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The
http://www.silveradomuseum.org/
Founded in 1969 by Norman
H. and Charlotte Strouse, the museum has a wide-ranging collection including
letters (7 volumes of Fanny’s letters, some of Stevenson’s childhood letters,
the galley proofs of Colvin’s 1899 edition of the Letters); manuscripts
(including Lloyd Osbourne’s Casco diary; 38 poems and verse fragments;
notebooks and notebook pages; a page of the draft of Jekyll and Hyde and
a page of the final manuscript; 'Note' to The Master of Ballantrae; 'A
Mountain Town in France'; notebook with 'On the Art of Literature'; version of
'Lay Morals'; Notes on Niue (Savage Island, Janet Nichol cruise 1890); single
leaf containing part of ch 6 of Weir of Hermiston; Sam Osbourne's 1876
scrapbook with many of Belle's drawings of the life of art students in Grez and
Paris); photocopies of the Monterey Scrapbooks; first editions; paintings
(including works by Fanny Stevenson and Joe Strong), sculptures, photographs;
his marriage license and wedding ring and other memorabilia (including S’s lead
soldiers and the desk at which he worked) and over a hundred books from his
library in Samoa (including the Hokusai books he bought with his payment for Treasure
Island).
No published catalogue;
incomplete catalogue at the museum.
Contact: Dorothy Mackay-Collin, Director, or Linda Brown, Assistant Director. Email: rlsnhs@netwiz.net
The
Writers' Museum,
Lady Stair’s House,
Lady Stairs Close, Lawnmarket, Edinburgh EH1 2PA.
Hours: 10-5 Mon-Sat all year (and also 2-5 Sun during Edinburgh Festival only).
Significant collection of
personal items (including Stevenson’s pipe, fishing rod, ring, riding boots and
cap, and the ‘Davos’ printing press on which he and Lloyd produced Moral
Emblems and The Graver and the Pen), manuscripts (including many of
Stevenson’s letters to W.E. Henley and Alison Cunningham; 5 poems), paintings
(including a portrait by Nerli) and an extensive archive of photographs
relating to the life and work of Robert Louis Stevenson. Photocopies of the
See: Elaine
Greig (2005). ‘Unfinished Business’. Textualities. http://textualities.net/collecting/collections/greige01.php. A presentation of the Stevenson
collection at the Edinburgh Writers’ Museum along with appropriate quotations.
Bethune,
Andrew & Ronald Davies [or:
Contact: Elaine Greig,
Curator. Tel: +44/131/529 4064; Fax: +44/131/220 5057; Email: writersmuseum@edinburgh.gov.uk
Robert
Louis Stevenson Cottage (Baker Cottage),
Web site:
Hours: 9.30-12 and 1-4.30, July 1-September 15; closed Mondays.
Stevenson stayed here with
his mother, Fanny, and Lloyd from October 1887 to April 1888. While here he
wrote several essays for Scribner’s Magazine (‘A Chapter on Dreams’, ‘The
Lantern Bearers’, ‘Beggars’, ‘Pulvis et Umbra’, ‘Gentlemen’, ‘Some Gentlemen in
Fiction’, ‘Popular Authors’, all later included in Across the Plains);
he began writing The Master of Ballantrae; and he and Lloyd worked on The
Wrong Box. It was during his stay here that he quarrelled with his friend
and collaborator W.H. Henley.
The first Stevenson museum
to open (1915), it received donations from Lloyd and Belle after the death of
Fanny. The Museum contains the original furniture from Stevenson’s stay, books
and ms materials from the Stevenson Society of America (seven albums of
photographs and newspaper cuttings), two of Stevenson’s mother’s scrapbooks of
reviews (and photocopies of the Monterey Scrapbooks), paintings, photographs,
Davos woodcut blocks, and memorabilia (boots and beaver coat worn at Saranac;
velvet jacket; a yachting cap from the South Seas period); bronze plaque by
Gutzon Borglum (1916). The mantelpiece has burns where Stevenson left and
forgot lighted cigarettes.
The Scrapbooks are: Scrapbook I (1874-1881, with large
sections on An Inland Voyage and Travels with a Donkey),
Scrapbook III (1886-7, with much on Jekyll and Hyde and Kidnapped),
Scrapbook VII (‘1894: In Memoriam’). The Museum also has another scrapbook
presented by Col. Walter Scott with a multitude of interesting articles
spanning decades. (Four other scrapbooks are at
Contact: Michael Delahant,
Resident Curator. Tel. 518/891-1462 pennypiper@capital.net. The Museum is also open throughout the year
by special appointment with the Resident Curator.
