Record Number: 31883
Reading Experience:
Evidence:
'Meeting held at School House, 19·XII·39.
R. D. L. Moore in the Chair.
1. Minutes of last read and approved.
[...]
3. F. E. Pollard then nobly undertook the thankless task of auctioning last year’s
books [i.e. 1939 books]. That very few of the books fetched more than the
guaranteed price was no fault of the auctioneer to whom we were grateful. The
following were the results:
“Power” – R.H.R 4/-
“Thrice a Stranger” M.S.S. 5/3.
“Guns or Butter” F.E.P. 5/3.
“Joyful Delaneys” – R.W. 4/6.
Jonah & the Voice – M. Stevens 4/9.
The Rains Came – R.W. 4/6.
Ladies of Alderley E.C.S. 7/6.
Unforgotten Years R.D.L.M. 5/-
Diary of My Times E.B.S. 5/3.
Chateaubriand. A.B.D. 6/3.
Solitude. R.D.L.M. 3/3.
Malice Towards Some E.T.A. 3/9.
British Agriculture. H.R.S. 7/6
Perri M.S.S. 2/6.
4. Passing on to the question of the books for 1940, Charles E. Stansfield revealed
that inspite of all our good resolutions only four members had sent in lists of
suggestions amounting to 43 books in all. The Committee had selected 18 of these
and so we proceeded by vote to select 13 from this list – namely:
Book Guarantor Price
Country relics. F.E.R. 15/-
Rich Man Poor Man. J.R. 4/6.
Life of Mr. Justice Swift. M.S.W.P. 12/6.
How Green was my Valley. M.S.S. 8/6.
Corduroy etc. H.R.S. 8/6.
After Many a Summer. R.H.R. 7/6.
General Cargo. S.A.R. 6/-.
Pages from the Past. C.E.S. 10/-.
Ghosts of London. R.W. 6/-.
Too Late Now. A.B.D. 12/6.
The Old Century H.R.S. 8/6.
Caroline of England. H.M.W 12/6.
Mrs. Minniver M. Dilks 7/6.
[...]
5. Members adopted the suggestion that in September a meeting might be devoted
to talks on some of these books by those who had enjoyed them. Judging from the
voting earlier in the evening on the numbers who had read each of the 1939 books
it should be a lively meeting; since, apart from “Mr. Murray and the Boococks”
which won universal favour (as a matter of fact it was not a Book Club purchase)
the worst & spiciest books were most popular.
[...]
[signed] R. H. Robson
24. 1. 1940.'
1900-1945
Date:19 Dec 1939
Country:England
Timeevening
Place:city: Reading
county: Berkshire
specific address: School House, Leighton Park School
(Reader):
silent aloud unknown
solitary in company unknown
single serial unknown
(Listener):
solitary reactive unknown
single serial unknown
Reader / Listener / Reading Group:
Reader:[Unidentified acting secretary to the XII Book Club]
Age:Adult (18-100+)
Gender:n/a
Date of Birth:n/a
Socio-Economic Group:Professional / academic / merchant / farmer
Occupation:n/a
Religion:Quaker or associated with the Friends
Country of Origin:n/a
Country of Experience:England
Listeners present if any:e.g family, servants, friends
Members of the XII Book Club
Additional Comments:
n/a
Text Being Read:
Author: Title:Minutes of the meeting of the XII Book Club held 24 November 1939
Genre:Minutes
Form of Text:Manuscript: Notebook
Publication Detailsn/a
Provenancereading group
Source Information:
Record ID:31883
Source:Manuscript
Author:n/a
Title:XII Book Club Minute Book, Vol. 4 (1938-1943)
Location:private collection
Call No:n/a
Page/Folio:52–5
Additional Information:
Although Victor Alexander was secretary of the club at this time, it appaers from the handwriting that he was not the author of these minutes.
Citation:
XII Book Club Minute Book, Vol. 4 (1938-1943), private collection, 52–5, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=31883, accessed: 28 March 2024
Additional Comments:
Material by kind permission of the XII Book Club. For further information and permission to quote this source, contact the Reading Experience Database (http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/contacts.php).