Record Number: 19435

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Reading Experience:

Evidence:

Elizabeth Barrett to John Kenyon, 3 January 1845: 'I send back your "Vestiges of Creation". The writer has a certain power in tying a knot -- -- (in mating a system) -- but it is not a love-knot, & it appears to me that I have read in my life few more melancholy books -- Did the thought ever strike you of [italics]Mr. [Andrew] Crosse having anything to do with the writing[end italics]? I understand that Sir Richard Vivian [sic] denies it determinedly -- & his brother, who visits here, does it for him besides, by all manner of oaths.'

Century:

1800-1849

Date:

Between 1 Dec 1844 and 3 Jan 1845

Country:

England

Time

n/a

Place:

city: London

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

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Reader / Listener / Reading Group:

Reader:

Elizabeth Barrett Barrett

Age:

Adult (18-100+)

Gender:

Female

Date of Birth:

6 Mar 1806

Socio-Economic Group:

Professional / academic / merchant / farmer

Occupation:

Writer

Religion:

Evangelical

Country of Origin:

England

Country of Experience:

England

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

n/a

Additional Comments:

n/a

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Text Being Read:

Author:

Robert Chambers

Title:

Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation

Genre:

Natural history

Form of Text:

Print: Book

Publication Details

Published anonymously, 1844

Provenance

borrowed (other)

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Source Information:

Record ID:

19435

Source:

Print

Author:

n/a

Editor:

Philip Kelley and Scott Lewis

Title:

The Brownings' Correspondence

Place of Publication:

Winfield

Date of Publication:

1992

Vol:

10

Page:

5

Additional Comments:

n/a

Citation:

Philip Kelley and Scott Lewis (ed.), The Brownings' Correspondence, (Winfield, 1992), 10, p. 5, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=19435, accessed: 19 May 2024

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Additional Comments:

See p.5 ns 2, 3, and 4 for background on contemporary debates over authorship of text, which not revealed until 1884. Barrett alludes to Richard Rawlinson Vyvyan (1800-1879), scientific writer and politician, and his brother Edward Walter Vyvyan (1808-1901); see p.5 n.4 in source.