Record Number: 25224

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Reading Experience:

Evidence:

Robert Southey to Joseph Cottle, 14 December 1797: 'Your parcel & its contents arrived safe. I found it on my return from a library belonging to the dissenters — in Redcross Street; from which, by permission of Dr Towers one of the Trustees, I brought back books of great importance for my Maid of Orleans. a hackney coach horse turned into a field of grass falls not more eagerly to a breakfast which lasts the whole day, than I attacked the old folios so respectably covered with dust. I begin to like dirty rotten binding, & whenever I get among books pass by the gilt coxcombs & yet disturb the spiders. — But you shall hear what I have got. a Latin poem in four long books upon Joan of Arc. very bad — but it gives me a quaint note or two — & Valerandus Valerius is a fine name for a quotation. a small quarto of the Life of the Maid, chiefly extracts from forgotten authors, printed at Paris. 1612. with a print of her on horseback, & another on foot in the same dress & attitude as the one I have. A sketch of her life, by Jacobus Philippus Bergomensis — bless the length of his erudite name! — this is short but the most valuable of all, inasmuch as I have his authority for her prediction of her death — & that he has given me matter for a noble speech in Book 3. (I write in the spirit of prophecy for its nobleness.) by saying that her first vision was in a ruined church, where the weather drove her to pass the night with her flock. there are more treasures in this library — & I go there again on Monday next.'

Century:

1700-1799

Date:

14 Dec 1797

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

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Reader / Listener / Reading Group:

Reader:

Robert Southey

Age:

Adult (18-100+)

Gender:

Male

Date of Birth:

12 Aug 1774

Socio-Economic Group:

Professional / academic / merchant / farmer

Occupation:

writer and lawyer

Religion:

n/a

Country of Origin:

England

Country of Experience:

England

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

n/a

Additional Comments:

n/a

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Text Being Read:

Author:

Jean Masson

Title:

Histoire Memorable de la Vie de Jeanne d’Arc, Appelée la Pucelle d’Orleans

Genre:

History

Form of Text:

Print: Book

Publication Details

n/a

Provenance

borrowed (institution library)
from Dr Williams Library, London

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Source Information:

Record ID:

25224

Source - Manuscript:

Other

Information:

"The Collected Letters of Robert Southey," Romantic Circles Electronic Edition, Letter 278. http://www.rc.umd.edu/editions/southey_letters. Accessed 29 April 2009.

Additional Information:

n/a

Citation:

"The Collected Letters of Robert Southey," Romantic Circles Electronic Edition, Letter 278. http://www.rc.umd.edu/editions/southey_letters. Accessed 29 April 2009. , http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=25224, accessed: 17 February 2025

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Additional Comments:

None