Record Number: 30923

---

Reading Experience:

Evidence:

'It was delicious to sit outside my tent writing to you. The inhabitants of the village showed perfect manners and left me in peace; not so the sheep who kept bunting into the tent and sniffing at all it contained. Towards sunset the cows brought themselves home and the bare hills revealed their glorious structure in blue shadow and golden slope — oh dear, I'm being like Queen Victoria! do you remember the perfect passage quoted by Strachy [sic]? "Darling Albert said that the reason why mountain scenery is so beautiful is because it is constantly changing." We got home at 6.'

Century:

1900-1945

Date:

Between 1 Jan 1921 and 11 Nov 1921

Country:

Iraq (Mesopotamia) or Egypt

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, intelligence officer 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:

Iraq (Mesopotamia) or Egypt

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

n/a

Additional Comments:

n/a

---

Text Being Read:

Author:

Lytton Strachey

Title:

Queen Victoria

Genre:

Biography

Form of Text:

Print: Book

Publication Details

London: Chatto & Windus, 1921.

Provenance

unknown

---

Source Information:

Record ID:

30923

Source - Manuscript:

Other

Information:

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

Additional Information:

Letter from Gertrude Bell to unidentified recipient, probably Florence or Hugh Bell, 11 November 1921, written near Penjwin, a Kurdish town in the mountains of eastern Iraq on the Iranian border. http://www.gerty.ncl.ac.uk/letter_details.php?letter_id=521

Citation:

Gertude Bell Archive, Newcastle University http://www.gerty.ncl.ac.uk/, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=30923, accessed: 03 May 2024

---

Additional Comments:

The evidence implies that Gertrude Bell had read this recently published book. She spent the whole year 1921 in Iraq, apart from attending the Cairo Conference in March 1921 and travelling in Egypt with her father afterward.