the experience of reading in Britain, from 1450 to 1945...

Reading Experience Database UK Historical image of readers
 

 
 
 

Record Number: 22204


Reading Experience:

Evidence:

'Lang�s French ballads is neatly enough ticked off.'

Century:

1850-1899

Date:

Until: Apr 1876

Country:

England

Time

n/a

Place:

city: LONDON
specific address: Savile Club

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


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

Country of Origin:

Scotland

Country of Experience:

England

Listeners present if any:
e.g family, servants, friends

n/a


Additional Comments:

n/a



Text Being Read:

Author:

Andrew Lang

Title:

French Peasant Songs.

Genre:

Poetry

Form of Text:

Print: Serial / periodical

Publication Details

May 1876

Provenance

n/a


Source Information:

Record ID:

22204

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:

173

Additional Comments:

Letter 434, To his Mother, [Late April 1876], Savile Club, London. Co-editor Ernest Mehew. In the foregoing, 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. 173, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=22204, accessed: 20 February 2026


Additional Comments:

The Editors� Note 2 to Letter 434 reads: �The May issue of "Cornhill" contains �Forest Notes� [RLS�s essay], Stephen�s �Hours in a Library, No. XII. − Macaulay�, and Lang�s �French Peasant Songs�. Lang�s letter can be dated Thursday 27 April.� Neither the Editors� Note nor RLS�s mention indicates what form the Lang entry took. Did the number contain some actual poems by or translated by Lang or a review of them? Lang�s "Ballads and Lyrics of Old France, with other poems" had been published in London by Longmans & Co. in 1872. The meaning of �neatly enough ticked off� is not clear, but if it was Lang who found the number �most enjoyable� the drift would seem to be that Lang�s poems were satisfactorily dealt with, either as they were presented or in a review of them.