Stevenson
House State Historical Monument, Monterey.
Girardin’s French House
where RLS lived from September to December 1879, waiting for Fanny’s divorce
and working on The Amateur Emigrant, ‘Pavilion on the Links’, and his
essay on Thoreau. It is now a memorial museum containing articles of furniture,
first editions, manuscripts, Stevenson’s mother’s scrapbooks, Fanny’s painting
of the bridge at Grez, portraits of Stevenson (by Fanny, Joe Strong and A.J.
Daplyn), Fanny’s Samoa diary, four of Stevenson’s mother’s scrapbooks of
reviews, photographs and memorabilia given by members of his family.
The six Scrapbooks (Field/Strong Collection iv.8, Boxes 9-12) are:
Monterey 1 (Dec. 1881- Feb. 6 1886); Monterey 2 (Sept 7 1887-Nov 11 1890);
Monterey 3 ‘Mostly Biographical material on the Stevensons & Balfours’;
Monterey 4 (June 19 1889 -Apr 15 1893); Monterey 5 (May 14 1893 - Nov 22 1894).
(Three other Scrapbooks are at Saranac; 1876-81, 1886-7 and 1894 'in memoriam')
There is also an index (Stevenson House Administrative Records,
and online
at http://content.cdlib.org/view?docId=kt838nb3bw&doc.view=entire_text&brand=oac
Information pages at Monterey County
Historical Society and at http://www.mbay.net/~mshp/stevenson_house.html
On first arrival in
Contact: Kris Quist, Curator:
(831) 647-6206 ; kquist@parks.ca.gov
Contact (in
Tusitala resided in
On 5 December 1994, one
hundred years after the death and burial of R.L.S., The Robert Louis Stevenson
Museum/Preservation Foundation dedicated the completely restored building of
Vailima and opened it to the public as the
Donors of R.L.S-related
materials and historical artifacts are actively solicited. R.L.S. titles,
especially rare and first editions are being collected currently.
Information at: http://www.rlsmuseum.com/
Monastier, Haute-Loire, France. Musée municipal, Château du Prieur
Open
June-October.
One of the
rooms is dedicated to Stevenson and his journey in the Cévennes. The
Some
photographs at http://users.skynet.be/sky42224/Monastier1.html
U.S. Route
Hours: Daily, 9:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. (Closed Christmas Day).
Contains ten paintings for
illustrations to
Information on Museum and
Studio: http://www.brandywinemuseum.org/main.html
A description on the
studio and museum; a brief biography of
Wyeth
http://www.library.yale.edu:80/beinecke/
121 Wall Street, P.O.
Box 208240, New Haven, Connecticut, 06520-8240 USA
Tele.: 203-432-2977, Fax: 203-432-4047
The world’s largest
collection of first and early editions of RLS (including translations), presentation
copies, books from Stevenson’s library or with annotations by him; artwork,
scrapbooks, photos, memorabilia; manuscripts: juvenilia (including ‘The Sunbeam
Magazine’), many early essays, poems (including many from A Child’s Garden
of Verses, Underwoods, Songs of Travel), The Wrong Box
(ms and proofs), four leaves of the ‘Cévennes Journal’, An Inland Voyage,
St. Ives, Catriona (intermediate version), The Amateur
Emigrant (MS B 5956, galley proofs with comments by Colvin and Kegan Paul
B65, 7403), The Ebb-tide, Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (intermediate
version, portions of the last three chapters, 24 ms. pp.: McKay 6934), ‘The
Body Snatcher’, Weir of Hermiston (1894 ms and drafts)); the first Samoa
notebook (B 6224); letters to, from and about Stevenson (including the Baxter
correspondence; letters from Henley) - the Beinecke Library contains over half
of the 2800 surviving letters written by Stevenson; also his mother’s diaries
throughout his lifetime.
McKay,
George L. (1951-64), A Stevenson Library. Catalogue of a Collection of
Writings By and About Robert Louis Stevenson Formed by E.J. Beinecke.
