Record Number: 6169

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Reading Experience:

Evidence:

'Even conservative Elizabeth Montagu read "Bankes' voyage", and although she disapproved his religious scepticism she also criticised the "prudery of the Ladies", who are afraid to own they have read the "Voyages"', arguing that accounts of the open sexual freedom of the "Demoiselles of Ottaheite" were less "dangerous" to young British women than the "secret" liaisons of their own society.'

Century:

1700-1799

Date:

unknown

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:

Elizabeth Montagu

Age:

Adult (18-100+)

Gender:

Female

Date of Birth:

2 Oct 1718

Socio-Economic Group:

Professional / academic / merchant / farmer

Occupation:

Writer / bluestocking

Religion:

unknown

Country of Origin:

England

Country of Experience:

England

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

n/a

Additional Comments:

n/a

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Text Being Read:

Author:

John Hawkesworth

Title:

An account of voyages...

Genre:

Geography / Travel

Form of Text:

Print: Book

Publication Details

Could be Rev Thomas Bankes' edition, c.1790

Provenance

unknown

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Source Information:

Record ID:

6169

Source:

Print

Author:

Jacqueline Pearson

Editor:

n/a

Title:

Women's Reading in Britain, 1750-1835. A dangerous recreation

Place of Publication:

Cambridge

Date of Publication:

1999

Vol:

n/a

Page:

56

Additional Comments:

Full title being read: An account of voyages undertaken for making discoveries in the southern hemisphere and performed by Commodore Byrone, Captain Wallis, Captain Carteret and Captain Cook (from 1702 to 1771) drawn up from the Journals...

Citation:

Jacqueline Pearson, Women's Reading in Britain, 1750-1835. A dangerous recreation, (Cambridge, 1999), p. 56, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=6169, accessed: 22 November 2024

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Additional Comments:

See Reginald Blunt (ed). Mrs Montagu, 'Queen of the blues': her letters and friendships from 1762-1800 (1923), Vol 1, p. 279. 'Bankes's voyage' was a shorthand term for Hawkesworth's longwinded title; his book drew on Joseph Banks's writings as well as those of the captains.