Record Number: 20258

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Reading Experience:

Evidence:

'I am all right. I am reading law, and writing beautiful poems in prose. […]Do write, son of perdition, do write. I cannot, owing to poetical (prose poetical) afflatus, Civil Law, and a kind of nondescript incapacity that weighs upon me.'

Century:

1850-1899

Date:

Between 1 May 1875 and 31 May 1875

Country:

Scotland

Time

morning
afternoon
evening
daytime
night

Place:

city: Edinburgh
county: Lothian
specific address: Swanston Cottage, Lothianburn, Edinburgh and 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:

unknown

Title:

law books

Genre:

Law

Form of Text:

Print: Book, Textbooks on Scottish Law, including Civil Law.

Publication Details

n/a

Provenance

unknown

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Source Information:

Record ID:

20258

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:

139

Additional Comments:

Letter 392, To Sidney Colvin [Late May 1875], Swanston Cottage. Co-editor Ernest Mehew. The date 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. 139, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=20258, accessed: 16 April 2024

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Additional Comments:

RLS is reading in preparation for the imminent Edinburgh University Final Examinations at which he will (just) qualify as Advocate, on the strength of which fact he will be called to the Scottish Bar, though he will not practise.