Record Number: 12097
Reading Experience:
Evidence:
'The favourite literary pabulum of us boys at school, however, was less classical: "penny bloods" and other Weeklies issued in penny sheets, such as "Sweeny Todd the Barber". Romantic stories of highwaymen circulated freely from boy to boy until reduced to rags: Dick Turpin, Spring-heeled Jack, the gallant Claude Duval, gracefully dancing on the greensward with the ladies he had robbed, Edith the Captive, Edith Heron, with what impatience we awaited the issue of the next number, with what absorbing interest we followed the thrilling adventure!... What it did was to evoke the reading habit, and to one boy at least that was a valuable endowment. Nor did the "Boys of England" proffer a much healthier pabulum to the hunger of the young barbarian for extra-lawful adventure. I can even today visualise the number I read with the lovely alliterate title of its opening story, "Alone in the Pirates' Lair" - and the front page illustration - Jack Harkaway, sitting before the pirate on the island, open-eyed, drinking in the recital of his hazardous deeds;...'
Century:1850-1899
Date:Between 1 Jan 1852 and 31 Dec 1870
Country:England
Timen/a
Place:city: London, Spitalfields
Type of Experience(Reader):
silent aloud unknown
solitary in company unknown
single serial unknown
(Listener):
solitary in company unknown
single serial unknown
Reader / Listener / Reading Group:
Reader: Age:Child (0-17)
Gender:Male
Date of Birth:1852
Socio-Economic Group:Labourer (non-agricultural)
Occupation:apprentice
Religion:n/a
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: Title:Claude Duval
Genre:Fiction, Ephemera
Form of Text:Print: Serial / periodical
Publication Detailspenny bloods/ penny dreadful
Provenancereading group
Source Information:
Record ID:12097
Source:Thomas Okey
Editor:n/a
Title:A basketful of memories: An autobiographical sketch
Place of Publication:London
Date of Publication:1930
Vol:n/a
Page:20
Additional Comments:
n/a
Citation:
Thomas Okey, A basketful of memories: An autobiographical sketch, (London, 1930), p. 20, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=12097, accessed: 04 November 2024
Additional Comments:
None