Rose Macaulay had a 'craze' 'for the ascetic Thomas a Kempis's meditations and rule of conduct, On The Imitation of Christ, which her godmother gave her when she was 13'.
Century: 1850-1899 Reader/Listener/Group: Rose Macaulay Print: Book
'Gifford had read only some ballads, the black-letter romance Parismus and Parismenus, some odd loose magazines of his mother's, the Bible (which he studied with his grandmother) and "The Imitation of Christ" (read to his mother on her deathbed). He then learned algebra by surreptitiously reading Fenning's textbook: his master's son owned the book and had deliberately hidden it from him'.
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: William Gifford Print: Book
'I am reading Thomas a Kempis.'
Century: 1850-1899 Reader/Listener/Group: George Eliot (pseud) Print: Book
'I spent the evening reading with Mama "the Imitation of Jesus Christ" until supper'
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Elizabeth (Betsey) Wynne Print: Unknown
'[from the Johnsoniana imparted by Bennet Langton to Boswell in 1780] In the latter part of his life, in order to satisfy himself whether his mental faculties were impaired, he resolved that he would try to learn a new language, and fixed upon the Low Dutch, for that purpose, and this he continued till he had read about one half of "Thomas a Kempis"; and finding that there appeared no abatement of his power of acquisition, he then desisted, as thinking the experiment had been duly tried'.
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Samuel Johnson Print: Book
'Johnson was very quiescent to-day [17th May 1784] . Perhaps too I was indolent. I find nothing more of him in my notes, but that when I mentioned that I had seen in the King's library sixty-three editions of my favourite "Thomas a Kempis", amongst which it was in eight languages, Latin, German, French, Italian, Spanish, English, Arabick, and Armenian, he said, he thought it unnecessary to collect many editions of a book, which were all the same, except as to the paper and print; he would have the original, and all the translations, and all the editions which had any variations in the text'.
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: James Boswell Print: Book
'Wilde loved to curl up with a book in bed. In one letter he mischievously described himself as "lying in bed... with Swinburne (a copy of)"; in another, he mentioned "The Imitation of Christ, the pious manual for Christian living penned by the fifteenth-century German monk Thomas a Kempis. Wilde read the book before going to sleep...'
Century: 1850-1899 Reader/Listener/Group: Oscar Wilde Print: Book
'When a boy [William Gifford] had read the Bible left to him by his mother, together with her "Imitatio Christi," and a few odd numbers of magazines.'
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: William Gifford Print: Book
‘Many thanks for your letter which greeted me on our weekly return to our
old farmhouse behind the lines … I’m sending herewith—it strikes me it may
interest you—a copy of "The Imitation of Christ" in Flemish. Two days ago
we blew up an old half-ruined estaminet just in front of our trenches … In
consolidating the position and digging it in, I found among other things this
book in the cellar … on the top of a barrel still half-full of beer … with some
French recipes inside … Anyhow, there was a—well, decomposed body in
that estaminet, who may have written this recipe and read his Thomas a
Kempis with diligence daily. Or more likely ‘twas a German body; and the
canny publican and his wife had fled at the first approach of the Germans,
leaving their Imitation and—much more wonderful—their recipes behind
them. In any case it will answer for my contribution to the reigning passion
for souvenirs; and your professional opinion may agree that it is quite a
nice binding—for Belgium! … I do not insist that you should read this book
I’m sending.’
Century: 1900-1945 Reader/Listener/Group: Charles Hamilton Sorley Print: Book