Record Number: 17418
Reading Experience:
Evidence:
'In a shop in Buchanan Street, there was exposed a little gold wristlet with 'Phil. 1.3' upon it; look it up in the New Testament and take the text, meine schone Freundin, as a message from me.'
Century:1850-1899
Date:19 Sep 1873
Country:Scotland
Timen/a
Place:city: Terreglestown, Dumfries
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:Male
Date of Birth:13 Nov 1850
Socio-Economic Group:Professional / academic / merchant / farmer
Occupation:writer
Religion:atheist
Country of Origin:Scotland
Country of Experience:Scotland
Listeners present if any:e.g family, servants, friends
letter to Frances Sitwell
Additional Comments:
n/a
Text Being Read:
Author: Title:Epistle to the Philippians, I.3
Genre:Bible
Form of Text:Print: wristlet
Publication Detailsn/a
Provenanceread in situ
seen in a shop window
Source Information:
Record ID:17418
Source:Robert Louis Stevenson
Editor:Bradford Booth
Title:The Letters of Robert Louis Stevenson
Place of Publication:New Haven and London
Date of Publication:1994
Vol:1
Page:304
Additional Comments:
additional editor Ernest Mehew
Citation:
Robert Louis Stevenson, Bradford Booth (ed.), The Letters of Robert Louis Stevenson, (New Haven and London, 1994), 1, p. 304, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=17418, accessed: 07 February 2026
Additional Comments:
RLS not reading Bible at the time. The wristlet he saw in a shop window had a reference to a line in Paul's Epistle to the Philippians. RLS must have been sufficiently familiar with his Bible to decode the reference and use it for his own purposes.
