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

Reading Experience Database UK Historical image of readers
 
 
 
 

Record Number: 5023


Reading Experience:

Evidence:

'[Edwin] Whitlock... borrowed books from a schoolmaster and from neighbours: "Most of them would now be considered very heavy literature for a boy of fourteen or fifteen, but I didn't know that, for I had no light literature for comparison. I read most of the novels of Dickens, Scott, Lytton and Mrs Henry Wood, 'The Pilgrim's Progress' and 'The Holy War' - an illustrated guide to Biblical Palestine, 'Uncle Tom's Cabin', several bound volumes of religious magazines, 'The Adventures of a Penny', and sundry similar classics". With few books competing for his attention, he could freely concentrate on his favorite reading, "A set of twelve thick volumes of Cassell's 'History of England'".'

Century:

1850-1899

Date:

Between 1 Jan 1887 and 31 Dec 1890

Country:

England

Time

n/a

Place:

county: Dorset- Salisbury Downs

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:

Edwin Whitlock

Age:

Child (0-17)

Gender:

Male

Date of Birth:

1874

Socio-Economic Group:

Labourer (agricultural)

Occupation:

shepherd

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



Text Being Read:

Author:

John Bunyan

Title:

Pilgrim's Progress

Genre:

Other religious, Fiction

Form of Text:

Print: Book

Publication Details

n/a

Provenance

borrowed (private library)
from neighbour or schoolmaster


Source Information:

Record ID:

5023

Source:

Print

Author:

Jonathan Rose

Editor:

n/a

Title:

The Intellectual Life of the British Working Classes

Place of Publication:

New Haven

Date of Publication:

2001

Vol:

n/a

Page:

372

Additional Comments:

n/a

Citation:

Jonathan Rose, The Intellectual Life of the British Working Classes, (New Haven, 2001), p. 372, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=5023, accessed: 03 October 2024


Additional Comments:

See Ralph Whitlock, 'A Family and a Village', (London, 1969) pp. 131-32

   
   
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