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

Reading Experience Database UK Historical image of readers
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Record Number: 12671


Reading Experience:

Evidence:

'As I began to mend, the Governor, to keep me from brooding too much, gave orders that I was to have all the reading matter I wanted within the limits of the prison library, and my book changed just as often as I liked and at any hour of the day. To a man eager to improve his acquaintance with standard literature such a privilege was immeasurably great, and for the next six weeks or so I browsed among the Victorian novelists - Austin [sic?], the Brontes, Dickens, Thackeray, George Eliot, Meredith, Lytton, Kingsley, Reade, Hughes, Trollope and others.'

Century:

1900-1945

Date:

Between 1 Jan 1908 and 31 Dec 1912

Country:

England

Time

n/a

Place:

county: Somersetshire
specific address: Shepton Mallet Prison
other location: in his cell while recovering from illness

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:

Stuart Wood [pseud?]

Age:

Adult (18-100+)

Gender:

Male

Date of Birth:

27 Feb 1885

Socio-Economic Group:

Labourer (non-agricultural)

Occupation:

son of master craftsman, but habitual criminal

Religion:

family Methodist but becomes athiest

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:

William Makepeace Thackeray

Title:

[unknown]

Genre:

Fiction

Form of Text:

Print: Book

Publication Details

n/a

Provenance

borrowed (institution library)
from prison library


Source Information:

Record ID:

12671

Source:

Print

Author:

Stuart Wood

Editor:

n/a

Title:

Shades of the prison house: A personal memoir

Place of Publication:

London

Date of Publication:

1932

Vol:

n/a

Page:

134

Additional Comments:

n/a

Citation:

Stuart Wood, Shades of the prison house: A personal memoir (London, 1932), p. 134, http://can-red-lec.library.dal.ca/Arts/RED/record_details.php?id=12671, accessed: 28 March 2024


Additional Comments:

None

   
   
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