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Record Number: 25125

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Reading Experience:

Evidence:

'Rondeau On reading a work by M. Auguste Maquet entitled Les Vertes Feuilles. See, "The Green Leaves", I leave them here uncut, − Drop them, recoiling, at the first debut − Lay down the book and with superb disdain, Smiling but sold, go on my way again Through life�s green vale, remarking simply �Zut!� Devoid of style, of fable and of smut, How, how, shall I portray its dullness? − Tut! See for yourself − see, whelmed in grief and pain, − See "The Green Leaves"! Thus one, sweet-toothed, yet of a tender gut, Who sees before him many peaches put In some tall cafe by the shores of Seine, Schools his bold heart to choose and to refrain: The ripe he eats with gluttonous ardour − but, See, the green leaves!'

Century:

1850-1899

Date:

Until: Feb 1877

Country:

France?

Time

n/a

Place:

city: Paris?

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:

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

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Text Being Read:

Author:

Auguste Maquet

Title:

Les Feuilles Vertes

Genre:

Fiction

Form of Text:

Print: Book

Publication Details

1861

Provenance

unknown

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Source Information:

Record ID:

25125

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:

202-3

Additional Comments:

Letter 465. To W.E. Henley, [? 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. 202-3, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=25125, accessed: 07 February 2026

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Additional Comments:

Auguste Maquet (1813-88) is best known as a collaborator in the novels of Dumas p�re. Les Vertes Feuilles, a historical romance, appeared in 1861. The Editors� Note 1 to letter 465 says the date given for it is arbitrary but the most likely, and that the letter �may belong to July 1877 or to a return from France to London in 1878.