Record Number: 25124
Reading Experience:
Evidence:
'You are quite right, according to me, in being dissatisfied with my work; but not right at all in expressing your dissatisfaction as you did. I have never written rudely to you. Although hastily and curtly without doubt; and so you have no possible excuse for writing rudely to me. I shall give you the Feuilleton as far as I can without personal inconvenience. As for reading three volumes and writing an article in two days, I shall make an attempt this once without promising success; but I must ask you not to put me again in the same position [�] As to the Whispering Gallery, it is only right to point out that one of your stories was in the "World" a month ago and in the "Queen" the week after.
Century:1850-1899
Date:Until: Feb 1877
Country:France?
Timen/a
Place:city: Paris?
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:Uncommitted
Country of Origin:Scotland
Country of Experience:France?
Listeners present if any:e.g family, servants, friends
n/a
Additional Comments:
n/a
Text Being Read:
Author: Title:letter
Genre:Fiction, Essays / Criticism, Business letter concerning RLS's work for the magazine London.
Form of Text:Unknown
Publication Detailsn/a
Provenanceowned
Source Information:
Record ID:25124
Source: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:201-2
Additional Comments:
Letter 464, To Robert Glasgow Brown, [Early February 1877], [? Paris]. Co-editor Ernest Mehew. 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. 201-2, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=25124, accessed: 10 February 2026
Additional Comments:
This is a letter recently received from Brown, RLS�s former fellow-student, founder and original editor of the magazine London, that criticised (rudely, according to RLS�s letter) work by RLS submitted to him as editor. It seems that RLS may not have undertaken the rapid unspecified 3-volume reading experience mentioned: Editors� Note 3 to Letter 464 states: �Soon after this RLS seems to have ceased contributing book reviews and other short-notice journalism to "London"" and Note 9 to Letter 468 that he had given up short-term journalism for "London" by mid-May 1877 (see Letter471 [mid-May 1877]: �I�ve been done with "London", many�s the long day�.
