On 5th of January 1886, The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson was published by Longmans, Green & Co.

Now reproduced and inspiration of many other stories, books, films, and video games, the story follows Gabriel John Utterson, a London-based legal practitioner who investigates a series of strange occurrences between his old friend, Dr Henry Jekyll, and a murderous criminal named Edward Hyde.

The book was initially sold as a paperback for one shilling in the UK. These books were called “shilling shockers” or penny dreadfuls. The American publisher issued the book on 5 January 1886, four days before the first appearance of the UK edition issued by Longmans; Scribner’s published 3,000 copies, only 1,250 of them bound in cloth.

Initially, stores did not stock it until a review appeared in The Times on 25 January 1886 giving it a favourable reception. Within the next six months, close to 40 thousand copies were sold. As Stevenson’s biographer Graham Balfour wrote in 1901, the book’s success was probably due rather to the “moral instincts of the public” than to any conscious perception of the merits of its art.

It was read by those who never read fiction and quoted in pulpit sermons and in religious papers. By 1901, it was estimated to have sold over 250,000 copies in the United States.