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: 16385


Reading Experience:

Evidence:

Mary Russell Mitford to Elzabeth Barrett, 13 October 1836: 'I have just read your delightful ballad. My earliest book was "Percy's Reliques," the delight of my childhood; and after them came Scott's "Minstrelsy of the Borders," the favourite of my youth; so that I am prepared to love ballads [...] Are you a great reader of the old English drama? I am -- preferring it to every other sort of reading; of course admitting, and regretting, the grossness of the age; but that, from habit, one skips, without a thought just as I should over so much Greek or Hebrew which I knew I could not comprehend. have you read Victor Hugo's Plays? (he also is one of my naughty pets), and his "Notre Dame?" I admit the bad taste of these, the excess; but the power and the pathos are to me indescribably great. And then he has [...] made the French a new language. He has accomplished this partly by going back to the old fountains, Froissart, &c. Again, these old Chronicles are great books of mine.'

Century:

1800-1849

Date:

unknown

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:

Mary Russell Mitford

Age:

Adult (18-100+)

Gender:

Female

Date of Birth:

16 Dec 1787

Socio-Economic Group:

Professional / academic / merchant / farmer

Occupation:

Writer

Religion:

n/a

Country of Origin:

England

Country of Experience:

n/a

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

n/a


Additional Comments:

n/a



Text Being Read:

Author:

Title:

'old English [i.e. Renaissance] drama'

Genre:

Drama, Poetry

Form of Text:

Print: Book

Publication Details

n/a

Provenance

unknown


Source Information:

Record ID:

16385

Source:

Print

Author:

n/a

Editor:

Philip Kelley and Ronald Hudson

Title:

The Brownings' Correspondence

Place of Publication:

Winfield

Date of Publication:

1985

Vol:

3

Page:

195-196

Additional Comments:

n/a

Citation:

Philip Kelley and Ronald Hudson (ed.), The Brownings' Correspondence (Winfield, 1985), 3, p. 195-196, http://can-red-lec.library.dal.ca/Arts/RED/record_details.php?id=16385, accessed: 29 March 2024


Additional Comments:

None

   
   
Green Turtle Web Design