On-line search: http://www.library.yale.edu/beinecke/index.html
N.B. At
the moment, though Books should be catalogued in the online ORBIS
catalogue, most Manuscript records are not available online, the majority
being listed in vols 5 and 6 of the McKay catalogue. However there are the
following on-line finding aids, mostly of non-McKay and post-McKay materials:
1) Uncatalogued
Acquisitions
2) Robert
Louis Stevenson Collection - Supplementary List
3) Edwin
J. Beinecke's collector's files relating to Robert Louis Stevenson (Uncat Ms
Vault 805)
There are also pages of Digital Images Online
The
Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens
http://huntington.org/
1151
65 items. The collection
includes journals and notebooks (5 journals, including the ‘Cévennes Journal’
(HM 2408); the ‘Silverado Journal’ (HM 650); the ‘Equator’ cruise journal (HM
2412); a notebook with an early draft of ‘John Nicholson’ and other
miscellaneous jottings, and notebooks with drafts of many poems, including the
‘very important Notebook D’), 32 poems, 25 prose pieces (including manuscripts
of all or part of: Kidnapped (final version); In the South Seas;
‘The Beach of Falesŕ’; St. Ives (final version)), 91 letters (including
most of Stevenson’s letters to Will H. Low), 3 drawings, 1 sketchbook, and 11
music scores.
Harvard
University, Houghton Library
http://hcl.harvard.edu/houghton/
Harvard Yard,
75 letters and 10 literary
mss.: letters to Colvin from the
Rosenbach, A. S. W. (1913).
A
Catalogue of the Books and Manuscripts of Robert Louis Stevenson in the Library
of the Late Harry Elkins Widener.
Pierpont
Morgan Library,
http://www.morganlibrary.org/
Reading Room open 9.30-4.30, Mon-Fri.; applications for
readers ticket
Partial "Printer’s
Copy" (final version) of Jekyll and Hyde [MA
628]; 1892 ms of Weir
of Hermiston
http://libweb.princeton.edu/
Princeton University Library,
Archives of Charles
Scribner’s Sons (C0101); Manuscripts (2 cancelled pages of the Jekyll and
Hyde "Notebook Draft" [Morris L. Parrish Collection], juvenile
story ‘The plague cellar’, earliest ms. of St Ives); two boxes of
original 19th-century photographs of RLS.
Wainwright,
Alexander D. [or:
The Catalogue of the Stevenson
collection in the Parrish collection of Victorian Novelists is now available
on-line in a pdf format. There are two files that can be accessed: Items
acquired since 1971 (a small file that can be easily consulted) and the main
1971 catalogue by Alexander Wainwright, which is the one that gives the
problems.
Here’s the way through the labyrinth to the
Stevenson catalogues (or just simply click on the last URLs in this sequence): http://libweb.princeton.edu/ >
Library Catalogs > Other Princeton Catalogs: Rare books and special
collections finding aids > Finding aids and collections descriptions > M
to Z > Parrish: Morris
L. Parrish Collection of Victorian Novelists (A Finding Aid prepared by
Sylvia Yu) at http://libweb2.princeton.edu/rbsc2/aids/msslist/maindex.htm
> scroll down to the bottom of the page and: Related Publications: Index of
/rbsc2/parrish at http://libweb2.princeton.edu/rbsc2/parrish/
> scroll down to Stevenson.6.pdf (the big file) and Stevenson.index.pdf
(the small file)
