Record Number: 29741
Reading Experience:
Evidence:
Meeting held at 9 Denmark Road, 20 IV. 1934
F. E. Pollard in the chair
1. Minutes of last read & approved with one correction, in the absence of the secretary.
[...]
4. Howard R. Smith told us of Morris’s life. The meeting gasped with unanimity and amazement to learn that he (Morris i.e.) had read all the Waverley novels by the age of seven; we gathered that the background of his life had been a blend of Epping Forest & shares in a coppermine, and that his appearance accounted for his lifelong nickname of Topsy. Of his friendships, his labours to restore beauty to Victorian homes, to prevent vandals from restoring cathedrals & other ancient monuments, his Kelmscott Press, his poems & prose romances, his turning to Socialism as the only way to a society in which men would find happiness in sound and beautiful work – of all these things and many more which made up his extraordinarily full and fruitful life, it is impossible to make a summary.
5. Mary S. W. Pollard read a short extract from Percy Corder’s life of Robert Spence Watson telling of a visit of Wm Morris to Bensham Grove. Members afterwards inspected his signature in the Visitors’ book.
6. Ethel C. Stevens read an interesting account of Kelmscott Manor, revealing other sides of this vigorous and many sided personality.
7. R. H. Robson gathered together the artistic & socialist aspects of Morris’s work, emphasised the greatness of the man, & read extracts from MacKail’s Biography. It was clear that Morris would wish to cancel out the last four hundred years & start again on different lines. Time was wanting to reveal all the varieties of opinion that this might have elicited, & we parted in united awe at the mans capacity for work, & his important contributions to our life & ideals.
Century:1900-1945
Date:15 May 1934
Country:England
Timeevening
Place:city: Reading
county: Berkshire
specific address: Hillsborough, Glebe Road
(Reader):
silent aloud unknown
solitary in company unknown
single serial unknown
(Listener):
solitary reactive unknown
single serial unknown
Reader / Listener / Reading Group:
Reader: Age:Adult (18-100+)
Gender:Male
Date of Birth:1887
Socio-Economic Group:Professional / academic / merchant / farmer
Occupation:n/a
Religion:Quaker or associated with the Friends
Country of Origin:n/a
Country of Experience:England
Listeners present if any:e.g family, servants, friends
Members of the XII Book Club
Additional Comments:
n/a
Text Being Read:
Author:[Acting secretary of the XII Book Club]
Title:Minutes of meeting of the XII Book Club held 20 April 1934
Genre:Minutes
Form of Text:Manuscript: Notebook
Publication Detailsn/a
Provenancereading group
Source Information:
Record ID:29741
Source:Manuscript
Author:Victor Alexander
Title:XII Book Club Minute Book, Vol. 3 (1931-1938)
Location:private collection
Call No:n/a
Page/Folio:102–106
Additional Information:
Victor Alexander was secretary to the XII Book Club from 1931 to 1940. It is inferred from this that he was the author of this set of minutes.
Citation:
Victor Alexander, XII Book Club Minute Book, Vol. 3 (1931-1938), private collection, 102–106, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=29741, accessed: 27 September 2024
Additional Comments:
It is assumed that it was Victor Alexander, as secretary of the club, who read out the minutes of the previous meeting.
Material by kind permission of the XII Book Club. For further information and permission to quote this source, contact the Reading Experience Database (http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/contacts.php).