Record Number: 21954

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Reading Experience:

Evidence:

'Figure to yourself, I wrote a review of Lord Lorne for "Vanity Fair" − a few pages of scurrility that I wrote laughing in an hour or two − and I got − guess! − I got five pounds for it and the price of the book! That was jolly, wasn’t it? Long live "Vanity Fair"!'

Century:

1850-1899

Date:

Until: Nov 1875

Country:

Scotland

Time

n/a

Place:

city: Edinburgh
county: Lothian
specific address: [17 Heriot Row]

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:

Writer

Religion:

Uncommitted (see Section 3, Additional Comments.

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:

John Douglas Sutherland Campbell, Marquess of Lorne

Title:

Guido and Lita: A Tale of the Riviera.

Genre:

Poetry

Form of Text:

Print: Book

Publication Details

1875, Macmillan & Co.

Provenance

unknown

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Source Information:

Record ID:

21954

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:

168

Additional Comments:

Letter 426, To Frances Sitwell, [November 1875], [17 Heriot Row]. 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. 168, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=21954, accessed: 25 November 2024

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Additional Comments:

On p. 168, Editors’ Note 1 to the words 'I wrote a review…for "Vanity Fair"' in Letter 426 reads: “‘The Measure of a Marquis’, "Vanity Fair", 27 November 1875. An unsigned review of "Guido and Lita: A Tale of the Riviera", a narrative poem by John Douglas Sutherland Campbell, Marquess of Lorne (1845-1914) who succeeded his father as Duke of Argyll in 1900. It has not been reprinted.” The sentimental tale of Guido and Lita was published by Macmillan & Co. in 1875. It is solemnly and lengthily written in dire, archaising, tortuous ten-syllable lines arranged in rhyming couplets. It is not surprising that RLS found it laughable.