Record Number: 30760

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Reading Experience:

Evidence:

'Afternoon stopped at home and finished "Cuckoo Clock"[...].'

Century:

1850-1899

Date:

2 Jan 1878

Country:

England

Time

afternoon
daytime

Place:

city: Redcar
county: N.Yorks
specific address: Red Barns

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:

Gertrude Bell

Age:

Child (0-17)

Gender:

Female

Date of Birth:

16 Jul 1868

Socio-Economic Group:

Gentry

Occupation:

child

Religion:

Christian (Anglican) later declared herself atheist

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:

Mary Louise Molesworth

Title:

The Cuckoo Clock

Genre:

Fiction, Children's Lit

Form of Text:

Print: Book

Publication Details

first published 1877

Provenance

unknown

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Source Information:

Record ID:

30760

Source - Manuscript:

Other

Information:

on-line archive of letters and diaries at www.gerty.ncl.ac.uk

Additional Information:

Diary entry 2 January 1878 http://www.gerty.ncl.ac.uk/diary_details.php?diary_id=2061

Citation:

on-line archive of letters and diaries at www.gerty.ncl.ac.uk, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=30760, accessed: 14 May 2024

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Additional Comments:

It is unclear whether this is a solitary or shared reading experience. Gertrude Bell, aged 9 at the time, records in her diary a few weeks earlier on 15 December 1877, and again on 4 February 1878, that she was reading to herself. There are repeated references in 1877 entries to shared reading experiences with her parents Florence and Hugh Bell, though the texts are not specified.