The Vogue of Robert Louis Stevenson in America, 1880-1900
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THE VOGUE OF ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON IN AMERICA, 1880-1900 Dissertation Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University by Roy Albert Riggs, B.A., M-A The Ohio State University 1953 Approved by: Adviser TABLE OF CONTENTS Page I. STEVENSON'S APPRENTICE YEARS, 1873-1879..........1 II. STEVENSON'S RECEPTION IN AMERICA, 1879-1885* • * 49 III. STEVENSON' S RELATIONS WITH AMERICAN PUBLISHERS, 1886-1894......................... 106 IV. STEVELSoN's ChlPICAL RECEPTION IN AMERICA, 1886-189^ ..........................209 V. STEVENSON’S POSTHUMOUS VOGUE IN AMERICA, 1895-1900 260 ii PREFACE Within the broad outlines of this study, which traces the progress of Robert Louis Stevenson's literary career in America from 1879, when he first appeared on tne American publishing scene, to 1900, when the pos- tnumous vogue had Bomewhat run its course, I have en deavored specifically to do three things: (1 ) to tell in cetail the story of Stevenson's business relations wl tn American publishers; (2) to indicate the reactions of contemporary American critics to his work; (3) to recount the rise ana fall of his popularity with the general reading public. In dealing with Categories Two and Three, I have drawn heavily for source material on the literary period icals and the trade publications of the time. For the facts about Stevenson's business relations with American publishers I have consulted a large body of unpublished correspondence that tells the whole story. I have had free access to, and have permission to quote from, three sizeable collections of unpublished letters which shed considerable light on Stevenson's American business affairs. One is the Belneke Collection at Yale University, which contains hundreds of letters, written by Stevenson, lii tils family, and friends, the most important ones from tne standpoint of this study being those written by Stevenson to Charles Baxter, his boyhood friend, legal adviser, anc literary agent. The second large collection of letters is in the files of Charles Scribner's Sons in New York; these are the business letters wnlch passed between Stevenson and various members of the firm during tne years from 1885 to 1894. Since Stevenson had more dealings with Charles Scribner's Sons than with any other American publishers, these letters have proved invaluable. In the Wloener Memorial Library at harvard University is the Stone-ivlmball correspondence with Charles Baxter, a group of letters primarily concerned with tne publica tion of Stevenson's posthumous novel, W el r o f H er ml ston . I am indebted variously to the Yale University Library, to tne Widener Memorial Library, and to David Randall of Scribners for permission to consult these collections of letters and to quote from them. Roy A. Riggs Columbu s August, 1953 1 STEVENSON'S APPRENTICE YEARS, 1873-1879 - . about any art, think last of what pays, first of what pleases 1 Robert Louis Stevenson _ _ Robert Louis Stevenson to Trevor Haddon, June, 1882, Letters and Ml scellanles of Robert Louis Stevenson, New Letters, ed* Sidney Colvin (N . Y., Charles Scribner's Sons, 1920), p. 161. On August 7, 1879, the steamship Devonla of the Anchor Line sailec from Jreenock, Scotland, for New York. Aboard, in a second-class cabin, was a thin, sickly Scots man, who, although he could ill afford it, haa paid the difference between steerage and second-class passage so that he could have a table to use for writing. Robert Louis Stevenson, twenty-nine years of age, advocate, author of An Inland Voyage, Travels with a D onkey in the Cevennes, and Picturesque Notes on Edinburgh, contributor of essays and criticism to English literary periodicals since 1873# w&s on his way to America -- not to seek his literary fortune but to take a wife. His friends in London and Edinburgh had done their best to dissuade him from embarking on what they consid ered to be this extremely foolish venture. They had 2 advanced strong arguments against his going: he was in poor health; he had little money; his parents, who wor shipped their only son, strongly disapproved of the Amer ican lady who, besides being of obscure antecedents and questionable morals, was still married to another man. Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Stevenson had known of, and had been troubled by, the affair between their son and Mrs. Fanny U3boume whom Louis had met in France in 1876, but they riau thought that all was over between the two when Mrs. Osbourne returnea to America in tne summer of 1878. how, unexpectedly, a year later, a mysterious message hac come from tne woman in far-off California, and Louis, ignoring the sentiments of his family ana deaf to the vigorous pro tests of his closest friencs, was off to Join her. What incredible folly for him, in his precarious Btate of nealth, to be starting out alone on such an arduous trip for the sake of a woman who was not only married and the mother of three children but was ten years his senior into tne bargain'• The long Journey might very easily be the aeath of him. A few months later Edmund Goese wrote to Stevenson, recalling "the dismal clammy evening when we bid one another farewell at the c o m e r of Berkeley Square and £ i j betted sixpence with my soul that I should never 2 see your face again." Even if Louis aid survive the 2 Evan Charterls, The Li fe anc Letters of Sir Edmund Gosse (N. Y., Harper and Brothers, 15317$ P* 119- 3 hardships of travel, he might become Involved In an ugly domestic tangle once he arrived In California. Thomas Stevenson was filled with forebodings of scandal and ruin. "For Sod's sake use your influence," he wrote to Sidney Colvin. "is it fair that we should be half mur dered by his conduct? I am unable to write more about this sinful mad business. I see nothing but des truction to hlmBelf as well as to all of u s . I lay all this at the aoor of Herbert Spencer. Unsettling a man's 3 faith is indeed a very serious matter." 3 Belneke Stevenson Collection, Yale University Lib rary. In 1951 Edwin J . Beinexe gave his great collec tion of Stevenson books and manuscripts to Yale Univer sity. Among the items in that collection of keen inter est to Stevenson scholars are the letters written by h. L. S. to Charles Baxter, his boyhood friend, and later his legal adviser and literary agent- After Stevenson's ccath, Baxter presented the letters to the Savlle Club in London of which Stevenson had been a member, whence they came into the hands of Mr. Beineke. Although Sidney Colvin included a few excerpts from these letters in the Letters and KIscellanies of Robert Louis Stevenson, he made no extensive use of them. Most of the Baxter let ters, which cover the years from 1868 to 1894- and fill twelve folio volumes, have never been published . J . C . Furnas, in his recent biography of Stevenson, Voyage to Windward (1951) > 1b the first scholar to have made crit ical use of this material. The letters destroy once and for all a great deal of sentimental nonsense that suc cessive biographers of Stevenson, beginning with Graham Balfour, had put into print; at tae same time, the let ters give the lie to the sensational speculations of some biographers (particularly those of George S. Heilman and John A. Steuart in the 1920's) about Stevenson's char acter and a number of supposed love affairs. Stevenson unburdened himself more freely to Baxter than he did to any other correspondent; consequently, tnese letters fur nish many rare glimpses into the author's unguarded thoughts and feelings. In addition, they contain much factual information about his business affairs, including 4 his healings with publishers, that Is available nowhere else. There are also in the Belneke Collection Important letters from Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Stevenson, Fanny Van de Trift Stevenson, her son and daughter (Lloyd Osbourne and Isabelle Strong), Sidney Colvin, W. E. Henley, and Henry «J a me s » Surely, no good could come of this impulsive behavior. At the very least, even if none of the other fearea even tualities came to pass, Louis' s literary career, which was snowing the brightest kind of promise on the strength of his two recent travel books and his lateBt tales ana es says, was bound to suffer. Not that he had as yet achieved any great fame. He had gradually, over a period of six years, built up a limited reputation, in the literary cir cles of London, as a pleasing ana talented writer; but he naa made no apparent impression on the general English reading public, nor haa he ever been able to support him self entirely by the use of his pen. His father, who, fortunately, was moderately wealthy, had given him liberal financial nelp during the years when he was learning his craft. In leaving England now, he was cutting himself off from direct contact with London ecitorB and publishers Just wrien nls career seemed to be on tne upswing, while in America, where his name was all but unknown, he had not a single publishing connection. Nevertheless, Stevenson had decided that the time nad come to stand on his own feet. He was determined to test his ability to earn a living by writing, in 5 anticipation of the day when he might have a wife and 4 family to support- Under the circumstances, he could ex 5 1 " Letters to his Family and Frienas, I, 163- pect no further assistance from his father, and he woula asic for none.