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: 29027


Reading Experience:

Evidence:

'It was during all these years that he [Conrad] read. Men at sea read an inordinate amount.[...] A large percentage of the letters received by writers from readers come from sailors either in the King's or the merchant service.[...]. It was Conrad's great good luck to be spared the usual literature that attends on the upringing of the British writer. He read such dog-eared books as are found in the professional quarters of ships' crews. He read Mrs. Henry Wood, Miss Braddon — above all Miss Braddon! — the "Family Herald", rarely even going as high as the late William Black or the pseudoliterary writers of his day.[...] Normally he would express the deepest gratitude to the writers of the "Family Herald" — a compilation of monthly novelettes the grammar of which was very efficiently censored by its sub-editors — and above all to Miss Braddon.[...]. Long after this period of seamanship Conrad read "The Orange Girl", a novel placed in the time of Charles II. He recognised in it, so he then said, all the qualities he had found in this novelist's work when he had been before the mast.'

Century:

1850-1899

Date:

Between 1874 and 1893

Country:

at sea

Time

n/a

Place:

other location: on board ship

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:

Joseph Conrad

Age:

Adult (18-100+)

Gender:

Male

Date of Birth:

3 Dec 1857

Socio-Economic Group:

Gentry
'Szlachta', or Polish landed gentry/nobility

Occupation:

Master mariner

Religion:

Roman Catholic

Country of Origin:

Poland

Country of Experience:

at sea

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

n/a


Additional Comments:

n/a



Text Being Read:

Author:

Title:

The Family Herald: A Domestic Magazine of Useful Information & Amusement

Genre:

Fiction, Ephemera, Miscellany / Anthology

Form of Text:

Print: Serial / periodical

Publication Details

n/a

Provenance

borrowed (other)


Source Information:

Record ID:

29027

Source:

Print

Author:

Ford Madox Ford (Hueffer)

Editor:

n/a

Title:

Joseph Conrad: A Personal Remembrance

Place of Publication:

London

Date of Publication:

1924

Vol:

n/a

Page:

92-94

Additional Comments:

n/a

Citation:

Ford Madox Ford (Hueffer), Joseph Conrad: A Personal Remembrance, (London, 1924), p. 92-94, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=29027, accessed: 29 March 2024


Additional Comments:

None

   
   
Green Turtle Web Design