Record Number: 33056

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Reading Experience:

Evidence:

‘Many thanks for your letter which greeted me on our weekly return to our old farmhouse behind the lines … I’m sending herewith—it strikes me it may interest you—a copy of "The Imitation of Christ" in Flemish. Two days ago we blew up an old half-ruined estaminet just in front of our trenches … In consolidating the position and digging it in, I found among other things this book in the cellar … on the top of a barrel still half-full of beer … with some French recipes inside … Anyhow, there was a—well, decomposed body in that estaminet, who may have written this recipe and read his Thomas a Kempis with diligence daily. Or more likely ‘twas a German body; and the canny publican and his wife had fled at the first approach of the Germans, leaving their Imitation and—much more wonderful—their recipes behind them. In any case it will answer for my contribution to the reigning passion for souvenirs; and your professional opinion may agree that it is quite a nice binding—for Belgium! … I do not insist that you should read this book I’m sending.’

Century:

1900-1945

Date:

Between 9 Aug 1915 and 17 Aug 1915

Country:

Belgium

Time

daytime

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:

Thomas à Kempis

Title:

De imitatione Christi

Genre:

Other religious

Form of Text:

Print: Book

Publication Details

n/a

Provenance

Found

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Source Information:

Record ID:

33056

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:

250-1

Additional Comments:

To Miss Mary Sorley 17 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. 250-1, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=33056, accessed: 24 April 2024

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Additional Comments:

This is a very transient 'reading' experience since Sorley did not read Dutch/Flemish, but as an engagement with a material text it qualifies for inclusion in RED.