24.12 RLS, Letters to Mr. and Mrs.
Thomas Stevenson (parents)
24.13 RLS, Letters to Edmund Goss
24.14 RLS, Miscellaneous Documents
24.15 RLS, Catriona: draft of title page, under the title David Balfour
24.16 RLS, "Franklin... Dialogue
concerning virtue and pleasure"
24.18 RLS, In the South Seas: chapter headings (Wainwright XIII.18)
24.19 RLS, The Master of Ballantrae: AMs, one leaf, mounted
24.20 RLS, St. Ives: title page
24.21 RLS, St. Ives: chapters 1-7
24.22 RLS, St. Ives: chapters 8-13
24.23 RLS, St. Ives: chapters 14-18
24.24 RLS, St. Ives: chapters 19-24
24.25 RLS, St. Ives: chapters 25-26 and miscellaneous leaves
24.26 RLS, "Though he that ever
kind and true...": AMs of poem
24.27 RLS, The Wrecker: portion of Chapter XX
24.28 RLS, "The Young
Chevalier" (8 lines of Stevenson's writing)
24.29 RLS, Pencil drawing of a village
24.30 RLS, Self-portrait in academic
garb, matted
24.31 Stevenson, Thomas, 1818-1887, Miscellaneous Correspondence
Morris L. Parrish Collection of Victorian Novelists, Henry E. Gerstley Stevenson Collection, Wainwright XIII
XIII.1 The
XIII.2 musical manuscript, 1p. AMs
XIII.3 David Balfour [Catriona], title page 1 p. AMs
XIII.4 10 checks drawn by RLS 1886-7
XIII.5 ‘Cherish thou, O love’, 1p. AMs
XIII.6 codicil to will, 1892, 2pp. AMs
XIII.7 ‘Consolation’ (poem), 1 p. AMs
XIII.32 St.Ives, Ch. 1-24, 26-28 ; ch. 16-19, 25 and parts of 13, 15, 24 and 28 were printed from this Ms.
XIII.41 The Wrecker, 5 pp. AMs (part of ch. 20)
Publishing agreements
1883-92 (Society of Authors Archive, Add MSS 56638-44), Correspondence with
publishers about Stevenson’s works 1931-44 (Society of Authors Archive, Add MSS
56645-53), Letters to Gosse (Ashley MSS 1776-5056, A 1775-1796, B 1780-4310),
Correspondence with William Archer (Add MS 45295), and with R.A: Mowbray (Add
MS 40719, 28 letters); MS of ‘
National
Library of Scotland
http://www.nls.uk/
Letters from Stevenson
(including 106 of his letters to Mrs Sitwell, also letters to Henley; letters
to Blackwoods); letters to and from Baxter, Henley and others relating to the
quarrel with Henley; S’s ‘Notebook T’; materials collected by Graham Balfour
when preparing the first biography; juvenilia and essays; Stevenson’s copies
(then presented to his parents) of Virginibus Puerisque and Underwoods
with notes (65 in all) on where he wrote each essay and poem; the map drawn as
frontispiece to Treasure Island; photographs (Gorrie collection).
Literary
Manuscripts:
Acc. 10356: 'The History of Moses' (signed ‘R. L. B.
Stevenzon’, composed at the age of 6, dictated to his mother, signed, with
childish drawings, incl. watercolour picture of ‘Moses writing the 5 tables’ –
sitting at a table looking towards God, just appearing over a tall altar – on
cut-up mourning paper); same item also incl. early photo of ‘Cummy and RLS’ and
prize ‘Happy Sunday Book of Printed pictures’; also copy of privately printed
edition of the MS by A. Edward Newton (1919), and a note by Newton on his
acquisition of the MS.
Acc.4534/153: 'Intermittent Lights' (Records of the Royal Scottish Society of
Arts, 1871)
Acc. 9690: 'Students Meeting and Class Excursion' (3 pp; account of an
end-of-year party of the Engineering students and a class excursion the
following day (April 1871))
MS 3794: 'Story of a Recluse' (unfinished story, 7 ff.)
Adv MSS 20 55 8: Graduation thesis in jurisprudence
F.5.d.20: Deacon Brodie (printed volume with annotations by Henley and
(probably) Stevenson)
MS 3112: 'Random Memories: an Onlooker in Hell' (ff. 305-7; typed transcript
ff. 308-311)
MS 9892: ‘Definition of Good Literature’ (1 f. of notes) in Balfour’s Notebook
(ff. 18-19).
MS 19640: on 'Pain and Pleasure' 1 f. of notes (with a copy of 'Memory and
Portraits')
Notebooks:
MS 19637: Notebook T (?1883), 12 ff with 11 ff at the back: front (side without labels, so now apparently the back): f.3 drawing-room scene; f.4 drinking scene;
f.4v notes for Black Arrow; f.5 list of character names for BA; f.6 map of BA; f.7 ch titles 1-8, 1-16; f.8 ch titles for BA 17-19, 11-24; f.9 calculations of pages for a vol of stories Otto, Lie, Thrawn, Will, MM and (added after) Franchard.
Back (side with labels): f.1 tavern scene; f.4 drinking scene. At both front and back, poems of moral-emblems type.
MS 9822: 'Civil Law' c. 1874, with caricatures and scraps of verse
MS 9904: ‘Notebook R’, lecture notes on hydrostatics and electricity (P.G.
