A ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON CHRONOLOGY This page intentionally left blank A Robert Louis Stevenson Chronology J. R. HAMMOND Research Fc llOlI', Nottinghnm Trellt Ulliversity First published in Great Britain 1997 by MACMILLAN PRESS LTD Houndmills, Basingstoke. Hampshire RG21 6XS and London Companies and representatives throughout the world A catalogue record for this book is available from tht' British Library. ISBN 978-1-349-39502-6 ISBN 978-0-230-38998-4 (eBook) DOI 10.1057/9780230389984 First published in the United States of America 1997 hy ST. MARTIN'S PRESS, INC., Scholarly and Reference Division. 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010 ISBN 978-0-312-16267-2 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Dala Hammond, J. R. (John R.). 1933- A Robert Louis Stevenson chronology 1 J. R. Hammond. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index. ISBN 978-0-312-16267-2 I. Stevenson. Robert Louis. 1850-1 894--Chronology . 2. Authors. Scottish-19th century-Biography. 3. Authorship-Chronology. I. Title. PR5493.H28 1996 828' .809-dc20 96-209:l5 [B] CII' © J. R. Hammond 1997 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this puhlication IlIa), be "'dde without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced. copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright. Designs and Patents Act 1988. or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued hy the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court Road. London W I I' 9HE. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publicatIon may he liahle to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The author has asserted his rights to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright. Designs and Patents Act 1988. This book is printed on paper suitahle for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. 1098765 432432 06 05 04 03 02 01 00 99 98 97 I dedicate this book to the memory of my father Walter Richard Hammolld This page intentionally left blank Contents Gelleral Editor's Preface ix Introduction Xl List L~f Abbreviations xiii The SteZ'ellSOI1 Family xiv A STEVENSON CHRONOLOGY 1 The Stevensoll Circle 82 Chrollology of Stel'enSOIl's Principal Works 91 SOli rees 93 Index 95 vii This page intentionally left blank General Editor's Preface Most biographies are ill adapted to serve as works of refer- ence - not surprisingly so, since the biographer is likely to regard his function as the devising of a continuous and read- able narrative, with excursions into interpretation and specu- lation, rather than a bald recital of facts. There are times, however, when anyone reading for business or pleasure needs to check a point quickly or to obtain a rapid overview of part of an author's life or career; and at such moments turning over the pages of a biography can be a time-consuming and frustrating occupation. The present series of volumes aims at providing a means whereby the chronological facts of an author's life and career, rather than needing to be prised out of the narrative in which they are (if they appear at all) securely embedded, can be seen at a glance. Moreover, whereas biographies are often, and quite understandably, vague over matters of fact (since it makes for tediousness to be forever enumerating details of dates and places), a chronology can be precise whenever it is possible to be precise. Thanks to the survival, sometimes in very large quantities, of letters, diaries, notebooks and other documents, as well as to thoroughly researched biographies and bibliographies, this material now exists in abundance for many major authors. In the case of, for example, Dickens, we can often ascertain what he was doing in each month and week, and almost on each day, of his prodigiously active working life; and the student of, say, David Copperfield is likely to find it fascinating as well as useful to know just when Dickens was at work on each part of that novel, what other literary enterprises he was en- gaged in at the same time, whom he was meeting, what places he was visiting, and what were the relevant circumstances of his personal and professional life. Such a chronology is not, of course, a substitute for a biography; but its arrangement, in combination with its index, makes it a much more con- venient tool for this kind of purpose; and it may be acceptable IX x General Editor's Preface as a form of 'alternative' biography, with its own distinctive advantages as well as its obvious limitations. Since information relating to an author's early years is usu- ally scanty and chronologically imprecise, the opening section of some volumes in this series groups together the years of childhood and adolescence. Thereafter each year, and usually each month, is dealt with separately. Information