Switch to English Switch to French

The Open University  |   Study at the OU  |   About the OU  |   Research at the OU  |   Search the OU

Listen to this page  |   Accessibility

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

Reading Experience Database UK Historical image of readers
  RED International Logo

RED Australia logo


RED Canada logo
RED Netherlands logo
RED New Zealand logo

Record Number: 5133


Reading Experience:

Evidence:

"Alexander Somerville, a young farm-worker growing up in the Lammermuir Hills, made his first great journeys without leaving the fields in which he laboured: "'The next book which came in my way, and made an impression so strong as to be still unworn and unwearable, was Anson's Voyage Round the World ... I had read nothing of the kind before ...'"

Century:

1700-1799, 1800-1849

Date:

unknown

Country:

Scotland

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:

Alexander Somerville

Age:

Child (0-17)

Gender:

Male

Date of Birth:

n/a

Socio-Economic Group:

Labourer (agricultural)

Occupation:

n/a

Religion:

n/a

Country of Origin:

n/a

Country of Experience:

Scotland

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

n/a


Additional Comments:

n/a



Text Being Read:

Author:

Anson

Title:

Voyage Round the World

Genre:

Geography / Travel

Form of Text:

Print: Book

Publication Details

n/a

Provenance

unknown


Source Information:

Record ID:

5133

Source:

Print

Author:

David Vincent

Editor:

n/a

Title:

The Rise of Mass Literacy: Reading and Writing in Moderrn Europe

Place of Publication:

Oxford

Date of Publication:

2000

Vol:

n/a

Page:

99

Additional Comments:

n/a

Citation:

David Vincent, The Rise of Mass Literacy: Reading and Writing in Moderrn Europe (Oxford, 2000), p. 99, http://can-red-lec.library.dal.ca/Arts/RED/record_details.php?id=5133, accessed: 29 April 2024


Additional Comments:

Quotation from A. Somerville, Autobiography of a Working Man (1848; London, 1951) 45.

   
   
Green Turtle Web Design