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: 20709


Reading Experience:

Evidence:

'what he read during these two years [between Stourbridge school and Oxford] , he told me, was not works of mere amusement, "not voyages and travels, but all literature, Sir, all ancient writers, all manly: though but little Greek, only some of Anacreon and Hesiod; but in this irregular manner (added he) I had looked into a great many books, which were not commonly known at the Universities, where they seldom read any books but what are put into their hands by their tutors; so that when I came to Oxford, Dr Adams, now master of Pembroke College, told me I was the best qualified for the university that he had ever known come there".'

Century:

1700-1799

Date:

Between 1 Jan 1725 and 1 Oct 1728

Country:

England

Time

n/a

Place:

city: Lichfield
county: Staffordshire

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:

Samuel Johnson

Age:

Child (0-17)

Gender:

Male

Date of Birth:

18 Sep 1709

Socio-Economic Group:

Professional / academic / merchant / farmer

Occupation:

later writer

Religion:

n/a

Country of Origin:

England

Country of Experience:

England

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

n/a


Additional Comments:

n/a



Text Being Read:

Author:

Title:

[various works of classics and literature]

Genre:

Classics, Fiction, Poetry

Form of Text:

Print: Book

Publication Details

n/a

Provenance

unknown


Source Information:

Record ID:

20709

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:

44

Additional Comments:

n/a

Citation:

James Boswell, R. W. Chapman (ed.), Life of Johnson  (Oxford, 1980), p. 44, http://can-red-lec.library.dal.ca/Arts/RED/record_details.php?id=20709, accessed: 29 March 2024


Additional Comments:

Originally published 1791.

   
   
Green Turtle Web Design