Record Number: 32367

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Reading Experience:

Evidence:

(1) 'I wish you would get that Academy book which one always finds in a dentist's waiting room so that we could compare notes. If you do you must particularly notice "The Egyptian Dancers" [A Dancer of Ancient Egypt"], "The Valley of the Weugh or Sleugh" or something like that ["The Valley of the Feugh"] (a glorious snow scene) ... and a lovely faery scene from Christina Rossetti's "Goblin Market". It costs only a shilling I think and tho' of course the black and white reproductions lose a lot, still they are quite enjoyable.' (2) 'What an old miser you are though. I suppose I shall have to buy the Academy book myself now: and rest assured that you will never see one page of it.'

Century:

1900-1945

Date:

Between 19 Sep 1914 and 30 May 1916

Country:

England

Time

n/a

Place:

Great Bookham
Surrey

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

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Reader / Listener / Reading Group:

Reader:

Clive Staples Lewis

Age:

Child (0-17)

Gender:

Male

Date of Birth:

29 Nov 1898

Socio-Economic Group:

Professional / academic / merchant / farmer

Occupation:

Student

Religion:

Church of England

Country of Origin:

Northern Ireland

Country of Experience:

England

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

n/a

Additional Comments:

n/a

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Text Being Read:

Author:

[n/a] [n/a]

Title:

The Royal Academy Illustrated

Genre:

Arts / architecture, Reference / General works, Photographs of the artworks exhibited

Form of Text:

Print: Book

Publication Details

Variant Title: Royal Academy, a Souvenir of the ... Summer Exhibition

Provenance

read in situ

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Source Information:

Record ID:

32367

Source:

Print

Author:

C. S. Lewis

Editor:

Walter Hooper

Title:

C. S. Lewis Collected Letters

Place of Publication:

London

Date of Publication:

2000

Vol:

1

Page:

181-82

Additional Comments:

(1) From a letter to Arthur Greeves, Monday 22 May 1916 (2) From a letter to the same, 30 May 1916

Citation:

C. S. Lewis, Walter Hooper (ed.), C. S. Lewis Collected Letters, (London, 2000), 1, p. 181-82, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=32367, accessed: 18 April 2024

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Additional Comments:

Lewis suffered severely with toothache throughout his life; I think it likely that he did in literal fact study this book in dentists' waiting rooms. Whether he bought his own copy is not known.