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: 8928


Reading Experience:

Evidence:

'He [?my father?] was fond of putting into my hands books which exhibited men of energy and resource in unusual circumstances, struggling against difficulties and overcoming them: of such works I remember Beaver?s African Memoranda, and Collins?s account of the first settlement of New South Wales.'

Century:

1800-1849

Date:

Between 1 Jan 1810 and 31 Dec 1813

Country:

England

Time

morning
daytime

Place:

other location: Solitary reading presumably at James Mill?s house in Newington Green, London; summarising and discussion while walking in the neighbourhood, ?generall

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:

John Stuart Mill

Age:

Child (0-17)

Gender:

Male

Date of Birth:

20 May 1806

Socio-Economic Group:

Professional / academic / merchant / farmer

Occupation:

Administrator in the East India Company (joins the company as a clerk in 1823, retires as chief of his office and Examiner of India Correspondence in

Religion:

Atheist

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:

Collins

Title:

[account of the first settlement of New South Wales]

Genre:

Geography / Travel, British Colonies

Form of Text:

Unknown

Publication Details

n/a

Provenance

unknown


Source Information:

Record ID:

8928

Source:

Print

Author:

John Stuart Mill

Editor:

Jack Stillinger

Title:

Autobiography

Place of Publication:

Boston

Date of Publication:

1969

Vol:

n/a

Page:

7

Additional Comments:

n/a

Citation:

John Stuart Mill, Jack Stillinger (ed.), Autobiography (Boston, 1969), p. 7, http://can-red-lec.library.dal.ca/Arts/RED/record_details.php?id=8928, accessed: 18 April 2024


Additional Comments:

Since the initial, solitary reading experience (presumably alone at home) was explicitly carried out in preparation for oral summarising and discussion the following day (outdoors, with the reader?s father), the reading experience should be considered to encompass both of these activities ? hence that it has been recorded here as both ?silent? and ?aloud?, both ?solitary? and ?in company?, even though the reader does not state that he read aloud or in the company of his father.

   
   
Green Turtle Web Design