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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: 20796


Reading Experience:

Evidence:

'I profess myself to have ever had a profound veneration for the astonishing force and vivacity of mind which "The Rambler" exhibits [Boswell then talks at length of the philosophical merits of the essays] I may shortly observe that the "Rambler" furnishes such an assemblage of discourses on practical religion and moral duty, of critical investigations, and allegorical and oriental tales, that no mind may be thought very deficient that has, by constant study and meditation, assimilated to itself all that may be found there'. [Boswell singles out numbers 7, 110, 54 and 32]

Century:

1700-1799

Date:

Between 1 Jan 1750 and 31 Dec 1791

Country:

n/a

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


Reader / Listener / Reading Group:

Reader:

James Boswell

Age:

Adult (18-100+)

Gender:

Male

Date of Birth:

29 Oct 1740

Socio-Economic Group:

Professional / academic / merchant / farmer

Occupation:

Lawyer / writer

Religion:

n/a

Country of Origin:

Scotland

Country of Experience:

n/a

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

n/a


Additional Comments:

n/a



Text Being Read:

Author:

Samuel Johnson

Title:

Rambler, The

Genre:

Essays / Criticism

Form of Text:

Print: Serial / periodical

Publication Details

n/a

Provenance

unknown


Source Information:

Record ID:

20796

Source:

Print

Author:

James Boswell

Editor:

R.W. Chapman

Title:

Life of Johnson

Place of Publication:

Oxford

Date of Publication:

1980

Vol:

n/a

Page:

152-3

Additional Comments:

n/a

Citation:

James Boswell, R.W. Chapman (ed.), Life of Johnson (Oxford, 1980), p. 152-3, http://can-red-lec.library.dal.ca/Arts/RED/record_details.php?id=20796, accessed: 28 March 2024


Additional Comments:

Originally published 1791.

   
   
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