Record Number: 30461

---

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:

1900-1945

Date:

21 Jun 1944

Country:

England

Time

evening

Place:

city: Reading
county: Berkshire
specific address: 22, Cintra Avenue

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:

Francis E. Pollard

Age:

Adult (18-100+)

Gender:

Male

Date of Birth:

1872

Socio-Economic Group:

Professional / academic / merchant / farmer

Occupation:

Formerly schoolmaster, now occasional lecturer and supply teacher, and supported also by wife's unearned income

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

n/a

Additional Comments:

n/a

---

Text Being Read:

Author:

[Acting secretary of the XII Book Club]

Title:

Minutes of the meeting of the XII Book Club held 23 May 1944

Genre:

Minutes

Form of Text:

Manuscript: Notebook

Publication Details

n/a

Provenance

reading group

---

Source Information:

Record ID:

30461

Source:

Manuscript

Author:

n/a

Title:

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

Location:

private collection

Call No:

n/a

Page/Folio:

8-10

Additional Information:

It is clear from the handwriting that Margaret Dilks, secretary to the XII Book Club from 1940 to 1970, the author of the minutes of the 21 June meeting, but not of those of the 23 May meeting.

Citation:

Acting secretary of the XII Book Club, and Margaret Dilks , XII Book Club Minute Book, Vol. 5 (1944-1952), private collection, 8-10, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=30461, accessed: 01 June 2024

---

Additional Comments:

This is the reading, possibly brief and cursory, implied by the Chair's act of signing the minutes. It probably followed immediately after listening to the public reading of the minutes by the Secretary.
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).