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: 2500


Reading Experience:

Evidence:

'[the father of C.H. Rolph] read diligently through a list of the "Hundred Best Books" compiled in 1886 by Sir John Lubbock. "It included nearly all of the books that one didn't want to read or gave up if one tried", Rolph recalled: "Aristotle's Ethics, The Koran, Xenophon's Memorabilia, The Nibelunglied, Schiller's William Tell; and it ended with 'Dickens's Pickwick and David Copperfield' (only) but 'Scott's novels' (apparently the lot). For the most part they were the books which it seemed, you should expect to find in every intelligent man's private library; with, in most such libraries, their leaves uncut'.

Century:

1850-1899

Date:

From: 1886

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


Reader / Listener / Reading Group:

Reader:

Rolph

Age:

Adult (18-100+)

Gender:

Male

Date of Birth:

n/a

Socio-Economic Group:

Clerk / tradesman / artisan / smallholder

Occupation:

policeman

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:

Charles Dickens

Title:

David Copperfield

Genre:

Fiction

Form of Text:

Print: Book

Publication Details

n/a

Provenance

owned


Source Information:

Record ID:

2500

Source:

Print

Author:

Jonathan Rose

Editor:

n/a

Title:

The Intellectual Life of the British Working Classes

Place of Publication:

New Haven

Date of Publication:

2001

Vol:

n/a

Page:

128

Additional Comments:

n/a

Citation:

Jonathan Rose, The Intellectual Life of the British Working Classes, (New Haven, 2001), p. 128, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=2500, accessed: 28 March 2024


Additional Comments:

See C.H. Rolph, 'London Particulars' (Oxford, 1980) p.132

   
   
Green Turtle Web Design