continent Bunny returns to London would not see Raffles again until later August

August to September
The Rest Cure

1895

-Bunny hadn’t seen Raffles for a few months, moved closer to the River

Sunday, June
Bunny with Raffles on river

July Wednesday to Tuesday (week and an half)
The Emperors Gift

August 1895 to February 1897
Bunny in prison for 18 months

August 1895
Raffles on Elba a few weeks

September 1895 to March 1896
Raffles on Baize island (The Fate of Faustina)

1897

March or April
Raffles back in London posing as Mr. Maturin

Tuesday, May 11
No Sinecure

Wednesday, June 16 to Saturday, June 19
A Jubilee Present

Early August
Raffles sees an organ grinders in the street and tells Bunny The Fate of Faustina

Late September
The Last Laugh (2 days)

October
To Catch A Thief (1day)

Late October to November
An Old Flame (a few weeks)

Mr. Maturin “dies”

Bunny takes rooms on the edge of Ham Common

1898

March
The Wrong House

1899

Winter
Raffles and Bunny become obsessed with the Boor War

December
The Raffles Relics

1900

The Knees of the Gods

January
Raffles decided to enlist in the army to fight in the Boor War. Raffles dyes his hair red.

February
Raffles and Bunny sail off to South Africa

Connel leads troops in the wrong direction

Tuesday, 13 March
Bloemfontein is captured

Peter Bellingham recognizes Raffles

Raffles is killed and Bunny is wounded in the leg

Wednesday, June 27
Bunny meets his ex fiancee

Thursday, June 28
The Last Word

1908
Bunny meets Teddy at a Turkish bath and convinces him to write the story of Mr. Justice
Raffles

James Bond Annotations and Chronologies

If you're a fan of the literary James Bond of Ian Fleming's novels, there are a few reference books you should have on your shelf: O.F. Snelling's 007 James Bond: A Report, Kingsley Amis' The James Bond Dossier, and Raymond Benson's The James Bond Bedside Companion. A fourth book to add to that list is John Griswold's Ian Fleming's James Bond: Annotations and Chronologies from Ian Fleming's Bond Stories.

Griswold annotates each story explaining terms and giving translations of non-English phrases. He goes into detail on the different games Bond plays throughout the novels and even has analysis of the chess game in From Russia With Love. Griswold did a lot of research for this book.

Griswold also has a detailed chronology of each story, down to every event in the books. I myself have worked on a Bond chronology and mine was not too far off from Griswold's. There were three points I took note to, although he makes a very good case as to why he has placed these stories in the years that he has. He stops with The Man with the Golden Gun, not going over any of the "continuation novels" by other authors. In future pages of this blog I will look at those stories and see where they fit into the chronology.

The book also has articles on Bond's British Secret Service, Q of Q Branch, Bond's cars, home and guns in the stories. He also gives a very nice chronology of Bond's life and one for the life of Ernst Stavro Blofeld.

If you are planning to read any of the novels I suggest getting this book. It will explain the little details you may not get right away and it will decently translate those French quotes Fleming loved to put in his books.