Tait’s natural philosophy course 1867-8; date at the back: Monday March 2nd; p.
44, list of 11 plays, beginning ‘Edmund Fuller Tragedy in five acts’; p. 40 ff.
draft of Act II, sc. iii of one of these (‘The Brothers’, a comedy about ‘a
discovered will’); p. 17, map of an island with a bay and small island within
it.
Acc. 10650: Notebook, including drafts of 'The Spaewife' c. 1881.
Acc. 11069: mfilm of notebook c. 1886 [no further info]
Proofs:
MS 9892: (i) misc.notes (1 f.);
(ii) misc. articles by RLS, incl. 'Confessions of a Unionist' (written 1887; 4
galley slips); page proofs on
Verse:
MS 3790 (‘What can I wish’ frag,
f.1), 3793 (‘Farewell to the farm’), 9821, 8790 ('The Iron Steed', 1875), 8791,
9754 (poem concerning RLS, f. 146), Acc 8842 ('Youth and Love'), Acc 11145 ('miscellaneous
nonsense verse and English translations of')
Letters:
MS 99: 102 letters to Mrs Sitwell
MS 19638 (with a copy of
MS 19369 (with a copy of 'Lay
Morals')
MS 19640 (with ‘Memories and
Portraits’ and a note by S on ‘Pain and pleasure’)
MS 19641, 19642 (with a copy of
'Underwoods', undated letters from S about early publications)
MS 3788-9, 3792
Adv. MSS 26.8.1 (to Baxter and
Henley about the
Av. MSS 26.8.2 (letters to
Adv. MSS 26.8.3-5 (letters to Mrs
Sitwell), includes Adv MSS 26.8.3 'Note (1875)' in the catalogue (brief letter
to Mrs Sitwell announcing that he's passed the advocate's exam)
Adv. MSS 19.1.32 (letter 1871)
Also MS 4366, 4382, 4493: to Blackwoods the publishers MSS
MS 2522, 3364, 3278, 8790, 8791,
9821 (includes proof of Davos woodcut), 9828, 9755, 9983, 9891 (letters to and
from RLS, mainly from
Letters and notes concerning: MS
170, 1044, 3355, 6295, 9786, 9862, 10790.
Photos:
MS 9756: incl. large print of crew
of the HMS Katoomba
MS 9907: photographs 1889, 1892-4, 1915, 1923, 1944, n.d., mainly of RLS and
family (also S. Seas photos, incl. King Tembomuk)
MS 9908: album of photographs, n.d., views of Vailima, Visit of HMS Katoomba,
Mataafa and his warriors
MS 9910: ff. 109, 112, 118, 136-7, 142
Adv MS 21.6.10: photos inllustrating the life of RLS
GRH.9 [3292]: The Gorrie collection of photographs
The Notes and
Papers of Sir Graham Balfour, Stevenson's first biographer:
Acc. 9700, 1. diary of a visit to
the
MS 9891 (bound in a large volume 9891-3 of collected documents) copies of letters by RLS and originals of letters to GB from Belle,
from Baxter (about RLS's difficult financial position in 1894),
a letter from RAMS to Fanny, letter from Nellie Sanchez to Fanny
MS 9892 1. misc. notes (f.1), 2. misc.
articles by S, incl. 4 galley slips of ‘Confessions of a Unionist’ (wtn. 1887)
(see Swearingen p. 122); notes incl. transcription of ‘Definition of good
literature’ (f. 12) – a one-page outline
(‘Stevenson wrote a word or two under several headings of order, material,
pattern, adornment of images and manner of treating a subject’, Swearingen p.
173). Below Stevenson’s notes Balfour wrote: ‘These holograph notes were
written down probably in the autumn of 92, and were brought home by me among
some waste paper in Sept ‘93’).
MS 9893, (i) extracts from
magazines of articles by RLS 1884, n.d. (f. 1); (ii) transcripts and printed
texts 1883-4, n.d., of misc. writings of S (44 ff.).
MS 9894 Correspondence 1884-1899;
incl. letters answering Balfour’s questions about Stevenson in preparation for
his biography); see also MS 9900. [Note: it may be here that we find "Fanny's
comments on fragments of Balfour's typescript for the biography
(Note: ‘There was never any attempt to suppress matter
nor to modify statements. The abbreviations were practically all on points of
style.’); also comments by LO."
