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

Reading Experience Database UK Historical image of readers
 
 
 
 

Record Number: 30919


Reading Experience:

Evidence:

'I don't think, talking of Americans, that I've told you about an old couple called Williams Jackson who have "debouchés" here as the trimmings of an American commission sent out on Persian relief work. He's a learned Professor who wrote the "Life of Zoroaster" and other works (all of which I have by good fortune read) and she's a nice old thing [...] I've made bosom friends with both of them, especially with the Professor. They brim over with universal kindness and American sentimentality — a quality quite as truly American as hard-headedness.'

Century:

1850-1899, 1900-1945

Date:

unknown

Country:

unknown

Time

n/a

Place:

n/a

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:

Linguist, traveller, archaeologist, information gatherer for British government, army officer and Middle East political advisor

Religion:

originally Christian (Anglican) by now declared atheist

Country of Origin:

England

Country of Experience:

unknown

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

n/a


Additional Comments:

n/a



Text Being Read:

Author:

A.V. Williams Jackson

Title:

Zoroaster: the prophet of ancient Iran

Genre:

Other religious, Biography

Form of Text:

Print: Book

Publication Details

first published New York and London: Columbia University Press and Macmillan, 1899,several later editions

Provenance

unknown


Source Information:

Record ID:

30919

Source - Manuscript:

Other

Information:

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

Additional Information:

Letter from Gertrude Bell to Florence Bell 3 October 1918 http://www.gerty.ncl.ac.uk/letter_details.php?letter_id=329

Citation:

Gertude Bell Archive, Newcastle University http://www.gerty.ncl.ac.uk/, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=30919, accessed: 28 March 2024


Additional Comments:

Jackson (1862-1937) published several other books on Iranian subjects including travel, poetry and philology. Gertrude Bell could have read these works at any time during her life as an archaeologist, traveller and student of Persian language.

   
   
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