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

Reading Experience Database UK Historical image of readers
 
 
 
 

Record Number: 33957


Reading Experience:

Evidence:

‘... [William] Roscoe’s “Butterfly's Ball” and Mrs. [Sarah] Trimmer’s “Flapsy and Pecksey” (which I am glad to see so kindly mentioned in the Doctor [by Robert Southey]) are exactly the sort of Beast stories which I think the wee ’uns may be the better for reading.’

Century:

1700-1799, 1800-1849

Date:

Between 19 Sep 1796 and 16 May 1835

Country:

England

Time

n/a

Place:

n/a

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:

Hartley Coleridge

Age:

Adult (18-100+)

Gender:

Male

Date of Birth:

19 Sep 1796

Socio-Economic Group:

Professional / academic / merchant / farmer

Occupation:

Poet, essayist, teacher, biographer

Religion:

Church of England

Country of Origin:

England

Country of Experience:

England

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

n/a


Additional Comments:

n/a



Text Being Read:

Author:

Sarah Trimmer

Title:

Fabulous Histories, Designed for the Instruction of Children, Respecting Their Treatment of Animals

Genre:

Fiction, Essays / Criticism, Poetry, Children's Lit, Conduct books, Miscellany / Anthology

Form of Text:

Print: Book

Publication Details

n/a

Provenance

unknown


Source Information:

Record ID:

33957

Source:

Print

Author:

Hartley Coleridge

Editor:

Grace Evelyn and Earl Leslie Griggs

Title:

Letters of Hartley Coleridge

Place of Publication:

London

Date of Publication:

1936

Vol:

n/a

Page:

173

Additional Comments:

Letter addressed to Hartley's mother, Sarah Coleridge, at No. 1 Downshire Place, Hampstead, London, from Grasmere, dated May 16, 1835. Editors’ footnotes: 1.‘See W[illia]m. Roscoe’s Butterfly’s Birthday, 1809.’ 2.‘See Sarah Trimmer’s Fabulous Histories, 1807.’

Citation:

Hartley Coleridge, Grace Evelyn and Earl Leslie Griggs (ed.), Letters of Hartley Coleridge, (London, 1936), n/a, p. 173, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=33957, accessed: 26 April 2024


Additional Comments:

Hartley critiques children's literature and reading at length in this letter. Though the Griggs' note directs the reader to Roscoe's 'Butterfly's Birthday' (1809), Roscoe also wrote another poem called 'The Butterfly's Ball and The Grasshopper's Feast' (published 1806). Sarah Trimmer’s Fabulous Histories was first published in 1786.

   
   
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