MS 9895 Correspondence 1900-11
(sometimes called ‘Balfour Biography Notebook’), incl. many letters from those
who knew S; also letters 1900-15
relative to the quarrel between Mr and Mrs Lloyd Osbourne and the latter’s
demand of restitution of letters from S, allegedly given to Mrs. K. Osbourne by
Jane Whytt Balfour
MS 9896, Correspondence and other materials 1914-1949, incl. newspaper and
magazine clippings (showing growing reaction to 'the Stevenson myth'); 1922-49
correspondence about the authenticity of The Hanging Judge.
MS 9897, (i) unpublished articles
by Balfour, (ii) transcripts of articles about S, (ii) miscellaneous notes,
including transcription of diaries 1851-3 of S’s mother;
MS 9898, 'Guardbook': copies and
extracts of S’s letters (mainly to his mother)
MS 9899, 'Guardbook': typescript of
S papers transcribed while on loan from FVdGS
MS 9900, Notebook 1895: transcriptions of S’s poems
and prose; many letters to Baxter (‘These fragments & letters were transcribed by me
from the original M.S.S. brought home by me from
MS 9901, Balfour Notebook 1896: transcripts of essays
by S and letters written to him (‘Transcribed
by me from the originals for my private satisfaction. The originals were sent
in my care by Mrs Stevenson in Aug 1895 for Sidney Colvin’s use in writing the
Life. There was a big long box full of papers heaped together, which I sorted
and arranged for Colvin in the winter of 1895-6 at Bendarroch, Ottery St. Mary’). Includes
transcript of the unpublished 15-page fragment ‘On the art of literature’ (MS
Silverado).
MS 9902 'Fragments of Stevenson': transcripts
of miscellaneous writings of S, incl. (p. 1 'Companion to the Cook Book', p. 11 'The Ideal House', p. 17 'A Reading Book' (list of books).
MS 9903, ‘Notebook used in writing Life of R.L.S. in 1900-01 with many extracts
from letters, M.S. etc.’, with alphabetic index at the front; short
quotations and calendars of S’s movements and writings
MS 9904 See under Stevenson’s
‘Notebooks’ above
MS 9905 cuttings (1890 - ?)
concerning Stevenson and his works;
MS 9906 cuttings (1886 – 1937)
about people and places associated with Stevenson;
MS 9909: scrapbook of newspaper cuttings 1894, 1904, 1927, n.d. about the
MS 9910: copy of ‘South Sea
Bubbles’ by Earl of Pembroke and George Kingsley (1874); note dated 1929 by GB
about dispute between S and Lord Pembroke about Queen Moe.
MS 9911, copy of Tr Is, partly
collated by Balfour with Young Folks versions
MS 9912, typescript of an
unpublished play ‘The Dust of Defeat’ by Lloyd Osbourne
Balfour's transcriptions of
writings by Stevenson (MS 9897-9901) include the draft of an essay on 'Boer
Independence', referred to as 'Balfour papers' (Box 1, ms. 140) in Colley's RLS
and the Colonial Imagination p. 142 (Swearingen locates the Ms in Yale) and
Balfour's transcription of the MS of '[Stevenson's] Companion to the Cook Book'
The Balfour
family:
GD69: Papers
connected with the Balfours of Pilrig; comprises
legal documents deposited by Mrs Balfour Gedded from the 18t Century to the
late 19th, including the marriage contracts of Willie and Henrietta Traquair
who ‘in a garden green with me were king and queen.....’.
GD126 is
from the Balfour-Melvilles mostly concerning Strathkinness, their estate in
GD192 is a
miscellaneous collection from a Balfour-Melville descendent a Col. Davey, with
many letters relating to the relationships of Margaret Stevenson’s aunts etc.,
who were the elders who watched the children in the garden of RLS’s infancy
Catalogues
& Online Resources (i) Online catalogues Main
catalogue (NLS collection); or (ii) Additional Online Resources (a) Scottish
Bibliographies online (bibliographical database of works dealing with
Scotland &c., 1987- ) (b) BOSLIT
(Bibliography of Scottish Literature in Translation) – here, if a search under
‘title’ doesn’t work, try a ‘keyword’ search in the Advanced Search option.
