A century after N.C. Wyeth's illustrations of the pirates and scalawags of "Treasure Island" first appeared, the iconic images considered the definitive version of the classic tale are reunited for the first time since their completion.

The Brandywine Museum has reassembled them in a new exhibit marking the 100th anniversary of Wyeth's "Treasure Island" and the 40th anniversary of the museum, not far from an old carriage house where Wyeth created the 17 large oils on canvas for publishing house Charles Scribner's Sons. The only painting not in the exhibit was destroyed in a fire in 1952.

Scribner's displayed the paintings in their New York bookstore and sold several, but the bulk of the paintings are owned either by the museum or the Wyeth family.

The New York Public Library owns two, one is in private hands and one is owned by the New Britain Museum of American Art in Connecticut.

"From his correspondence, we found that these paintings were done in about 3 1/2 months, which is an incredibly rapid pace," curator Christine Podmaniczky said.

"He didn't make drawings of everything first, worked spontaneously right on the canvas." Robert Louis Stevenson's 1883 book was already a favorite of readers and critics when the story was published with Wyeth's illustrations in 1911.

Where earlier editions typically featured basic line drawings to illustrate the coming-of-age adventure, Wyeth's spirited and colorful depictions of Long John Silver, Jim Hawkins, Billy Bones and company became an instant hit.

The first print run of about 10,000 copies quickly sold out. The book's success marked the start of a long relationship between Wyeth and Scribner's that led to a popular series of Wyeth-illustrated children's classics.

Scribner's paid $2,500 for "Treasure Island," which Wyeth used to buy 18 picturesque acres along the Brandywine River Valley.