Record Number: 20266

---

Reading Experience:

Evidence:

'My father has been quite sewed up for some days back, by Clifford’s article: (a fine article it was too);[…].'

Century:

1850-1899

Date:

Until: 7 Jun 1875

Country:

Probably Scotland.

Time

n/a

Place:

city: Probably Edinburgh.
county: Lothian
specific address: Possibly Swanston Cottage, Lothianburn, Edinburgh.

Type of Experience
(Reader):
 

silent aloud unknown
solitary in company unknown
single serial unknown

Type of Experience
(Listener):
 

solitary in company unknown
single serial unknown

---

Reader / Listener / Reading Group:

Reader:

Robert Louis Stevenson

Age:

Adult (18-100+)

Gender:

Male

Date of Birth:

13 Nov 1850

Socio-Economic Group:

Professional / academic / merchant / farmer

Occupation:

Aspiring writer and intermittent law student

Religion:

Uncommitted.

Country of Origin:

Scotland

Country of Experience:

Probably Scotland.

Listeners present if any:
e.g family, servants, friends

n/a

Additional Comments:

n/a

---

Text Being Read:

Author:

William Kingdom Clifford

Title:

The Unseen Universe or Physical Speculations on a Future State

Genre:

Other religious, Science

Form of Text:

Print: Serial / periodical, Review article. Probably read in print after publication, but possibly in another earlier form since RLS was acquainted with its author.

Publication Details

In the June 1875 issue of the "Fortnightly Review".

Provenance

unknown

---

Source Information:

Record ID:

20266

Source:

Print

Author:

Robert Louis Stevenson

Editor:

Bradford A. Booth

Title:

The Letters of Robert Louis Stevenson, April 1874-July 1879

Place of Publication:

New Haven and London

Date of Publication:

1994

Vol:

2

Page:

141

Additional Comments:

Section headed Monday [7 June] in Letter 394, To Frances Sitwell, Friday [4 June 1875], [Swanston]. Co-editor Ernest Mehew. The dates in square brackets have been added by the editors.

Citation:

Robert Louis Stevenson, Bradford A. Booth (ed.), The Letters of Robert Louis Stevenson, April 1874-July 1879, (New Haven and London, 1994), 2, p. 141, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=20266, accessed: 22 November 2024

---

Additional Comments:

Editors’ Note 2 on p. 141 reads:”In the June "Fortnightly" W.K. Clifford reviewed "The Unseen Universe or Physical Speculations on a Future State", an attempted reconciliation of science and religion, first published anonymously but later acknowledged to be by P.G Tait and B. Stewart.”. On page 87 of these Letters, Editors’ Note 6 to Letter 338, To his Mother, [5 December 1874], refers to RLS’s mention of Clifford as one of the people he had met that evening while dining at ‘the {Savile} Club'. The Note reads: “William Kingdom Clifford (1845-79), mathematician and metaphysician of brilliant promise. In ‘Memoirs of Himself’ RLS refers to his ‘irresponsible boyishness of mind and manner’ and says that he was then in the ‘hot fit of the most noisy atheism’.”