Record Number: 17893

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Reading Experience:

Evidence:

'I must tell you about my way of life, which is regular to a degree. Breakfast 8.30; during breakfast and my smoke afterwards until ten, when I begin work, I read Reformation: from ten, I work until about a quarter to one; from one until two, I lunch and read a book on Schopenhauer or one on Positivism; two to three work, three to six anything; if I am in before six, I read about Japan; six dinner and a pipe with my father and coffee until 7.30; 7.30 to 9.30, work; after that either supper and a pipe at home, or out to Simpson?s or Baxter?s: bed between eleven and twelve.'

Century:

1850-1899

Date:

Until: 27 Oct 1874

Country:

Scotland

Time

morning
afternoon
evening

Place:

city: Edinburgh
specific address: 17 Heriot Row

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:

Aspiring writer and intermittent law student

Religion:

Church of Scotland (wavering)

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:

unknown

Title:

works on the Reformation

Genre:

Other religious, History, Philosophy

Form of Text:

Print: Book, Unknown

Publication Details

n/a

Provenance

unknown

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Source Information:

Record ID:

17893

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:

71

Additional Comments:

Letter 328, To Frances Sitwell, Tuesday [27 October 1874]. Co-editor Ernest Mehew. The date 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. 71, http://can-red-lec.library.dal.ca/Arts/RED/record_details.php?id=17893, accessed: 30 March 2023

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Additional Comments:

RLS refers here to his reading of unspecified texts on the Reformation, Schopenhauer, Positivism and Japan. This purposeful cultural activity, explicitly considered by him as distinct from the carefully timed ?work? category (presumably writing and possibly studying law), would seem to be aimed at furthering his literary career by enriching his knowledge of religious history, contemporary philosophy and art. The index to Vol. 2 implies that ?to Simpson?s or Baxter?s? refers to visits to RLS?s friends Sir Walter Grindlay Simpson and Charles Baxter.