Record Number: 7357

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Reading Experience:

Evidence:

?Great was our delight, too, when chance opportunities came in the way of such of us as could read. An opportunity of this kind arrived when a firm of printers in London brought out a penny Shakespeare ? a play of Shakespeare?s for a penny! Well do I remember this cheap treasure. It was my first introduction to the great bard. Gracious! How I devoured play after play as they came out. I was a poor errand boy at the time. When on my errands I used to steal odd moments to read my penny Shakespeare.?

Century:

1800-1849

Date:

unknown

Country:

England

Time

daytime

Place:

city: Cheltenham
other location: while at work on errands

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 Edwin Adams

Age:

Child (0-17)

Gender:

Male

Date of Birth:

Feb 1832

Socio-Economic Group:

Clerk / tradesman / artisan / smallholder

Occupation:

Son of a plasterer, apprentice printer and journalist later

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:

William Shakespeare

Title:

[plays]

Genre:

Drama

Form of Text:

Print: Book

Publication Details

penny editions

Provenance

owned

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Source Information:

Record ID:

7357

Source:

Print

Author:

William Edwin Adams

Editor:

n/a

Title:

Memoirs of a Social Atom

Place of Publication:

London

Date of Publication:

1903

Vol:

1

Page:

102

Additional Comments:

n/a

Citation:

William Edwin Adams, Memoirs of a Social Atom, (London, 1903), 1, p. 102, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=7357, accessed: 10 March 2025

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Additional Comments:

None