"Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" redirects here. For other uses, see Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (disambiguation).
Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll
and Mr. Hyde
Title page of the first London edition (1886)
Author Robert Louis Stevenson
Country United Kingdom
Language English
Publisher Longmans, Green & co.
Publication date 5 January 1886
ISBN N/A
Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is the original title of a novella written by the Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson that was first published in 1886. The work is commonly known today as The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde or simply Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. It is about a London lawyer named Gabriel John Utterson who investigates strange occurrences between his old friend, Dr Henry Jekyll, and the misanthropic Edward Hyde.
The work is commonly associated with the rare mental condition often spuriously called "split personality", wherein within the same person there are two distinct personalities. In this case, the two personalities in Dr Jekyll are apparently good and evil, with completely opposite levels of morality. The novella's impact is such that it has become a part of the language, with the phrase "Jekyll and Hyde" coming to mean a person who is vastly different in moral character from one situation to the next.
Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde was an immediate success and is one of Stevenson's best-selling works. Stage adaptations began in Boston and London within a year of its publication and it has gone on to inspire scores of major film and stage performances.