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Record Number: 28982

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Reading Experience:

Evidence:

'The Saturday will help the sale[,] I think, rather than not; and that is all that can be hoped...'

Century:

1850-1899

Date:

Between 1 Jun 1878 and 8 Jun 1878

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:

n/a

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:

anon

Title:

[Review of 'An Inland Voyage']

Genre:

n/a

Form of Text:

Print: Serial / periodical

Publication Details

Saturday Review (1 June 1878).

Provenance

unknown

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Source Information:

Record ID:

28982

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:

255

Additional Comments:

Letter 534, To Sidney Colvin, [Early June 1878], 17 Heriot Row. 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. 255, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=28982, accessed: 05 February 2026

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Additional Comments:

On p. 255 the Editors� Note 2 to Letter 534 reads: �The unsigned review [sc. of An Inland Voyage] in the Saturday Review of 1 June criticises the �perverted ingenuities of expression� and the �extreme trouble he takes to go out of his way to pick circumlocutory phrases when there are short and simple words that would apparently answer his purpose�. But it praises the �flashes of unaffected liveliness�, and the �telling little sketches of character� and concludes that �with all its faults and affectations, the little book is very lively and pleasant reading. (Maixner, 3).�
[Maixner, 3 = Review no. 3 in Robert Louis Stevenson: The Critical Heritage, ed. Paul Maixner (London, 1981).]