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

Reading Experience Database UK Historical image of readers
 
 
 
 

Record Number: 12550


Reading Experience:

Evidence:

Elizabeth Missing Sewell on her mother, Jane Sewell (nee Edwards; married 1802): 'She must have been naturally very clever; for, although she had received little or no education, her knowledge of books, and her memory for poetry and apt quotations, were quite remarkable. She often talked to us of her studies as a girl; how she used not only to devour novels, and read Sir Charles Grandison every winter, but how she also taught herself a little French, learned by heart long passages from the great poets, sometimes read history, and especially delighted in Bayley's Dictionary, with its long meanings and rules for pronunciation.'

Century:

1700-1799, 1800-1849

Date:

unknown

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:

Jane Edwards

Age:

Unknown

Gender:

Female

Date of Birth:

n/a

Socio-Economic Group:

Clergy (includes all denominations)

Occupation:

unknown

Religion:

Church of England

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:

unknown

Title:

Novels

Genre:

Fiction

Form of Text:

Print: Book

Publication Details

n/a

Provenance

unknown


Source Information:

Record ID:

12550

Source:

Print

Author:

Elizabeth Missing Sewell

Editor:

Eleanor L. Sewell

Title:

The Autobiography of Elizabeth Missing Sewell

Place of Publication:

London

Date of Publication:

1908

Vol:

n/a

Page:

4

Additional Comments:

n/a

Citation:

Elizabeth Missing Sewell, Eleanor L. Sewell (ed.), The Autobiography of Elizabeth Missing Sewell, (London, 1908), p. 4, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=12550, accessed: 28 March 2024


Additional Comments:

Reader's father a Church of England clergyman who became perpetual curate at Newport, Isle of Wight (where reader was married).

   
   
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