“Whereas: John F. Delahant, Sr., served as curator of the Robert Louis Stevenson Memorial Cottage for five years, and “Whereas: During these years he was
The tools of the Industrial Revolution carried the stories of Robert Louis Stevenson all around the globe, which, along with his great talent, helped make him one of the 19th-century’s
Every so often the literary world is rocked by the discovery of a work that was thought to be lost forever but there are many books that remain lost to this day, much to the sadness of readers everywhere.
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Today begins a mini-series featuring one of several prominent members of the Stevenson Society of America in its formative years who had known Robert Louis Stevenson intimately and then outlived him. The story of this one begins in the American West. “Belle” is for Isobel, the older sister by 10 years of Lloyd Osbourne, the lucky American kid who got to have Robert Louis Stevenson for a partner and stepfather in many colorful enterprises, and to whom “Treasure Island” is dedicated. As Mrs. Isobel Field (her second marriage), Belle and Lloyd came to Saranac Lake in February 1917 at the invitation of the Stevenson Society, in which they were members, and the village of Saranac Lake. A headline from the Saranac Lake News, Feb. 8, 1917, reads: “ALL HONOR PAID STEVENSON FAMILY Stepchildren of Famous Author revisit Saranac Lake after Thirty Years Mr. and Mrs. Osbourne and Mrs. Salisbury Field, Entertained at the Baker Cottage, C
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“Our voyage up here was most disastrous calms, squalls, head seas, waterspouts of rain, hurricane weather all about, and we in the midst of the hurricane season. … We ran out of food and were quite given up for lost in Honolulu.” That reads like an incident lifted out of a Robert Louis Stevenson adventure story, but it really describes a true-life episode lifted from one of his letters. The downside of sailing in tropical Oceania had been factored in the year before when RLS and Sam McClure planned the cruise in the firelight at Baker’s in Saranac Lake. “But,” said the daring Scot, “the perils of the deep were part of the program.” Stevenson didn’t force his family to go along, and they certainly knew the risks. Even Valentine, their servant, went for the ride, but by landfall in Hawaii, her tolerance reached a tipping point, and she charted her own course back to Europe.