Record Number: 30459

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Reading Experience:

Evidence:

1. Apologies for absence were received from Margaret and A. Bruce Dilks, Alice and Arnold Joselin, Sylvanus A. Reynolds, Kenneth F. Nicholson, Francis H. Knight.

[...]

3. The subject chosen was letters, and during the evening we heard a most interesting variety of letters, the matter varying from good & energetic advice to a brother-in-law by Abraham Lincoln, to the butcher of our dreams; from Zola’s account of the Dreyfus case to the amazing all-round ability to destroy of Leonardo da Vinci. Charming letters to children were read, and various letters to the public; and yet through all this variety, links were found connecting one set of letters with the next.

In the first section of the meeting the following were read:- Letters by Leonardo da Vinci read by K. Waschauer, by Abraham Lincoln read by F. E. Pollard, and a humorous selection read by Edith B. and Howard R. Smith.

4. We adjourned for refreshments.

5. The minutes of the last meeting were then read and signed.

[...]

7. The business being completed, we had a further selection of letters Zola’s letters on the Dreyus case [read by] Howard R. Smith[.] Letters written to children [read by] Muriel Stevens[.] Captain Scott’s last letters [read by] Elsie D. Harrod[.] J. M. Barrie’s letter to Mrs. Scott [read by] Rosamund Wallis[.] Letters of Gertrude Bell [read by] Mary Stansfield[.]

8. The meeting ended with general thankfulness that we had not to spend the coming night as Gertrude Bell had done on the mountains.'

Century:

Date:

23 May 1944

Country:

England

Time

evening

Place:

city: Reading
county: Berkshire
specific address: 64, Northcourt Avenue

Type of Experience
(Reader):
 

silent aloud unknown
solitary in company unknown
single serial unknown

Type of Experience
(Listener):
 

solitary reactive unknown
single serial unknown

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Reader / Listener / Reading Group:

Reader:

Rosamund Wallis

Age:

Adult (18-100+)

Gender:

Female

Date of Birth:

n/a

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

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Text Being Read:

Author:

J. M. Barrie

Title:

[Letter to Mrs. Scott]

Genre:

Letters

Form of Text:

Print: Book

Publication Details

n/a

Provenance

unknown

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Source Information:

Record ID:

30459

Source:

Manuscript

Author:

n/a

Title:

XII Book Club Minute Book, Vol. 5 (1944-1952)

Location:

private collection

Call No:

n/a

Page/Folio:

8-9

Additional Information:

It is clear from the handwriting that Margaret Dilks, secretary to the XII Book Club from 1940 to 1970, was not the author of this set of minutes.

Citation:

[Acting secretary of the XII Book Club] , XII Book Club Minute Book, Vol. 5 (1944-1952), private collection, 8-9, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=30459, accessed: 16 February 2025

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Additional Comments:

Probably this letter was one of condolence on Scott’s death: Barrie, a close family friend, was one of the people to whom Scott wrote letters in the final hours of his life.
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).