Record Number: 30831
Reading Experience:
Evidence:
'We were coasting down Corsica — I saw it out of my bathroom window — in perfect weather, mild and calm and sunny. We passed through the Straits of Bonifac[c]io about 11 and were soon out of land. I sat on deck all day without any rugs or wraps and read Stevenson's charming letters, walked about with the Austrian a little and talked to the Australians.'
Century:1850-1899
Date:1 Dec 1899
Country:at sea in Western Mediterranean en route for Palestine
Timedaytime
Place:other location: on deck onboard the French passenger steamship S.S. Saghalien between Marseilles, Corsica/ Sardinia and S Italy
Type of Experience(Reader):
silent aloud unknown
solitary in company unknown
single serial unknown
(Listener):
solitary in company unknown
single serial unknown
Reader / Listener / Reading Group:
Reader: Age:Adult (18-100+)
Gender:Female
Date of Birth:16 Jul 1868
Socio-Economic Group:Gentry
Occupation:Oxford graduate, language student, yet to take up formal occupation as archaeologist and political advisor
Religion:originally Christian (Anglican) by now declared atheist
Country of Origin:England
Country of Experience:at sea in Western Mediterranean en route for Palestine
Listeners present if any:e.g family, servants, friends
n/a
Additional Comments:
n/a
Text Being Read:
Author: Title:The Letters of Robert Louis Stevenson to his family and friends; selected and edited, with notes and introduction, by Sidney Colvin
Genre:Autobiog / Diary
Form of Text:Print: Book
Publication DetailsLondon: Methuen, 1899
Provenanceunknown
probably owned
Source Information:
Record ID:30831
Source - Manuscript:Other
Information:
Gertrude Bell Archive, Newcastle University Library http://www.gerty.ncl.ac.uk
Additional Information:
Letter from Gertrude Bell to Hugh Bell 2 December 1899 http://www.gerty.ncl.ac.uk/letter_details.php?letter_id=1085
Citation:
Gertrude Bell Archive, Newcastle University Library http://www.gerty.ncl.ac.uk, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=30831, accessed: 18 July 2024
Additional Comments:
The text being read is probably the Sidney Colvin edition of Stevenson's letters, which appeared that year. The other possibility is the Letters from Samoa which appeared in 1897.