Record Number: 33055

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Reading Experience:

Evidence:

‘Many thanks and belated for the parcel you sent about a week ago and your letter. The apples are always a good thing to have and these remained fresh. I have not answered before because I have spent all my spare moments during the last week reading with avidity "Cranford." I bought it in how-much-would-you-give-to-know-where: the only English book in the bookshop left standing there: an English edition published in France, retaining the “loin” for “lion” misprint. That I had not read it before I count as a great gain, as it enabled me to read it now. Now you can never put it in my epitaph “He had never read Cranford, nor reading it had he failed to enjoy it.” You can make the remark about Jane Austen, however.’

Century:

1900-1945

Date:

Between 7 Aug 1915 and 15 Aug 1915

Country:

Belgium

Time

n/a

Place:

city: Ploegsteert
county: Hainault
other location: trenches

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:

Charles Hamilton Sorley

Age:

Adult (18-100+)

Gender:

Male

Date of Birth:

19 May 1895

Socio-Economic Group:

Professional / academic / merchant / farmer

Occupation:

First Lieutenant, 7th Suffolk Regiment

Religion:

Agnostic

Country of Origin:

Scotland

Country of Experience:

Belgium

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

n/a

Additional Comments:

n/a

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Text Being Read:

Author:

Elizabeth Gaskell

Title:

Cranford

Genre:

Fiction

Form of Text:

Print: Book

Publication Details

n/a

Provenance

owned

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Source Information:

Record ID:

33055

Source:

Print

Author:

Charles Hamilton Sorley

Editor:

Jean Moorcroft Wilson

Title:

The Collected Letters of Charles Hamilton Sorley

Place of Publication:

London

Date of Publication:

1990

Vol:

n/a

Page:

248

Additional Comments:

To Miss Jean Sorley 15 August 1915 [Belgium, near Ypres]. Sorley was probably by this time at Ploegsteert, near Ypres

Citation:

Charles Hamilton Sorley, Jean Moorcroft Wilson (ed.), The Collected Letters of Charles Hamilton Sorley, (London, 1990), p. 248, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=33055, accessed: 27 April 2025

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Additional Comments:

None