not readily assignable to a specific month or day is given as a general note under the relevant year or month. The first entry for each month carries an indication of the day of the week, so that when necessary this can be readily calculated for other dates. Each volume also contains a bibliography of the principal sources of information. In the chronology itself, the sources of many of the more specific items, including quotations, are identified, in order that the reader who wishes to do so may consult the original contexts. NORMAN PAGE Introduction Stevenson died at the age of 44, but despite such a short span he lived an incredibly active life during which he travelled widely and wrote a prodigious amount of fiction, essays and poetry. To browse through this Chronology is to follow in the footsteps of a man who was always on the move, always eager to journey on to the next place or to embark on a new literary project. On the whole his life is well documented, largely because he was a prolific correspondent and many of his letters have survived. There are some regrettable gaps in the record - for example, his years as a student at Edinburgh University, when he wrote comparatively few letters - but despite these gaps it is possible to compile a reasonably full and accurate record of his life and times. I have found his published correspondence to be a far more reliable source of reference than the numer- ous biographies of Stevenson, valuable though these are. His biographers not infrequently copy from one another, and in any event do not always agree on chronological details. Where precise dates cannot be established with certainty - for instance, the date when Stevenson first met his future wife, Fanny Osbourne - then this has been ascribed to the month to which it can most reasonably be allotted according to the latest scholarship. As with other volumes in this series, the Chronology is de- signed primarily as a reference tool and few readers will care to go through it assiduously from beginning to end. With its aid the student should be able to find the answers to such questions as: When did Stevenson first announce that he was an agnostic? When did he first meet Frances Sitwell? Where and when did he commence writing Treasure Island? Where and when was his first meeting with Henry James? When was Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde written? How long did it take him to write Kidnapped? The overwhelming impression one derives from a perusal xi xii Introduction of Stevenson's life is of his restlessness. Here was a man who was dogged all his life by poor health (and, for many years, by the ill health of his wife and mother), who was forced to move from one climate to another in search of the wellbeing which most of us take for granted. It was not until the final six years of his life, with the South Sea voyages and his deci- sion to settle on the island of Samoa, that tolerable health came to him. A note on the principal sources I have consulted will be found at the end of the chronology. I am indebted to Yale University Press for permission to reproduce the genealogy of the Stevenson family which appears on page xiv (from The Letters of Robert Louis Stevenson, edited by Bradford A. Booth and Ernest Mehew, copyright © Yale University, 1994), and to Elaine Finnie, Curator of Lady Stair's House, Edinburgh, for kindly supplying information regarding the Balfour family. List of Abbreviations The abbreviation RLS refers throughout to Robert Louis Stevenson, and SC to Sidney Colvin. The following abbrevia- tions are used for Stevenson's works: AE The Amateur Emigrant AP Across the Plains BA The Black Arrow BF The Beach of Falesa CGV A Child's Garden of Verses DB David Balfour (English title Catriolla) EPN Edinburgh: Picturesque Notes ET The Ebb Tide FH A Footnote to History FSB Familiar Studies of Men and Books INE Island Nights Entertainments ISS In the South Seas IV An Inland Voyage JH The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde MB The Master of Ballantrae MFJ Memoir of Fleeming Jenkin MM The Merry Men and Other Tales and Fables MNAN More New Arabian Nights MP Memories and Portraits NAN New Arabian Nights PO Prince Otto RFE Records of a Family of Engineers SI St Ives SS The Silverado Squatters TO Travels with a Donkey TI Treasure Island TW The Wrecker VP Virginibus Puerisque WB The Wrong Box WH Weir of Hermiston xiii xiv The Stevenson Family Alan Stevenson (1) m (1752-74) (1771) one of the 10 children of Robert Stevenson (1720-64) and his 2nd wife Margaret Fulton I Robert Stevenson (1772-1850) I I Jane (1801-64) Alan (1807-65) m Margaret Scott Jones (,Aunt Warden') (1844) (,Gatch ie' or 'Aunt Alan') m Dr Adam Low Warden (1812-95) (1828) (1803-50) I Robert Alan Mowbray Katharine Elizabeth Alan 7 children incl.