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the experience of reading in Britain, from 1450 to 1945...

Reading Experience Database UK Historical image of readers
 
 
 
 

Record Number: 33590


Reading Experience:

Evidence:

'When the sun had set and I was in bed again, the Mansab's brother, the Qadhi, came to help with explanatory notes for the names of places in the manuscript. We discussed Maqrizi, who says the Se'ar tribe can change themselves into wolves. The Se'ar have stolen forty-two camels and are probably going to be bombed by the R.A.F., so that it might be a useful accomplishment just now."It is not true, however", said the Qadhi seriously. "It is a pure fairy tale of Maqrizi's. But it is quite true of the Beni Shabib near Qatn."'

Century:

1900-1945

Date:

2 Jan 1938

Country:

Yemen

Time

evening
night

Place:

city: Huraidha
county: Shibam, Hadhramaut

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:

Freya Stark

Age:

Adult (18-100+)

Gender:

Female

Date of Birth:

31 Jan 1893

Socio-Economic Group:

Professional / academic / merchant / farmer

Occupation:

Explorer and travel writer

Religion:

Christian

Country of Origin:

England

Country of Experience:

Yemen

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

n/a


Additional Comments:

n/a



Text Being Read:

Author:

Habib Ahmed

Title:

[untitled commonplace book]

Genre:

Other religious, Fiction, Essays / Criticism, History, Geography / Travel, Politics, Miscellany / Anthology, untitled commonplace book

Form of Text:

Manuscript: Codex, Arabic commonplace book

Publication Details

Arabic (Yemeni) 19th century scribal commonplace book drawing upon older texts

Provenance

borrowed (other)
Borrowed from the Mansab of Huraidha - ms compiled by his grandfather Habib Ahmed


Source Information:

Record ID:

33590

Source:

Print

Author:

Freya Stark

Editor:

n/a

Title:

A Winter in Arabia: A Journey through Yemen

Place of Publication:

London

Date of Publication:

1972

Vol:

n/a

Page:

81

Additional Comments:

Pagination is from the 2011 IB Tauris edition. The book was first published by John Murray in London in 1972.

Citation:

Freya Stark, A Winter in Arabia: A Journey through Yemen, (London, 1972), p. 81, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=33590, accessed: 29 March 2024


Additional Comments:

Dame Freya Madeline Stark (31 January 1893 - 9 May 1993) was a British explorer and travel writer. The untitled manuscript commonplace book belonged to Habib Ahmed, the grandfather of the Mansab of Huraidha at the time. Reading and copying of the manuscript commonplace book took place from 2-10 January 1938 in Huraidha in the Qu'aiti State of Hadhramaut, which was a British protectorate from 1858 until its abolition in 1967. The Qadhi (the Mansab's brother) offered to explain place names from the ms, which was presumably read out aloud in Arabic (shared reading).

   
   
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