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the experience of reading in Britain, from 1450 to 1945...

Reading Experience Database UK Historical image of readers
 
 
 
 

Record Number: 11259


Reading Experience:

Evidence:

'It was in my fifteenth year that I became again, this time intelligently, aquainted with Shakespeare. I got hold of a single play, "The Tempest", in a school edition, prepared, I suppose, for one of the university examinations which were then being instituted in the provinces...This book was my own hoarded possession; the rest of Shakespeare's works were beyond my hopes. But gradually I contrived to borrow a volume here and there. I completed "The Merchant of Venice", read "Cymbeline", "Julius Caesar", and "Much Ado"; most of the others, I think, remained closed to me for a long time. But these were enough to steep my horizon with all the colours of sunrise.'

Century:

1850-1899

Date:

Between 1 Jan 1864 and 31 Dec 1865

Country:

England

Time

n/a

Place:

n/a

Type of Experience
(Reader):
 

silent aloud unknown
solitary in company unknown
single serial unknown

Type of Experience
(Listener):
 

solitary in company unknown
single serial unknown


Reader / Listener / Reading Group:

Reader:

Edmund Gosse

Age:

Child (0-17)

Gender:

Male

Date of Birth:

1849

Socio-Economic Group:

Professional / academic / merchant / farmer

Occupation:

son of zoological writer

Religion:

Plymouth Brethren

Country of Origin:

England

Country of Experience:

England

Listeners present if any:
e.g family, servants, friends

n/a


Additional Comments:

n/a



Text Being Read:

Author:

William Shakespeare

Title:

The Merchant of Venice

Genre:

Drama

Form of Text:

Print: Book

Publication Details

n/a

Provenance

borrowed (other)


Source Information:

Record ID:

11259

Source:

Print

Author:

Edmund Gosse

Editor:

n/a

Title:

Father and Son: a study of two temperments

Place of Publication:

Keele: Ryburn Publishing

Date of Publication:

1994

Vol:

n/a

Page:

185-186

Additional Comments:

n/a

Citation:

Edmund Gosse, Father and Son: a study of two temperments, (Keele: Ryburn Publishing, 1994), p. 185-186, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=11259, accessed: 16 April 2024


Additional Comments:

None

   
   
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