Record Number: 21093
Reading Experience:
Evidence:
'[from an account by Dr Maxwell, an Irish london-based priest friend of Johnson] Speaking of Mr. Harte, Canon of Windsor, and writer of "The History of Gustavus Adolphus", he much commended him as a scholar, and a man of the must companionable talents he had ever known. He said, the defects in his history proceeded not from imbecility, but from foppery. He loved, he said, the old black letter books; they were rich in matter, though their style was inelegant; wonderfully so, considering how conversant the writers were with the best models of antiquity. Burton's "Anatomy of Melancholy", he said, was the only book that ever took him out of bed two hours sooner than he wished to rise.'
Century:1700-1799
Date:Until: 31 Dec 1770
Country:England
Timen/a
Place:city: London
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:Adult (18-100+)
Gender:Male
Date of Birth:18 Sep 1709
Socio-Economic Group:Professional / academic / merchant / farmer
Occupation:writer
Religion:Anglican
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:['black letter', ie gothic text books - medieval to 16th c.]
Genre:Unknown
Form of Text:Print: Book
Publication Detailsn/a
Provenanceunknown
Source Information:
Record ID:21093
Source:James Boswell
Editor:R.C. Chapman
Title:Life of Johnson
Place of Publication:Oxford
Date of Publication:1980
Vol:n/a
Page:438
Additional Comments:
n/a
Citation:
James Boswell, R.C. Chapman (ed.), Life of Johnson, (Oxford, 1980), p. 438, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=21093, accessed: 26 March 2025
Additional Comments:
Originally published 1791. Johnson's father had a black letter bible in J's childhood.
