Record Number: 18679

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Reading Experience:

Evidence:

'And now I have taken up an old story, begun years ago; and I have now rewritten all I had written of it then and mean to finish it. What I have lost and gained is odd. As far as regards simple writing, of course I am in another world now; but in some things, though more clumsy, I seem to have been freer and more plucky: this is a lesson I have taken to heart. I have got a jolly new name for my old story. I am going to call it ?A Country Dance?: the two heroes keep changing places, you know; and the chapter, where the most of this changing goes on, is to be called: ?Up the Middle, down the Middle?. It will be in six, or (perhaps) seven, chapters. I have never worked harder in my life, than these last four days. If I can only keep it up.'

Century:

1850-1899

Date:

Until: 11 Feb 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:

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:

Robert Louis Stevenson

Title:

A Country Dance

Genre:

Fiction

Form of Text:

Manuscript: Earlier draft of one of his stories.

Publication Details

See below under Additional Comments.

Provenance

owned

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Source Information:

Record ID:

18679

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:

117

Additional Comments:

Section headed Thursday [11 February] in Letter 364, To Frances Sitwell [9 February 1875] [17 Heriot Row]. 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. 117, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=18679, accessed: 25 April 2024

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Additional Comments:

Editors? Note 2, p. 117, reads: ?One of the ?ill-fated efforts?, subsequently destroyed, listed in RLS?s ?My First Book: Treasure Island? (1894).?