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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: 27168


Reading Experience:

Evidence:

Isaac D'Israeli to John Murray (December 1815): 'I find myself, this morning, so strangely affected by the perusal of the poem last night, that I feel it is one which stands quite by itself [...] There is no scene, no incident, nothing so marvellous in pathos and terror in Homer, or any bard of antiquity [comments further ] [...] Homer has never conveyed his reader into a vast Golgotha, nor harrowed us with the vulture flapping the back of the gorged wolf, nor the dogs: the terror, the truth, and the loneliness of that spot will never be erased from my memory [...] I never read any poem that exceeded in power this, to me, extraordinary production. I do not know where I am to find any which can excite the same degree of emotion.'

Century:

1800-1849

Date:

Between 30 Nov 1815 and 31 Dec 1815

Country:

n/a

Time

n/anight

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:

Isaac D'Israeli

Age:

Adult (18-100+)

Gender:

Male

Date of Birth:

n/a

Socio-Economic Group:

Professional / academic / merchant / farmer

Occupation:

Writer

Religion:

n/a

Country of Origin:

n/a

Country of Experience:

n/a

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

n/a


Additional Comments:

n/a



Text Being Read:

Author:

George Gordon Lord Byron

Title:

The Siege of Corinth

Genre:

Fiction, Poetry

Form of Text:

Manuscript: Unknown

Publication Details

n/a

Provenance

unknown


Source Information:

Record ID:

27168

Source:

Print

Author:

Samuel Smiles

Editor:

n/a

Title:

A Publisher and His Friends: Memoir and Correspondence of the Late John Murray

Place of Publication:

London

Date of Publication:

1891

Vol:

1

Page:

358

Additional Comments:

n/a

Citation:

Samuel Smiles, A Publisher and His Friends: Memoir and Correspondence of the Late John Murray (London, 1891), 1, p. 358, http://can-red-lec.library.dal.ca/Arts/RED/record_details.php?id=27168, accessed: 28 March 2024


Additional Comments:

None

   
   
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