R. L. STEVENSON AT DAVOS L ockett The author of Robert
Louis Stevenson-at Davos (Hurst end Blackett, 10s. 6d.) admits in an introduction that he had in the first instance intelided to write only a magazine article on his subject, but was -so overwhelmed by the amount of material that appeared.. that he expanded the article into a book. It would have been better, one cannot help feeling, if he had. adhered to his first intention ; there is little new in his book, which is written with a marked lack of economy and gives the impression of having' been padded out with difficulty to the requisite length, and the price of this volume in no way adds to its attractiveness ; in any case Stevenson himself left- a quite adequate description of the two winters which he spent in the Alps, and the details of his association with John Addington Symonds and Horatio Brown, Symonds' biographer, are also surely sufficiently well known. Still, if there is a- shortage of readers for -whom this book will be an important source- of information concerning this period in Stevenson's life,. there -will no doubt be another and less critical public which will" be- pleased–to have a description of Davos at a time when it had not acquired the fame which it enjoys today.
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