Evidence: | Henry Mayhew interviews a street entertainer -a 'blind reader':
"I was not born blind, but lost my sight four years ago, in consequence of an aneurism... At last I thought I might earn a little by reading in the street. The Society for the Indigent Blind gave me the Gospel of St John, after Mr Freer's system, the price being 8s.; and a brother-in-law supplied me with the Gospel of St Luke which cost 9s. ...I first read in public in Mornington Crescent. For the first fortnight or three weeks I took from 2s6d to 2s9d a day... Since the 1st of January I haven't averaged more than 2s6d a week by my street reading and writing... There are now five or six blind men about London who read in the streets. We can read nothing but the Scriptures, as 'blind-printing' -so it's sometimes called -has only been used in the Scriptures." |
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Century: | 1800-1849, 1850-1899 | ||||||||||
Date: | Between 1 Jan 1850 and 31 Dec 1859 | ||||||||||
Country: | England | ||||||||||
Time: | daytime | ||||||||||
Place: | city: London specific address: Euston Square and Mornington Crescent other location: on street corners |
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Type of Experience (Reader): |
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Type of Experience (Listener): |
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Reader: | anon |
Age | Adult (18-100+) |
Gender | Male |
Date of Birth | n/a |
Socio-economic group: | Labourer (non-agricultural) |
Occupation: | street entertainer blind reader |
Religion: | n/a |
Country of origin: | n/a |
Country of experience: | England |
Listeners present if any: (e.g. family, servants,
friends, workmates) |
n/a |
Additional comments: | n/a |
Author: | |
Title: | Gospel |
Genre: | Bible |
Form of Text: | Print: Book |
Publication details: | brail edition for the blind |
Provenance: | owned |
Record ID: | 1285 | |
Source - | ||
Author: | Henry Mayhew | |
Editor: | n/a | |
Title: | London Labour and the London Poor | |
Place of Publication: | London | |
Date of Publication: | 1861 | |
Vol: | 3 | |
Page: | 154-155 | |
Additional comments: | n/a |
Citation: | Henry Mayhew, London Labour and the London Poor (London, 1861), 3, p. 154-155, http://can-red-lec.library.dal.ca/Arts/reading/recorddetails2.php?id=1285, accessed: 29 March 2024 |
Mayhew writes that the blind reader is about 38 years of age |
Reading Experience Database version 2.0. Page updated: 27th Apr 2016 3:15pm (GMT)