Record Number: 30452

---

Reading Experience:

Evidence:

1. Apologies for absence were received from Margaret and A. Bruce Dilks, Alice and Arnold Joselin, Sylvanus A. Reynolds, Kenneth F. Nicholson, Francis H. Knight.

[...]

3. The subject chosen was letters, and during the evening we heard a most interesting variety of letters, the matter varying from good & energetic advice to a brother-in-law by Abraham Lincoln, to the butcher of our dreams; from Zola’s account of the Dreyfus case to the amazing all-round ability to destroy of Leonardo da Vinci. Charming letters to children were read, and various letters to the public; and yet through all this variety, links were found connecting one set of letters with the next.

In the first section of the meeting the following were read:- Letters by Leonardo da Vinci read by K. Waschauer, by Abraham Lincoln read by F. E. Pollard, and a humorous selection read by Edith B. and Howard R. Smith.

4. We adjourned for refreshments.

5. The minutes of the last meeting were then read and signed.

[...]

7. The business being completed, we had a further selection of letters Zola’s letters on the Dreyus case [read by] Howard R. Smith[.] Letters written to children [read by] Muriel Stevens[.] Captain Scott’s last letters [read by] Elsie D. Harrod[.] J. M. Barrie’s letter to Mrs. Scott [read by] Rosamund Wallis[.] Letters of Gertrude Bell [read by] Mary Stansfield[.]

8. The meeting ended with general thankfulness that we had not to spend the coming night as Gertrude Bell had done on the mountains.'

Century:

Date:

23 May 1944

Country:

England

Time

evening

Place:

city: Reading
county: Berkshire
specific address: 64, Northcourt Avenue

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:

K. Waschauer

Age:

Adult (18-100+)

Gender:

Male

Date of Birth:

n/a

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:

Leonardo da Vinci

Title:

[unidentified letters]

Genre:

n/a

Form of Text:

Print: Book

Publication Details

n/a

Provenance

unknown

---

Source Information:

Record ID:

30452

Source:

Manuscript

Author:

n/a

Title:

XII Book Club Minute Book, Vol. 5 (1944-1952)

Location:

private collection

Call No:

n/a

Page/Folio:

8-9

Additional Information:

It is clear from the handwriting that Margaret Dilks, secretary to the XII Book Club from 1940 to 1970, was not the author of this set of minutes.

Citation:

[Acting secretary of the XII Book Club] , XII Book Club Minute Book, Vol. 5 (1944-1952), private collection, 8-9, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=30452, accessed: 18 April 2024

---

Additional Comments:

Reader is assumed to be adult on the basis of the text read, and to be male on the basis of being given an initial rather than a first name.
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).