Record Number: 30808

---

Reading Experience:

Evidence:

'Still cool and grey. Read Griffith's "Japan" all morning and talked to Mrs Brittingham who is travelling with her husband and a Mr Hickson with astonishing eyebrows.'

Century:

1850-1899

Date:

16 Feb 1898

Country:

at sea (Pacific Ocean between San Francisco and Yokohama off Santa Barbara)

Time

morning

Place:

other location: on board the 'City of Rio de Janeiro'

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:

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:

at sea (Pacific Ocean between San Francisco and Yokohama off Santa Barbara)

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

n/a

Additional Comments:

n/a

---

Text Being Read:

Author:

Walter Dening

Title:

Japan in Days of Yore

Genre:

History, Geography / Travel

Form of Text:

Print: Book

Publication Details

Griffith Farran & Co, 1888

Provenance

unknown

---

Source Information:

Record ID:

30808

Source - Manuscript:

Other

Information:

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

Additional Information:

Diary entry 16 February 1898 http://www.gerty.ncl.ac.uk/diary_details.php?diary_id=1743

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=30808, accessed: 18 May 2024

---

Additional Comments:

The identity of the text is only speculative. I can find no record of a 19th century book on Japan with Griffith or Griffiths as the author. A search for the publishers Griffith Farran & Co. in the 1880s and 1890s revealed only this text, and a collection of translated Japanese fairy tales. Given Bell's reading habits at this stage of her life the Dening text seems more likely .