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Record Number: 26849

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Reading Experience:

Evidence:

It would not be very easy for me to give you any idea of the pleasure I found in your present�.I can assure you, your little book, coming from so far, gave me all the pleasure and encouragement in the world...' [Note 1]Martin read RLS�s essay �Virginibus Puerisque� in "Cornhill" for August 1876 and wrote to him expressing his pleasure.

Century:

1850-1899

Date:

Until: Jul 1877

Country:

Scotland

Time

n/a

Place:

city: Edinburgh
county: Lothian

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:

Scotland

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

n/a

Additional Comments:

n/a

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Text Being Read:

Author:

Arthur Patchett Martin

Title:

Sweet Girl Graduate: A Christmas Story and Random Rhymes

Genre:

Fiction, Poetry

Form of Text:

Print: Book

Publication Details

Melbourne, Australia, 1876

Provenance

owned

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Source Information:

Record ID:

26849

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:

212

Additional Comments:

Letter 473, To Arthur Patchett Martin, [June or July 1877], [? Edinburgh] and Note 1. Co-editor Ernest Mehew. The foregoing 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. 212, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=26849, accessed: 07 February 2026

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Additional Comments:

According to Note 4 on p.212 the �present� in question was Martin�s "Sweet Girl Graduate: A Christmas Story and Random Rhymes" (Melbourne, 1876), a 94-page booklet containing the story plus seven poems. The Editors� Note 1 to Letter 473 states that Martin (1851-1902), editor 1876-82 of and contributor to "The Melbourne Review" �read RLS�s essay �Virginibus Puerisque� in 'Cornhill' for August 1876 and wrote to him expressing his pleasure.� The implication seems to be that the note or letter expressing this pleasure accompanied the book.