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

Reading Experience Database UK Historical image of readers
 
 
 
 

Record Number: 16384


Reading Experience:

Evidence:

Mary Russell Mitford to Elzabeth Barrett, 13 October 1836: 'I have just read your delightful ballad. My earliest book was "Percy's Reliques," the delight of my childhood; and after them came Scott's "Minstrelsy of the Borders," the favourite of my youth; so that I am prepared to love ballads [...] Are you a great reader of the old English drama? I am -- preferring it to every other sort of reading; of course admitting, and regretting, the grossness of the age; but that, from habit, one skips, without a thought just as I should over so much Greek or Hebrew which I knew I could not comprehend. have you read Victor Hugo's Plays? (he also is one of my naughty pets), and his "Notre Dame?" I admit the bad taste of these, the excess; but the power and the pathos are to me indescribably great. And then he has [...] made the French a new language. He has accomplished this partly by going back to the old fountains, Froissart, &c. Again, these old Chronicles are great books of mine.'

Century:

1800-1849

Date:

unknown

Country:

n/a

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:

Mary Russell Mitford

Age:

Unknown

Gender:

Female

Date of Birth:

16 Dec 1787

Socio-Economic Group:

Professional / academic / merchant / farmer

Occupation:

Writer

Religion:

n/a

Country of Origin:

England

Country of Experience:

n/a

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

n/a


Additional Comments:

n/a



Text Being Read:

Author:

Walter Scott

Title:

Minstrelsy of the Scottish Borders

Genre:

Poetry

Form of Text:

Print: Book

Publication Details

Published anonymously, 1802-1803

Provenance

unknown


Source Information:

Record ID:

16384

Source:

Print

Author:

n/a

Editor:

Philip Kelley and Ronald Hudson

Title:

The Brownings' Correspondence

Place of Publication:

Winfield

Date of Publication:

1985

Vol:

3

Page:

195-196

Additional Comments:

n/a

Citation:

Philip Kelley and Ronald Hudson (ed.), The Brownings' Correspondence, (Winfield, 1985), 3, p. 195-196, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=16384, accessed: 08 December 2024


Additional Comments:

None

   
   
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