Record Number: 28340

---

Reading Experience:

Evidence:

'I think Georgie’s idea about the impropriety of Marjory sending for Will on her deathbed so lunatic, so furious, so truly wicked and silly that I don’t know what to say in answer, If you like, you can communicate my view to her. ‘Truly wicked and silly’ seem to me the right words.'

Century:

1850-1899

Date:

From: 15 Jan 1878

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

---

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

---

Text Being Read:

Author:

Margaret Isabella Stevenson

Title:

n/a

Genre:

Fiction, Ephemera

Form of Text:

Manuscript: Letter

Publication Details

n/a

Provenance

owned

---

Source Information:

Record ID:

28340

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:

236

Additional Comments:

Letter 502, To his Mother, [January 1878], [Paris]. 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. 236, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=28340, accessed: 09 May 2025

---

Additional Comments:

Letter 501, also To his Mother, is dated by the editors [?15 or 17 January 1878].
RLS appears to be responding to an opinion reported to him by his mother in the RE, an unspecified letter he had recently received.
Editors’ Note 1 to Letter 502 reads: “Georgina Stevenson (1845-93), another daughter of David Stevenson. Her comments concern ‘Will o’ the Mill’.”