Studio: international art (9.1897)

Robert Louis Stevenson, Illustrator

in the sketch book from which the landscapes are
taken. But I do not imagine those are the draw-
ings to which he refers. What astonishes me most
is that a man who was such a lover of, such a
believer in romance, such a teller of wonderful
tales, could start from a town like Le Puy and yet
barely mention it in his book, and never make a
drawing of that incredibly, unbelievably most
picturesque place in the world. But the fact is,
this sketch book is the sketch book of a real artist,
inasmuch as it contains only records of just the
things, just the effects which happened to appeal
to him personally, which he wanted to record;
they are mainly not pictures at all—certainly they
are not picturesque. The greater number are
studies of trees, and of mountain sides ; one, an
impression of mist in a valley, is really like a
Japanese drawing. That is a picture. There is
no doubt that he cared about the sketches, for he
tried to fix them with some sort of red fluid which
in many cases has badly stained the paper. I
have referred to the close resemblance between the
trees and the rocks in these sketches and the
landscape detail of the engravings in the little
books ; a resemblance that leads me to think that
in the illustrations he adhered most closely to the
forms in Nature which he had studied on the
Cevennes journey. How right I am in my con-
jecture, however, it would be easy to discover from

Today is \>i> < ;.y Samcei, ()shoi;£.\k.& Co.
THE

GRAVER""""" PEN

on

Scenes from Nature with Ap-

propriate Verses
by lioBERT Boris Stevenson author of the 'Emblems.'

'The Graver and the Pen'is a most strikingly illus-
trated little work and the poetry so pleasing that when
it is taken up to he read is finished before it is set down.

It contains 5 full-page illustrations (all of the first
class) and 11 pages of poetry finely printed on superb
paper (especially obtained from ( '. G. Kquintaui & Co.
London) with the title on the cover in red letters.

Small 8vo. Granite paper cover with coloured title

Price Ninepence per Copy.

Splendid chance for an energetic publisher! ! !
For Sale.— Copyright of 'Black Canyon' price 1 jj
Autograph of Mr. R. L. Stevenson price -/3. ditto of Mr.
S. L. Osbourne price 1'/- each.

If copies of the 'Graver,' 'Emblems,' or 'black Canyon'
nrc wanted apply to the publisher, 17 Heriot Kow Kdiiibuigli.

FACSIMILE of POSTER FOR
" THE GRAVER AND THE PEN "

THE TRAMPS

FROM A WOODCUT BY ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON'

THE TRAMPS.

Now long enough has day endured,
Or King Apollo Palinured,
Seaward he steers his panting team,
And casts on earth his latest gleam.

But see ! the tramps with jaded eye

Their destined provinces espy.

Long through the hills their way they took,

Long camped beside the mountain brook ;

Tis over ; now with rising hope

They pause upon the downward slope.

And as their aching bones they rest,
Their anxious captain scans the west

So paused Alaric on the Alps,
And ciphered up the Roman scalps.

his cousin, Mr. R. A. M. Stevenson, and had it
been possible at the moment of writing, I should
have asked him if facts did not confirm my con-
clusions. Professor Colvin, however, thinks it
not so much that Stevenson copied the sketches,
but that this was his way of looking at Nature.

Many of Stevenson's friends have said to me
that this sketch book, which is owned by his
family, is but a slight affair, and that the little
books are but the amusement of long Swiss winter
evenings. But for all that, there are, both in the
sketch book and in the printed volumes, evidence
of observation which only an artist could have
e.xercised, graver lines which only an artist could
have put down. To me it has been of extreme
interest to learn that Stevenson was an artist, a
genuine artist in line as well as in words ; and it
has been interesting also to point out the existence
of the little books that are still all but unknown,
and have always been so scarce that I have never
heard of any one able to get a complete set.

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