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

Reading Experience Database UK Historical image of readers
 
 
 
 

Record Number: 8948


Reading Experience:

Evidence:

'He [?my father?] also made me read, and give him a verbal account of, many books which would not have interested me sufficiently to induce me to read them of myself: among others, Millar?s Historical View of the English Government, a book of great merit for its time, and which he highly valued; Mosheim?s Ecclesiastical History, McCrie?s Life of John Knox, and even Sewell?s and Rutty?s Histories of the Quakers.'

Century:

1800-1849

Date:

Between 1 Jan 1810 and 31 Dec 1813

Country:

England

Time

morning
daytime

Place:

other location: Solitary reading presumably at James Mill?s house in Newington Green, London; summarising and discussion while walking in the neighbourhood, ?generall

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:

John Stuart Mill

Age:

Child (0-17)

Gender:

Male

Date of Birth:

20 May 1806

Socio-Economic Group:

Professional / academic / merchant / farmer

Occupation:

Administrator in the East India Company (joins the company as a clerk in 1823, retires as chief of his office and Examiner of India Correspondence in

Religion:

Atheist

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 Millar

Title:

Historical View of the English Government

Genre:

History, Politics

Form of Text:

Print: Book

Publication Details

n/a

Provenance

unknown


Source Information:

Record ID:

8948

Source:

Print

Author:

John Stuart Mill

Editor:

Jack Stillinger

Title:

Autobiography

Place of Publication:

Boston

Date of Publication:

1969

Vol:

n/a

Page:

7

Additional Comments:

n/a

Citation:

John Stuart Mill, Jack Stillinger (ed.), Autobiography, (Boston, 1969), p. 7, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=8948, accessed: 12 December 2024


Additional Comments:

Since the initial, solitary reading experience (presumably alone at home) was explicitly carried out in preparation for oral summarising and discussion the following day (outdoors, with the reader?s father), the reading experience should be considered to encompass both of these activities ? hence that it has been recorded here as both ?silent? and ?aloud?, both ?solitary? and ?in company?, even though the reader does not state that he read aloud or in the company of his father.

   
   
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