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

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Edward Bellamy : Looking Backward: 2000-1887

'James Murray, a Glasgow woodcarver, represented the kind of reader Dent and Rhys were trying to reach. He credited Everyman magazine with "opening up an entirely new set of ideas to which I had previously been a stranger. I became familiar with the names and works of all the truly great authors and poets, and was now throughly convinced I had been misplaced in my life's work". His reading ranged from Rasselas to Looking Backward'.

Century: 1900-1945     Reader/Listener/Group: James Murray      Print: Book

Edward Bellamy : Looking Backwards

'These artless idealists had their favourite authors, which I now proceeded to read...Their piece de resistance was Sir Thomas More's "Utopia", closely followed by the prose works of William Morris, "The Story of the Unknown Church", and the like. There was quite a spate of novels with this ideology, but the only one that has come down to the present day is Edward Bellamy's "Looking Backward".'

Century: 1900-1945     Reader/Listener/Group: Joseph Stamper      Print: Book

Edward Bellamy : Looking Backward: 2000-1887

'I perceive you mention "Looking Backwards". I write to save your life. Don't DON'T DON'T read that most ... [ellipsis in original] of shockers. I bought it at Truro coming up on the [Great Western Railway] lately and before I got to Plymouth it had retired out the window. It isn't a shocker — it's a dreary fraud ...'

Century: 1850-1899     Reader/Listener/Group: Ernest Dowson      Print: Book

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