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the experience of reading in Britain, from 1450 to 1945...

Reading Experience Database UK Historical image of readers
 
 
 
 

Record Number: 8926


Reading Experience:

Evidence:

'He ['my father'] was fond of putting into my hands books which exhibited men of energy and resource in unusual circumstances, struggling against difficulties and overcoming them: of such works I remember Beaver's African Memoranda, and Collins's account of the first settlement of New South Wales.'

Century:

1800-1849

Date:

Between 1 Jan 1810 and 31 Dec 1813

Country:

England

Time

morning
daytime

Place:

other location: Solitary reading presumably at James Mill?s house in Newington Green, London; summarising and discussion while walking in the neighbourhood, ?generall

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


Reader / Listener / Reading Group:

Reader:

John Stuart Mill

Age:

Child (0-17)

Gender:

Male

Date of Birth:

20 May 1806

Socio-Economic Group:

Professional / academic / merchant / farmer

Occupation:

Administrator in the East India Company (joins the company as a clerk in 1823, retires as chief of his office and Examiner of India Correspondence in

Religion:

Atheist

Country of Origin:

England

Country of Experience:

England

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

n/a


Additional Comments:

n/a



Text Being Read:

Author:

Philip Beaver

Title:

African memoranda relative to an attempt to establish a British settlement on the island of Bulama, on the western coast of Africa, in the year 1792. With a brief notice of the neighbouring tribes, soil, productions, &c. and some observations on the facil

Genre:

Other religious, Autobiog / Diary, Geography / Travel, Natural history, Agriculture / horticulture / husbandry, Slavery; British Colonies

Form of Text:

Print: Book

Publication Details

n/a

Provenance

unknown


Source Information:

Record ID:

8926

Source:

Print

Author:

John Stuart Mill

Editor:

Jack Stillinger

Title:

Autobiography

Place of Publication:

Boston

Date of Publication:

1969

Vol:

n/a

Page:

7

Additional Comments:

n/a

Citation:

John Stuart Mill, Jack Stillinger (ed.), Autobiography, (Boston, 1969), p. 7, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=8926, accessed: 22 November 2024


Additional Comments:

Since the initial, solitary reading experience (presumably alone at home) was explicitly carried out in preparation for oral summarising and discussion the following day (outdoors, with the reader's father), the reading experience should be considered to encompass both of these activities hence that it has been recorded here as both silent and aloud, both solitary and in company, even though the reader does not state that he read aloud or in the company of his father.

   
   
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