Record Number: 31601
Reading Experience:
Evidence:
'Meeting held at Oakdene, Northcourt Avenue 7.iv.41
S. A. Reynolds in the chair.
1. The minutes of the last meeting were read and signed.
[...]
3. Margaret Dilks read a brief biographical sketch of J. M. Barrie. Her facts were
challenged by some members as was her Scots pronunciation by others, but
admitting her ignorance she pleaded that the task had been a difficult one as
Barrie’s biography by Denis Mackail was not published until the day before this
meeting. Barrie’s life was on the whole a lucky one, crowned early with success,
his one real dissapointment being the failure of his last play “The Boy David”. But
his writings were not those of a man well content with life & the world as it is –
for though they are amusing they are also very pointed.
4. It was a very great pleasure to us that Janet Rawlings’ short stay in Reading
should coincide with a book-club meeting, & her reading from “My Lady Nicotine”
was much enjoyed. It should be mentioned that the passage was not selected by
the reader, but by Mr. Pollard. For in an entertaining forward Janet explained that
being in doubt as to what to read she took her troubles to F. E. Pollard, as she so
often does – with what happy result in this case at least we were able to judge for
ourselves.
5. Alice Joselin made some comments on “Peter Pan” which were followed by a
reading by Mary Stansfield from “The Little White Bird”., an early book which
contains the episode of Peter Pan. In view of the very evident enjoyment with
which we devoted the whole of our last meeting to childrens literature, it was
strange that so many condemned Peter Pan as too grown up for children and too
mawkish for adults. In fact, as she finished the reading, Mary Stansfield
pronounced it “Utter Twaddle”.
[...]
[Signed as a true record by] A. G. Joselin
5 May 1941'
1900-1945
Date:5 May 1941
Country:England
Timeevening
Place:city: Reading
county: Berkshire
specific address: 72, Shinfield Road
(Reader):
silent aloud unknown
solitary in company unknown
single serial unknown
(Listener):
solitary in company unknown
single serial unknown
Reader / Listener / Reading Group:
Reader: 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
n/a
Additional Comments:
n/a
Text Being Read:
Author: Title:Minutes of the meeting of the XII Book Club held 7 April 1941
Genre:Minutes
Form of Text:Manuscript: Notebook
Publication Detailsn/a
Provenancereading group
Source Information:
Record ID:31601
Source:Manuscript
Author:Margaret Dilks
Title:XII Book Club Minute Book, Vol. 4 (1938-1943)
Location:private collection
Call No:n/a
Page/Folio:92–96
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. 4 (1938-1943), private collection, 92–96, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=31601, accessed: 18 July 2024
Additional Comments:
This is the reading, possibly brief and cursory, implied by the Chair's act of signing these minutes. It probably followed immediately after listening to the public reading of the minutes by the Secretary.
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).