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

Reading Experience Database UK Historical image of readers
 
 
 
 

Record Number: 20709


Reading Experience:

Evidence:

'what he read during these two years [between Stourbridge school and Oxford] , he told me, was not works of mere amusement, "not voyages and travels, but all literature, Sir, all ancient writers, all manly: though but little Greek, only some of Anacreon and Hesiod; but in this irregular manner (added he) I had looked into a great many books, which were not commonly known at the Universities, where they seldom read any books but what are put into their hands by their tutors; so that when I came to Oxford, Dr Adams, now master of Pembroke College, told me I was the best qualified for the university that he had ever known come there".'

Century:

1700-1799

Date:

Between 1 Jan 1725 and 1 Oct 1728

Country:

England

Time

n/a

Place:

city: Lichfield
county: Staffordshire

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:

Samuel Johnson

Age:

Child (0-17)

Gender:

Male

Date of Birth:

18 Sep 1709

Socio-Economic Group:

Professional / academic / merchant / farmer

Occupation:

later writer

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:

[various works of classics and literature]

Genre:

Classics, Fiction, Poetry

Form of Text:

Print: Book

Publication Details

n/a

Provenance

unknown


Source Information:

Record ID:

20709

Source:

Print

Author:

James Boswell

Editor:

R. W. Chapman

Title:

Life of Johnson

Place of Publication:

Oxford

Date of Publication:

1980

Vol:

n/a

Page:

44

Additional Comments:

n/a

Citation:

James Boswell, R. W. Chapman (ed.), Life of Johnson , (Oxford, 1980), p. 44, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=20709, accessed: 19 April 2024


Additional Comments:

Originally published 1791.

   
   
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