Record Number: 20688

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Reading Experience:

Evidence:

'Will you allow me to recommend you the accompanying sonnets? They are by Mr Henley, who wrote the “Hospital Outlines” in this month’s "Cornhill" − poems which have made a great sensation here, where the portraits are easily recognized; and though these have not the same extrinsic interest, they seem to me better as workmanship and more agreeable altogether. Henley is a singularly fine fellow, whose constancy under great trouble is as remarkable as his verse. Let me add that he is not the richest person in the world, so (should these sonnets suit you for the magazine) an early publication will be of great service to him.'

Century:

1850-1899

Date:

Between 12 Feb 1875 and Jul 1875

Country:

Scotland

Time

n/a

Place:

city: Edinburgh
county: Lothian
specific address: Perhaps Swanston Cottage.

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

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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:

Scotland

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

n/a

Additional Comments:

n/a

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Text Being Read:

Author:

William Ernest Henley

Title:

Notes on the Firth

Genre:

Poetry

Form of Text:

Manuscript: Sheet, Unknown

Publication Details

Would be published in Macmillan's Magazine for October 1875.

Provenance

borrowed (private library)
RLS is passing on and recommending his friend's poems to a prospective editor.

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Source Information:

Record ID:

20688

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:

148

Additional Comments:

Letter 401, To George Grove, [Early July 1875], Swanston. Co-editor Ernest Mehew. The material in square brackets has 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. 148, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=20688, accessed: 22 November 2024

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Additional Comments:

RLS’s reading experience here is of the Henley sonnets mentioned this letter. On p.148 the Editors’ Note to this letter reads, referring to the sonnets: “ Published as ‘Notes on the Firth’ in "Macmillan’s Magazine" for October 1875.”