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

Reading Experience Database UK Historical image of readers
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Record Number: 2430


Reading Experience:

Evidence:

'[Hugh Miller's] literary style was out of date: in 1834 he alluded to "my having kept company with the older English writers - the Addisons, Popes and Robertsons of the last century at a time when I had no opportunity of becoming acquainted with the authors of the present time". Growing up in Cromarty, Miller had access to the substantial personal libraries of a carpenter and a retired clerk, as well as his father (sixty volumes), his uncles (150 volumes) and a cabinet-maker poet (upwards of 100 volumes). These collections offered a broad selection of English essayists and poets - of the Queen Anne period.'

Century:

1800-1849

Date:

Until: 1832

Country:

Scotland

Time

n/a

Place:

city: Cromarty

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:

Hugh Miller

Age:

Unknown

Gender:

Male

Date of Birth:

1802

Socio-Economic Group:

Clerk / tradesman / artisan / smallholder

Occupation:

stonemason turned geological author

Religion:

n/a

Country of Origin:

Scotland

Country of Experience:

Scotland

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

n/a


Additional Comments:

n/a



Text Being Read:

Author:

Joseph Addison

Title:

n/a

Genre:

Essays / Criticism

Form of Text:

Print: Book, Serial / periodical

Publication Details

n/a

Provenance

borrowed (private library)


Source Information:

Record ID:

2430

Source:

Print

Author:

Jonathan Rose

Editor:

n/a

Title:

The Intellectual Life of the British Working Classes

Place of Publication:

New Haven

Date of Publication:

2001

Vol:

n/a

Page:

119

Additional Comments:

n/a

Citation:

Jonathan Rose, The Intellectual Life of the British Working Classes (New Haven, 2001), p. 119, http://can-red-lec.library.dal.ca/Arts/RED/record_details.php?id=2430, accessed: 23 April 2024


Additional Comments:

See Harry Hanham and Michael Shortland, introduction to Hugh Miller's Memoir:From Stonemason to Geologist (Edinburgh, 1995), p.16

   
   
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