BIB_ID
189298
Accession number
MA 14301
Creator
Stevenson, Robert Louis, 1850-1894.
Display Date
Vailima, Samoa, 1894 July 13-August 6.
Credit line
Bequest of Gordon N. Ray, 1987.
Description
1 item (8 pages) ; 28.8 x 22.2 cm
Notes
"This journal-letter to Mr. Barrie covers a period of a month. In the interval between two of its parts (August 6th and August 12th) the news of Mr. Barrie's engagement and marriage, which took place soon after his recovery from a serious illness, had reached Stevenson in Samoa."--The Letters of Robert Louis Stevenson to his family and friends, Volume II, page 412.
The first four pages of the letters, dated "Vailima July 13th 1894", are written in a large, sloping hand, while pages five through eight, dated "July 29th", "August 5th", and "August 6th", are written in Stevenson's small, upright hand. Note that the final installment of Stevenson's letter to Barrie, as reproduced in The Letters of Robert Louis Stevenson to his family and friends (page 419), and dated August 12, is not present here.
The first four pages of the letters, dated "Vailima July 13th 1894", are written in a large, sloping hand, while pages five through eight, dated "July 29th", "August 5th", and "August 6th", are written in Stevenson's small, upright hand. Note that the final installment of Stevenson's letter to Barrie, as reproduced in The Letters of Robert Louis Stevenson to his family and friends (page 419), and dated August 12, is not present here.
Provenance
Bequest of Gordon N. Ray, 1987.
Summary
Commenting on personal matters, including a photograph of Barrie's mother ("It bears evident traces of the hand of an amateur. How is it that amateurs invariably take better photographs than professionals?"), with a deprecatory account of his own ineptitude as a phootgrapher; remarking on a visit he once took to Kirriemuir; describing a fishing trip at Glenogil during which he caught a number of trout and which inspired him afterwards to swear off "the gentle craft of fishing"; responding to reports that Barrie has been ill and recommending that he come to Samoa; making some humorous observations on his life in Samoa, with an account of his "ride a paper-chase", a whimsical announcement of his own death from falling during the course of the game, and some remarks on the soreness of his posterior the next day, with four lines of verse on the subject.
Catalog link
Department