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: 18148


Reading Experience:

Evidence:

'I would have answered your letter sooner but for a long series of movements and countermovements I have had to execute. I also wished to read Goethe's book, before determining on your proposal with regard to it. This I have at length done: I find it will not answer. The work is incomplete, the first volume only having yet appeared; and it consists of a series of fragments, individually beautiful, but quite disjointed, and in their present state scarcely intelligible.'

Century:

1800-1849

Date:

Between 29 Jul 1824 and 14 Aug 1824

Country:

England

Time

n/a

Place:

city: Birmingham

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:

Thomas Carlyle

Age:

Adult (18-100+)

Gender:

Male

Date of Birth:

4 Dec 1824

Socio-Economic Group:

Professional / academic / merchant / farmer

Occupation:

Writer / Academic

Religion:

Lapsed Calvinist

Country of Origin:

Scotland

Country of Experience:

England

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

n/a


Additional Comments:

n/a



Text Being Read:

Author:

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Title:

Meister Wilhelm's Wanderjahre (first volume)

Genre:

Fiction

Form of Text:

Print: BookManuscript: Letter

Publication Details

first volume - originally published 1821

Provenance

unknown


Source Information:

Record ID:

18148

Source:

Print

Author:

Thomas Carlyle

Editor:

C R Sanders

Title:

The Collected Letters of Thomas and Jane Welsh Carlyle

Place of Publication:

Durham, North Carolina

Date of Publication:

1970

Vol:

3

Page:

136

Additional Comments:

n/a

Citation:

Thomas Carlyle, C R Sanders (ed.), The Collected Letters of Thomas and Jane Welsh Carlyle (Durham, North Carolina, 1970), 3, p. 136, http://can-red-lec.library.dal.ca/Arts/RED/record_details.php?id=18148, accessed: 29 March 2024


Additional Comments:

Taken from letter from TC to George Boyd dated 14 August 1824, written at Birmingham. Pages 136-137 in this edition. Date range based on previous reference in a letter to John Taylor dated 29 July 1824 (p.117 in this edition) where he mentions receiving his copy of the book that day (RED id 18129).

   
   
Green Turtle Web Design