Record Number: 5646

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Reading Experience:

Evidence:

'Gifford had read only some ballads, the black-letter romance Parismus and Parismenus, some odd loose magazines of his mother's, the Bible (which he studied with his grandmother) and "The Imitation of Christ" (read to his mother on her deathbed). He then learned algebra by surreptitiously reading Fenning's textbook: his master's son owned the book and had deliberately hidden it from him'.

Century:

1700-1799

Date:

Between 1 Jan 1766 and 31 Dec 1776

Country:

England

Time

n/a

Place:

n/a

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:

William Gifford

Age:

Child (0-17)

Gender:

Male

Date of Birth:

1756

Socio-Economic Group:

Clerk / tradesman / artisan / smallholder

Occupation:

shoemaker's apprentice, later man of letters

Religion:

n/a

Country of Origin:

England

Country of Experience:

England

Listeners present if any:
e.g family, servants, friends

grandmother (read with grandmother)

Additional Comments:

n/a

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Text Being Read:

Author:

[n/a]

Title:

Bible

Genre:

Bible

Form of Text:

Print: Book

Publication Details

n/a

Provenance

owned

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Source Information:

Record ID:

5646

Source:

Print

Author:

Jonathan Rose

Editor:

n/a

Title:

The Intellectual Life of the British Working Classes

Place of Publication:

New Haven

Date of Publication:

2001

Vol:

n/a

Page:

396

Additional Comments:

n/a

Citation:

Jonathan Rose, The Intellectual Life of the British Working Classes, (New Haven, 2001), p. 396, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=5646, accessed: 21 December 2024

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Additional Comments:

See William Gifford, 'Memoir', pp. 7, 13-19.