Record Number: 30468

---

Reading Experience:

Evidence:

Meeting held at 22 Cintra Avenue, 21st June 1944
F. E. Pollard in the chair.

1. Minutes of last meeting were read and signed.

[...]

3. Howard Smith introduced G. K. Chesterton by giving us a very full and interesting account of his life. Essayist, critic, novelist and poet; always interesting, sometimes brilliant; inaccurate in factual detail yet showing quite extraordinary understanding of the great men of whom he wrote.

4. F. E. Pollard read from Chesterton’s biography of Robert Browning

5. We adjourned for refreshment.

6. Margaret Dilks read from “Orthodoxy”.

7. Rosamund Wallis read an essay “French and English” which was of particular interest in view of the present day political situation, and the difficulty statesmen of the two countries experience in understanding each other.

8. Isabel Taylor read “The Blue Cross” a thrilling and amusing detective story from “The innocence of Father Brown.”

9. Kenneth Nicholson read some of Chesterton’s poems: The Pessimist, F. E. Smith [i.e. ‘Antichrist, or the Reunion of Christendom: An Ode’] & King’s Cross [Station].

10. It was too late to hear the readings from Chesterton’s biography of Charles Dickens, and it was suggested that this might well prove an interesting subject for a future evening.

[signed as a true record by] Howard R. Smith 8/7/44'

Century:

1900-1945

Date:

21 Jun 1944

Country:

England

Time

evening

Place:

city: Reading
county: Berkshire
specific address: 22, Cintra 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

---

Reader / Listener / Reading Group:

Reader:

Kenneth F. Nicholson

Age:

Adult (18-100+)

Gender:

Male

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

---

Text Being Read:

Author:

G. K. Chesterton

Title:

The Pessimist

Genre:

Poetry

Form of Text:

Unknown

Publication Details

n/a

Provenance

unknown

---

Source Information:

Record ID:

30468

Source:

Manuscript

Author:

Margaret Dilks

Title:

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

Location:

private collection

Call No:

n/a

Page/Folio:

10-11

Additional Information:

Margaret Dilks was secretary to the XII Book Club from 1940 to 1970. It is inferred from this, and from the handwriting, that she was the author of this set of minutes.

Citation:

Margaret Dilks, XII Book Club Minute Book, Vol. 5 (1944-1952), private collection, 10-11, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=30468, accessed: 22 November 2024

---

Additional Comments:

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).