Record Number: 26918

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Reading Experience:

Evidence:

Sunday, 11 July 1830: 'I have begun Lawrie Todd which ought considering the author's indisputed talents to have been better. He might have laid [James Fenimore] Cowper aboard but he follows far behind. No wonder. Galt, poor fellow, was in the King's Bench when he wrote it; no whetter of genius is necessity though said to be the mother of invention.'

Century:

1800-1849

Date:

Between 9 Jul 1830 and 11 Jul 1830

Country:

Scotland

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:

Walter Scott

Age:

Adult (18-100+)

Gender:

Male

Date of Birth:

1771

Socio-Economic Group:

Professional / academic / merchant / farmer

Occupation:

Writer

Religion:

n/a

Country of Origin:

Scotland

Country of Experience:

Scotland

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

n/a

Additional Comments:

n/a

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Text Being Read:

Author:

John Galt

Title:

Lawrie Todd

Genre:

Fiction

Form of Text:

Print: Book

Publication Details

1830

Provenance

unknown

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Source Information:

Record ID:

26918

Source:

Print

Author:

Walter Scott

Editor:

W. E. K. Anderson

Title:

The Journal of Sir Walter Scott

Place of Publication:

Oxford

Date of Publication:

1972

Vol:

n/a

Page:

608

Additional Comments:

n/a

Citation:

Walter Scott, W. E. K. Anderson (ed.), The Journal of Sir Walter Scott, (Oxford, 1972), p. 608, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=26918, accessed: 22 March 2025

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Additional Comments:

Source ed. quotes from entry in Robert Cadell (publisher)'s diary of 9 July, in which Scott is recorded as having selected this text, along with other 'books of light reading for the journey [from Edinburgh] to Abbotsford' from Cadell's (see p.608 n.2 in source).