Island Nights' Entertainments (also known as South Sea Tales) is a collection of short stories

Short story

A short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels. Short story definitions based on length differ somewhat, even among professional writers, in part because...

 by Robert Louis Stevenson

Robert Louis Stevenson

Robert Louis Balfour Stevenson was a Scottish novelist, poet, essayist and travel writer. His best-known books include Treasure Island, Kidnapped, and Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde....

, first published in 1893. It would be some of his last finished works before he died in 1894.

It contains three stories:

• The Beach of Falesá
  The Beach of Falesá
  "The Beach of Falesá" is a short story by Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson. It was first published in the Illustrated London News in 1892, and later published in book form in the short-story collection Island Nights' Entertainments...
  
  
• The Bottle Imp
  The Bottle Imp
  The Bottle Imp is a short story by the Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson usually found in the short story collection Island Nights' Entertainments...
  
  
• The Isle of Voices
  The Isle of Voices
  "The Isle of Voices" is a short story written by Robert Louis Stevenson, first published in his collection Island Nights' Entertainments in 1893.-Plot:The protagonist is a man named Keola living on the island of Molokai, Hawaii...
  
  

The Dedication

The dedication was written in January 1892 in a letter to Charles Baxter, Robert Louis Stevenson

Robert Louis Stevenson

Robert Louis Balfour Stevenson was a Scottish novelist, poet, essayist and travel writer. His best-known books include Treasure Island, Kidnapped, and Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde....

's friend and adviser, and the book finally published in 1893. The dedication reads:

All three were Robert Louis Stevenson's fellow cabin passengers on the 1890 Janet Nicholl voyage. Harry Henderson was a partner in the firm Henderson and Macfarlane (died 1926, Melbourne); Ben Hird, the supercargo

Supercargo

Supercargo is a term in maritime law that refers to a person employed on board a vessel by the owner of cargo carried on the ship...

 and trader; Jack Buckland

Jack Buckland

John Wilberforce Buckland , also known as ‘Tin Jack’, was a remittance man who lived in the South Pacific in the late 19th century. He travelled with Robert Louis Stevenson and his stories of life as an island trader became the inspiration for the character of Tommy Hadden in The Wrecker...

 a copra

Copra

Copra is the dried meat, or kernel, of the coconut. Coconut oil extracted from it has made copra an important agricultural commodity for many coconut-producing countries. It also yields coconut cake which is mainly used as feed for livestock.-Production:...

 trader and original of the Tommy Hadden character in The Wrecker

The Wrecker (novel)

The Wrecker is a novel written by Robert Louis Stevenson in collaboration with his stepson Lloyd Osbourne. The story is a 'sprawling, episodic adventure story, a comedy of brash manners and something of a detective mystery'. It revolves around the abandoned wreck of the Flying Scud at Midway Island...

. Jack Buckland’s dedication copy of Island Nights’ Entertainments was inscribed by Stevenson to John B. Buncombe alias Buckland. A character called ‘young Buncombe’ makes a brief appearance in chapter 2 of The Beach of Falesá

The Beach of Falesá

"The Beach of Falesá" is a short story by Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson. It was first published in the Illustrated London News in 1892, and later published in book form in the short-story collection Island Nights' Entertainments...

.