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the experience of reading in Britain, from 1450 to 1945...

Reading Experience Database UK Historical image of readers
 
 
 
 

Record Number: 30870


Reading Experience:

Evidence:

'Lovely hot day. Read Oppenheim and played Bridge after lunch.'

Century:

1900-1945

Date:

11 Jan 1905

Country:

at sea in the Eastern Mediterranean

Time

daytime

Place:

other location: on board the 'Ortona' between Naples and Port Said

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, traveller, archaeologist, yet to take up formal occupation as political advisor

Religion:

originally Christian (Anglican) by now declared atheist

Country of Origin:

England

Country of Experience:

at sea in the Eastern Mediterranean

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

n/a


Additional Comments:

n/a



Text Being Read:

Author:

Max von Oppenheim

Title:

Vom Mittelmeer zum persischen Golf durch den Haurän, die syrsche Wüste und Mesopotamien, 2 vols., 1899

Genre:

archaeology

Form of Text:

Print: Book

Publication Details

1899

Provenance

unknown
probably owned


Source Information:

Record ID:

30870

Source - Manuscript:

Other

Information:

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

Additional Information:

Diary entry 11 January 1905 http://www.gerty.ncl.ac.uk/diary_details.php?diary_id=354

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=30870, accessed: 29 March 2024


Additional Comments:

While the identity of the book being read is unverified, it is most likely to be Max von Oppenheim's 1899 German 2 volume work on Syrian archaeology. All the works of Oppenheim were published after 1905, apart from one other in 1902 that dealt with the Sudan. It is very unlikely that the Oppenheim that Gertrude Bell was reading was anyone other than the archaeologist. Though the novelist E. Phillips Oppenheim is a remote possibility, the style of the diary entry and the context strongly suggest Max von Oppenheim.

   
   
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