Record Number: 28781

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Reading Experience:

Evidence:

Charlotte Bronte's schoolfriend, Mary Taylor, to Elizabeth Gaskell, 30 July 1857:

'I am unaccountably in receipt by post of two vols containing the "Life of C. Bronte." I have pleasure in attributing this compliment to you [...] The book is a perfect success, in giving a true picture of a melancholy life [...] Though not so gloomy as the truth, it is perhaps as much so as people will accept without calling it exaggerated [...] I have seen two reviews of it. One of them sums it up as "a life of poverty and self-suppression.' the other has nothing to the purpose at all. Neither of them seems to think it a strange or wrong state of things that a woman of first-rate talents, industry, and integrity should live all her life in a walking nightmare of "poverty and self-suppression." I doubt whether any of them will [comments further] [...]
'Once more I thank you for the book — the first copy, I believe, that arrived in New Zealand.'

Century:

1850-1899

Date:

Between 1 Jul 1857 and 30 Jul 1857

Country:

New Zealand

Time

n/a

Place:

city: Wellington

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:

Mary Taylor

Age:

Adult (18-100+)

Gender:

Female

Date of Birth:

26 Feb 1817

Socio-Economic Group:

Professional / academic / merchant / farmer

Occupation:

Author and shop-keeper

Religion:

n/a

Country of Origin:

England

Country of Experience:

New Zealand

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

n/a

Additional Comments:

n/a

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Text Being Read:

Author:

Elizabeth Gaskell

Title:

Life of Charlotte Bronte

Genre:

Biography

Form of Text:

Print: Book

Publication Details

2 vols

Provenance

owned

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Source Information:

Record ID:

28781

Source:

Print

Author:

n/a

Editor:

Thomas James Wise and John Alexander Symington

Title:

The Brontes: Their Lives, Friendships and Correspondence

Place of Publication:

Oxford

Date of Publication:

1980

Vol:

2:4

Page:

225-226

Additional Comments:

n/a

Citation:

Thomas James Wise and John Alexander Symington (ed.), The Brontes: Their Lives, Friendships and Correspondence, (Oxford, 1980), 2:4, p. 225-226, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=28781, accessed: 01 May 2024

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Additional Comments:

None