Their website
also has a ‘Digital Library’ section devoted to Robert Louis Stevenson with
photos, illustrations etc.
Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales
http://www.slnsw.gov.au/
Macquarie St, Sydney NSW 2000,
Manuscript of
the 1890 printing of In the South Seas
Department of Rare Books & Special Collections, Thomas Cooper Library,
University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208, USA. Hours 8-4.30, Mon-Fri,
except public holidays.
The RLS
holdings include most first editions and many reprints from Inland Voyage
on. Notable items are a letter from Stevenson to W. E. Henley, and the serial
issues of
A
checklist of RLS holdings, compiled by Bruce A. Bowlin, was issued in South
Carolina Working Papers in Scottish Bibliography (1994), and an on-line
list by Jason Pierce is available on the WWW; recent
acquisitions are listed in USCAn, the library’s on-line catalogue, also
available through the WWW.
Inquiries about
the Scottish holdings, and the W. Ormiston Roy Visiting Research Fellowship,
to: Patrick Scott, Associate University
Librarian for Special Collections (scottp@tcl.sc.edu).
superb Robert Louis
Stevenson on-line exhibit (ed. Jason A. Pierce, based on the 1994 centenary
exhibition curated by Patrick Scott & Roger Mortimer, with assistance from
Bruce Bowlin) [biographical and bibliographical survey based on first-editions
interesting later editions, photographs, illustrations and manuscripts]
Letters to his mother
and father, to James M. Barrie, to Jules Simoneau and to others; a letter from
his father; and letters, reminiscences, papers, etc., about him, assembled from
various sources (BANC MSS C-H 107).
Elizabeth Strong,
autobiographical sketch (undated, BANC MSS C-H 171): reminiscences of
childhood in
Papers collected by Anne
Issler in her research and writing on Stevenson (BANC MSS C-H 169).
Stevenson-Osbourne
family papers 1839-1970 (BANC MSS 71/281 c):. Letters
written to various members of the Stevenson and Osbourne families from Jane
Whyte Balfour, Lloyd Osbourne, Margaret I. (Balfour) Stevenson, Thomas
Stevenson, and Isobel Strong. Last will and testament of Samuel Lloyd Osbourne;
photocopies of letters of Lloyd Osbourne and Isobel Strong, concerning R.L.
Stevenson's estate; extract from sermon preached on Stevenson's death;
manuscripts by Lloyd Osbourne; ms. of an incomplete biography of R.L. Stevenson,
author unknown. Letters of Lloyd Osbourne and Isobel Strong :photocopies
(location of originals unknown). First draft of fifteen chapters of ‘Ramblings
of a Housewife’ in S’s hand but based on Fanny’s experiences (fair copy
Beinecke 7297).
Letters
of Lloyd Osbourne and Isobel Strong (incl. 20 letters from Lloyd to Belle from Nice in
1940, BANC MSS 74/23).
Photos of Lloyd c1895,
1920 (BANC PIC 1980.114—PIC)
222 Waverly Avenue,
Robert Louis Stevenson Collection (http://libwww.syr.edu/digital/guides/s/stevenson_rl.htm):
1)
Three letters: 12 November 1878, 19 and
21 December 1880.
2)
‘Books and reading. / No. 2. How books have to be written’ (5 leaves)
3)
‘Did Chuchu sweat?’ (2 leaves)
4)
‘My first book /
5)
‘St. Ives’ (1 leaf)
6) (i) ‘The tropics
vanish, and meseems that I’; (ii) ‘To my old comrades’ [= ‘To My Old
Familiars’]; (iii) ‘The House of Tembinoka’ (three poems from Songs of
Travel (1895), not Underwoods (1887) as the catalogue has it).
(1)
University at
http://p8991-bison.buffalo.edu.gate.lib.buffalo.edu/F
Has 39 books from Stevenson’s library
Columbia University Libraries: Rare Book and Manuscript Library
http://www.columbia.edu/cu/libraries/indiv/rare/
801
Butler Library, New York, New York NY 10027, USA; Tel 212 280-2231/2232
Has
the MS of "Mock Trial" (NUC MS 65-1198)
Folger Shakespeare
Library,
Has
‘Autolycus in Service’, an early farce that may have been used for material for
Prince Otto.
