Record Number: 7308

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Reading Experience:

Evidence:

'At the corner of Hanging Bridge, near Old Churchyard, was a bookshop kept by one Swindells, a printer. In the spacious windows of this shop? were exhibited numerous songs, ballads, tales, and other publications, with horrid and awful-looking woodcuts at the head; which publications, with their cuts, had a strong command of my attention. Every farthing I could scrape together was now spent in purchasing "Histories of Jack the Giant Killer", "Saint George and the Dragon", "Tom Hickathrift", "Jack and the Bean Stalk", "History of the Seven Champions", tale of "Fair Rosamond", "History of Friar Bacon", "Account of the Lancashire Witches", "The Witches of the Woodlands", and such like romances; whilst my ? collections embraced but few pieces besides "Robin Hood?s Songs", and "The Ballad of Chevy Chase". Of all these tales and ballads I was soon to master, and they formed the subjects of many a long study to me, and of many a wonder-creating story for my acquaintance both at the workhouse and elsewhere. For my part I implicitly believed them all, and when told by my father or others that they were "trash" and "nonsense", and "could not be true", I innocently enough, contrasted their probability with that of other wondrous things which I read in books that "it were a sin to disbelieve".'

Century:

1700-1799, 1800-1849

Date:

unknown

Country:

England

Time

n/a

Place:

city: Middleton
county: Lancashire

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:

Samuel Bamford

Age:

Child (0-17)

Gender:

Male

Date of Birth:

28 Feb 1788

Socio-Economic Group:

Clerk / tradesman / artisan / smallholder

Occupation:

son of muslin weaver and part-time teacher

Religion:

n/a

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:

anon

Title:

Fair Rosamond

Genre:

Fiction, Children's Lit, Ephemera

Form of Text:

Print: Book

Publication Details

chapbook

Provenance

owned

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Source Information:

Record ID:

7308

Source:

Print

Author:

Samuel Bamford

Editor:

n/a

Title:

Early Days

Place of Publication:

London

Date of Publication:

1849

Vol:

n/a

Page:

90-1

Additional Comments:

n/a

Citation:

Samuel Bamford, Early Days, (London, 1849), p. 90-1, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=7308, accessed: 22 December 2024

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Additional Comments:

None