Bok noticed this, particularly, in the case of Robert Louis
Stevenson, whose work had attracted him, but, although he used the most
subtle means to inveigle the author into the office to read the press
notices, he never succeeded. Stevenson never seemed to have the
slightest interest in what the press said of his books.
One day Mr. Burlingame asked Bok to take some proofs to Stevenson at
his home; thinking it might be a propitious moment to interest the
author in the popular acclaim that followed the publication of _Doctor
Jekyll and Mr. Hyde_, Bok put a bunch of press notices in his pocket.
He found the author in bed, smoking his inevitable cigarette.
As the proofs were to be brought back, Bok waited, and thus had an
opportunity for nearly two hours to see the author at work. No man
ever went over his proofs more carefully than did Stevenson; his
corrections were numerous; and sometimes for ten minutes at a time he
would sit smoking and thinking over a single sentence, which, when he
had satisfactorily shaped it in his mind, he would recast on the proof.
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