Record Number: 12949

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Reading Experience:

Evidence:

'When we speak of calculi - I brought home [some f]ew mathematical books, which I must tell you of - Bossuts "history [of] mathematics", Woods "optics", Cunn's "Euclid" and Newton's "principia" constitute my [stock] of this sort - I got Lucans "Pharsalia" also, and some little extracts of Fenelons "dialogues des morts". If there are any of these (except Newton for which you would be [obliged] to wait awhile) that you wish to see - they are ready for you. I had read Bossut before - and have not done much at him of late. Neither have I read any quantity of Wood yet, having been nibbling at the "Principia" (which with all my struggling, I come but ill at understanding - indeed in some places I don't understand it at all) ever since I came home. Of Lucan I have not read above seven lines.'

Century:

1800-1849

Date:

Between 1 Jan 1816 and 15 Feb 1816

Country:

Scotland

Time

n/a

Place:

city: Annan

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:

Thomas Carlyle

Age:

Adult (18-100+)

Gender:

Male

Date of Birth:

4 Dec 1795

Socio-Economic Group:

Professional / academic / merchant / farmer

Occupation:

Teacher, later man of letters

Religion:

Christian

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:

Charles Bossut

Title:

Essai sur l'histoire generale ds mathematiques

Genre:

History, Mathematics

Form of Text:

Print: Book

Publication Details

n/a

Provenance

owned
brought from Edinburgh

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Source Information:

Record ID:

12949

Source:

Print

Author:

n/a

Editor:

Charles Richard Sanders

Title:

The Collected Letters of Thomas and Jane Welsh Carlyle

Place of Publication:

Durham, NC

Date of Publication:

1970

Vol:

I

Page:

71-2

Additional Comments:

Letter to Robert Mitchell

Citation:

Charles Richard Sanders (ed.), The Collected Letters of Thomas and Jane Welsh Carlyle, (Durham, NC, 1970), I, p. 71-2, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=12949, accessed: 25 November 2024

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Additional Comments:

Had read Bossut previously.