Has
the correspondence between Graham Green and Sir James Marjoribanks in which
Greene expresses his admiration for RLS: http://www.library.georgetown.edu/dept/speccoll/fl/f130%7D1.htm
Haverford College, Haverford,
Magill Library
PR5489.G3 M8: ‘The Geometry
Notebook’—‘one of the most interesting surviving copybooks from S’s student
days’ (Lewis). Contains interesting remarks that are similar to ‘An Apology for
Idlers’
Nantucket Historical Association
Research Library
7 Fair Street,
Nantucket, MA 02554, USA; www.nha.org
Austin Strong (son of Belle) lived and
died in Nantucket and some of his Stevenson possessions have ended up in the
Library: a sketch of Stevenson, and artefacts (one of the mats draped over his
coffin) and perhaps some books and manuscripts. Someone should go and see what
is in the collection.
New York Public Library: Berg Collection
http://www.nypl.org/research/manuscripts/berg/brgstevr.xml
Letters and poems (incl. 'Robin and Ben'); Autolycus in Service; Great North
Road; In the South Seas; The Manse; Le Monastier; Belle Strong's notes on what
must come out of Clayton Hamilton's On the Trail of Stevenson and other
Clayton Hamilton Stevenson papers; Nabokov’s lecture notes on Jekyll and
Hyde; Nabokov's annotated copy of Jekyll and Hyde; 2 letters to RLS
from Meredith (1878, 1894)
Andersen Library, University of Minesota, Mineapolis
113 Andersen Library, 612-624-4576
A ‘Treasure Island Collection’ of over 450 illustrated editions, collected by
Lionel Johnson, were donated in 2000 to the Children’s Literature Research
Collections. It includes the first printing of the first illustrated edition,
published by Roberts Bros. of Boston in 1884.
Rosenbach Museum & Library, Philadelphia
2008-2010 DeLancey Place, Philadelphia, PA 19103, USA
MS of ‘Ticonderoga’ older than the one in the BL.
http://sibley.esm.rochester.edu/
Eastman
School of Music,
Has musical mss.
Stanford University Library (Special Collections).
Isobel Strong papers 1949-52: Pen pal letters (May 1949-November 1955) from
Mrs. Field to Hector Bolitho with comments by Mrs. Field about her step-father
Robert Louis Stevenson. Also includes letters from Mrs. Field's nurse, pictures
of Mrs. Field and Robert Louis Stevenson, clippings, Christmas cards, photocopy
of a poem by Stevenson, and a manuscript, "A Pen-friendship, with Robert
Louis Stevenson's Step-daughter" by Hector Bolitho.
University of Texas at Austin
‘A letter to Mr. Stevenson's friends’ privately printed by Lloyd Osbourne,
describing Stevenson’s death. First edition of Moral Emblems,
Testimonials in favour of Robert Louis Stevenson, advocate (1881), first
editions.
http://library.wustl.edu/units/spec/manuscripts/mlc/findingaidshtml/wtu00013.html
Olin Library, Campus
The William Keeney Bixby Papers (WKB d. 1931):
WTU00013
(2)
The Bodleian Library, Oxford
1885-93 correspondence with Ida and Una Taylor (MS Eng lett c 2)
Other Internet resources
Historical
Manuscripts Commission
A
guide to Stevenson manuscripts worldwide with details about holdings in the
The Scottish Archive Network
ScottishDocuments.com http://www.scottishdocuments.com/content/default.asp
is a part of SCAN, the Scottish
Archives Network. It has a site with transcripts of Scottish wills, including
that of the entry in the Edinburgh Sheriff’s Court Inventories of an inventory
of RLS’s property and a transcript of the London probate of RLS’s 1893 will,
both made by Chalres Baxter in 1897 at http://www.scottishdocuments.com/content/famousscots.asp?whichscot=111&r1=R&r2=U;
the will of RLS’s grandfather, Robert Stevenson (died 1850) at http://www.scottishdocuments.com/content/famousscots.asp?whichscot=64. Both of these are available free as documents on famous
Scots; for the will of Thomas Stevenson, RLS’s father, however, you have to pay
Ł5. Note that if you search for ‘Robert Stevenson’ and ‘Robert Louis Balfour
Stevenson’ in the main database you are asked to pay Ł5 for each document, with
no information that they are freely available on the ‘famous Scots’ part of the
site – it’s not clear if the documents you pay for are identical to those freely
available, but it seems so.
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