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: 29535


Reading Experience:

Evidence:

'Whinfell, Upper Redlands Rd., 30. i. 32.
Alfred Rawlings in the Chair.
1. Minutes of last read and approved.
[...]
3. Howard Smith spoke to us of the social and literary sides of Sheridan's life.[...]
4. Reginald H. Robson followed with an account of Sheridan as Parliamentarian, telling us of his thirty-two years in opposition to reactionary government, his aversion from bribery in a corrupt age, and his conduct of the Hastings Impeachment. This last brought into remarkable combination Sheridan's dramatic and rhetorical gifts; so that we quite fell beneath the spell, accepting him as a heroic character, and were ready to condone, if not indeed even to acclaim, his less creditable convivialities with the Prince Regent and Mrs.[or Mr.] Robson's ancestors!
5. Francis E. Pollard then read a passage from Sheridan's speech on the devastation of Oudh.[...]
6. We then listend to extracts from "The School for Scandal" starring Mrs. Robson as Lady Teazle and C. E. Stansfield as Sir Peter. As is not unusual on such occasions the humours of the play as devised by the author had to compete with other unrehearsed attractions — actors borrowing books, adjusting their spectacles, turning two pages instead of one, and, perhaps best of all, the pure milk of the expurgated editions looking a little sour at the strong wine of the original text. Be that as it may, ancestral portraits from the brush of Vandyke or Lely, Kneller or Rawlings changed owners with the accustomed success: Mr. Robson* as Joseph Surface mad love to his own wife as Lady Teazle[...].
* R.H.R. states that Gio. B. was Jos. Surface [Footnote is in MS]'

Century:

1900-1945

Date:

30 Jan 1932

Country:

England

Time

evening

Place:

city: Reading
county: Berkshire
specific address: Whinfell, Upper Redlands Road

Type of Experience
(Reader):
 

silent aloud unknown
solitary in company unknown
single serial unknown

Type of Experience
(Listener):
 

solitary reactive unknown
single serial unknown


Reader / Listener / Reading Group:

Reader:

Victor Alexander

Age:

Adult (18-100+)

Gender:

Male

Date of Birth:

1887

Socio-Economic Group:

Professional / academic / merchant / farmer

Occupation:

n/a

Religion:

Quaker or associated with the Friends

Country of Origin:

n/a

Country of Experience:

England

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

Members of the XII Book Club


Additional Comments:

n/a



Text Being Read:

Author:

Victor Alexander

Title:

Minutes of meeting of the XII Book Club held 4 December 1931

Genre:

Minutes

Form of Text:

Manuscript: Notebook

Publication Details

n/a

Provenance

n/a


Source Information:

Record ID:

29535

Source:

Manuscript

Author:

Victor Alexander

Title:

XII Book Club Minute Book, Vol. 3 (1931-1938)

Location:

private collection

Call No:

n/a

Page/Folio:

19-22

Additional Information:

Victor Alexander was secretary to the XII Book Club from 1931 to 1940. It is inferred from this that he was the author of this set of minutes.

Citation:

Victor Alexander, XII Book Club Minute Book, Vol. 3 (1931-1938), private collection, 19-22, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=29535, accessed: 28 March 2024


Additional Comments:

It is assumed that it was Victor Alexander, as secretary of the club, who read out the minutes of the previous meeting.
Material by kind permission of the XII Book Club. For further information and permission to quote this source, contact the Reading Experience Database (http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/contacts.php).

   
   
Green Turtle Web Design