Record Number: 33898
Reading Experience:
Evidence:
'One of the books I read then for the first time was White's "Selborne", given to me by an old friend of the family, a merchant in Buenos Ayres [sic], who had been accustomed to stay a week or two with us with us once a year when he took his holiday. He had been on a visit to Europe, and one day, he told me, when in London on the eve of his departure, he was in a bookshop, and seeing this book on the counter and glancing at a page or two, it occurred to him that it was just the right thing to get for that bird-loving boy out on the pampas. I read and re-read it many times, for nothing so good of its kind had ever come to me, but it did not reveal to me the secret of my own feeling for Nature [...] I found it in other works: in Brown's "Philosophy" — another of the ancient tomes on our shelves, and in an old volume containing appreciations of the early nineteenth century; also in other works.'
Century:1850-1899, 1900-1945
Date:From: 1856
Country:Argentina
Timen/a
Place:n/a
Type of Experience(Reader):
silent aloud unknown
solitary in company unknown
single serial unknown
(Listener):
solitary in company unknown
single serial unknown
Reader / Listener / Reading Group:
Reader: Age:Child (0-17)
Gender:Male
Date of Birth:4 Aug 1841
Socio-Economic Group:Professional / academic / merchant / farmer
Occupation:Field naturalist, author
Religion:Protestant (Anglican) in childhood only
Country of Origin:Argentina
Country of Experience:Argentina
Listeners present if any:e.g family, servants, friends
n/a
Additional Comments:
n/a
Text Being Read:
Author: Title:The Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne
Genre:Natural history
Form of Text:Print: Book
Publication Detailsfirst publ. 1789, never out of print thereafter.
Provenanceowned
Source Information:
Record ID:33898
Source:William Henry Hudson
Editor:n/a
Title:Far Away and Long Ago: A History of my Early Life
Place of Publication:London
Date of Publication:1918
Vol:n/a
Page:323-4
Additional Comments:
n/a
Citation:
William Henry Hudson, Far Away and Long Ago: A History of my Early Life, (London, 1918), p. 323-4, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=33898, accessed: 29 March 2024
Additional Comments:
It is very likely that this repeated reading experience extends from about 1857 to well into the 1900s. There are numerous allusions by Hudson's biographer Ruth Tomalin which suggest that he also re-read it much later in England. The provenance of his copy makes an interesting comment on the transnational movements of a book.