Record Number: 30792

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Reading Experience:

Evidence:

'We were taken round the Archives by the Director. I never saw such a place as the Archives. They are in an enormous building of 4 courts, formerly a monastery, and from floor to ceiling the shelves are full of volumes and volumes of MSS, no printed books at all. We saw for instance shelves and shelves of all the reports of the Ambassadors in London — several rooms of reports from the Ambassadors in Rome [Roma], and so forth. I took down a volume of the English reports for the year 1640 and read a letter about the long Parliament which was fortunately not in cypher. I don't wonder it's difficult to write a history of Venice — you ought to begin by reading at least 10,000 volumes of MS if you want to be at all accurate! They gave one a great impression of the Venetian activity, those endless corridors full of letters and reports.'

Century:

1850-1899

Date:

7 Apr 1896

Country:

Italy

Time

daytime

Place:

city: Venice
specific address: State Archives, Frari (prev.Franciscan convent)

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:

Gertrude Bell

Age:

Adult (18-100+)

Gender:

Female

Date of Birth:

16 Jul 1868

Socio-Economic Group:

Gentry

Occupation:

Oxford graduate, language student, yet to take up formal occupation as archaeologist and political advisor

Religion:

Christian (Anglican) later declared herself atheist

Country of Origin:

England

Country of Experience:

Italy

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

n/a

Additional Comments:

n/a

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Text Being Read:

Author:

Title:

n/a

Genre:

History, Politics

Form of Text:

Manuscript: Letter in a bound volume of MSS

Publication Details

1640

Provenance

read in situ

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Source Information:

Record ID:

30792

Source - Manuscript:

Other

Information:

Gertrude Bell Archive, Newcastle University Library http://www.gerty.ncl.ac.uk,

Additional Information:

Letter from Gertrude Bell to Florence Bell, 7 April 1896 Venice http://www.gerty.ncl.ac.uk/letter_details.php?letter_id=558

Citation:

Gertrude Bell Archive, Newcastle University Library http://www.gerty.ncl.ac.uk,, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=30792, accessed: 02 June 2024

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Additional Comments:

None