Switch to English Switch to French

The Open University  |   Study at the OU  |   About the OU  |   Research at the OU  |   Search the OU

Listen to this page  |   Accessibility

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

Reading Experience Database UK Historical image of readers
 
 
 
 

Record Number: 18379


Reading Experience:

Evidence:

'Spender cut his tobacco allowance down to one pipeful a day in order to take with him Tolstoy's "War and Peace" and Forster's "A Passage to India". These were a great boon to us in our few bouts of bad weather,though Tilman and I felt ourselves morally obliged to pay with tobacco for the luxury of reading.'

Century:

1900-1945

Date:

25 May 1937

Country:

Pre-Partition India (now Pakistan) and China

Time

daytime: probably daytime during bad weather

Place:

other location: various locations in the Karakoram Himalaya

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:

Reading Group:

Members of Shaksgam Expedition

Age:

Adult (18-100+)

Gender:

Male

Date of Birth:

n/a

Socio-Economic Group:

Professional / academic / merchant / farmer

Occupation:

mountaineer and writer (Shipton and Tilman); surveyor (Spender)

Religion:

unknown

Country of Origin:

English (all )

Country of Experience:

Pre-Partition India (now Pakistan) and China

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

n/a


Additional Comments:

The small team of four Europeans included, as well as Eric Shipton, the equally well known explorer and writer Bill Tilman, the surveyor Michael Spender (brother of Stephen Spender) and the geologist John Auden (brother of W.H.Auden).



Text Being Read:

Author:

E.M. Forster

Title:

A Passage to India

Genre:

Fiction

Form of Text:

Print: Book

Publication Details

1924

Provenance

n/a


Source Information:

Record ID:

18379

Source:

Print

Author:

Eric Shipton

Editor:

n/a

Title:

Blank on the Map: in The Six Mountain Travel Books

Place of Publication:

London

Date of Publication:

1999 (1938)

Vol:

n/a

Page:

193

Additional Comments:

n/a

Citation:

Eric Shipton, Blank on the Map: in The Six Mountain Travel Books, (London, 1999 (1938)), p. 193, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=18379, accessed: 30 April 2024


Additional Comments:

Details of ages of the three documented readers in the 'reading group' have not been entered here though they are available as cross reference to other records where members are cited individually as readers. Their professions are entered together in one field and their socio economic groups were the same.`The team also had available Tolstoy's "War and Peace".

   
   
Green Turtle Web Design