Dr Colin McIlroy, Curator of Modern Literary Manuscripts, writes: It is rare that Robert Louis Stevenson diary fragments, or manuscripts of more than a single page, come to market. This four-page manuscript of diary entries covers the period from May 9th to July 5th, 1872, when Stevenson was 21, living in Edinburgh, and studying towards his law degree.
The diary excerpts have been published, but not in their entirety. The extract as it appears in Balfour’s The Life of Robert Louis Stevenson in Two Volumes (London: Methuen & Co., 1901) omits 11 lines of Stevenson’s original text, pertaining to the marriage of a Miss Fairfoul, and finds Stevenson relaxed and conversationally at ease. He states: ‘Miss F. was a good friend of mine and I do not think she will disgrace her new whats-his-name [sic]’.
He goes on to provide details of a day spent with his father following a church visit, and his inebriated state after dinner with a colleague, where ‘we were both rather better than good’ (Volume One, pp.107-109). He comments on the mundanity of office work where ‘one simply ceases to be a reasoning being’, yet this is ‘a consummation devoutly to be wished for’.
His observational skill is evident when hearing a young boy call for his dog, identifying ‘a quaint, little tremolo in his voice that gave it a longing, that was both laughable and touching. All the rest of the way in, his voice sang in my memory and made me very happy’. The manuscript offers research interest to Stevenson scholars and readers and is a significant addition to the Library’s existing holdings of Stevenson material.
Bought from James Cummins Booksellers, New York
