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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: 27174


Reading Experience:

Evidence:

John Murray to Byron, 12 September 1816, on William Gifford's response to Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, Canto IV: 'He has been exceedingly ill with jaundice [...] He said he was unable to leave off last night, and that he had sat up until he had finished every line of the canto. It had actually agitated him into a fever [...] He had persisted this morning in finishing the volume [...] He says that what you have heretofore published is nothing to this effort. He says also, besides its being the most original and interesting, it is the most finished of your writings; and he has undertaken to correct the press for you.'

Century:

1800-1849

Date:

Between 11 Sep 1816 and 12 Sep 1816

Country:

n/a

Time

morning
night

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:

William Gifford

Age:

Adult (18-100+)

Gender:

Male

Date of Birth:

1757

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:

Childe Harold IV

Genre:

Poetry

Form of Text:

Manuscript: Unknown

Publication Details

n/a

Provenance

unknown


Source Information:

Record ID:

27174

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:

365

Additional Comments:

n/a

Citation:

Samuel Smiles, A Publisher and His Friends: Memoir and Correspondence of the Late John Murray (London, 1891), 1, p. 365, http://can-red-lec.library.dal.ca/Arts/RED/record_details.php?id=27174, accessed: 29 March 2024


Additional Comments:

Gifford a reader to whom Murray, Byron's publisher, regularly passed MS submissions for comment.

   
   
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