The History of Reading, Volume 2 : Evidence From the British Isles, C.1750-1950

'Reading has a history. But how can we recover it?' This volume brings together original research essays focusing on the history of reading in the British Isles, using evidence ranging from library records to Mass Observation surveys to highlight the social factors that influence a seemingly private, individual activity. Cover......Page 1 Contents......Page 10 List of Figures......Page 12 List of Tables......Page 13 Foreword......Page 14 Acknowledgements......Page 17 Notes on Contributors......Page 18 Introduction......Page 22 Part 1 Reading Communities......Page 34 1 'The Talent Hid in a Napkin': Castle Libraries in Eighteenth-Century Scotland......Page 36 2 Caroline and Paul: Biblical Commentaries as Evidence of Reading in Victorian Britain......Page 53 3 Reading the 'Religion of Socialism': Olive Schreiner, the Labour Church and the Construction of Left-wing Reading Communities in the 1890s......Page 69 Part 2 Reading and Gratification......Page 86 4 Learning to Read Trash: Late-Victorian Schools and the Penny Dreadful......Page 88 5 'Something light to take my mind off the war': Reading on the Home Front during the Second World War......Page 105 Part 3 Reading and the Press......Page 122 6 What Readers Want: Criminal Intelligence and the Fortunes of the Metropolitan Press during the Long Eighteenth Century......Page 124 7 The Reading World of a Provincial Town: Preston, Lancashire 1855–1900......Page 142 8 'Putting literature out of reach'? Reading Popular Newspapers in Mid-Twentieth-Century Britain......Page 160 Part 4 Readers and Autodidacticism......Page 176 9 James Lackington (1746–1815): Reading and Personal Development......Page 178 10 Henry Head (1861–1940) as a Reader of Literature......Page 196 11 In a Class of their Own: The Autodidact Impulse and Working-Class Readers in Twentieth-Century Scotland......Page 210 Further Reading and Weblinks......Page 226 Index......Page 229 How can we find evidence of reading in the past? And how can we interpret this evidence to create a 'history' of reading? To answer these questions, this volume presents eleven fascinating accounts of readers and reading in the British Isles over two hundred years. The authors reveal the huge variety of evidence that exists, not only of what people read, but how, and in what circumstances they read. Covering a wide range of readers and texts, the essays demonstrate how individual reading practices are influenced by, even sometimes defined by, factors such as social class, political affiliation, the place of reading, the availability of books, and changes in publishing practices. With chapters highlighting the importance of reading communities, the uses to which reading may be put, and the importance of newspapers, the volume provides a richly textured account of reading practices in Britain.--publisher How can we find evidence of reading in the past? And how can we interpret this evidence to create a 'history' of reading? To answer these questions, this volume presents eleven fascinating accounts of readers and reading in the British Isles over two hundred years. The authors reveal the huge variety of evidence that exists, not only of what people read, but how, and in what circumstances they read. Covering a wide range of readers and texts, the essays demonstrate how individual reading practices are influenced by - even sometimes defined by - factors such as social class, political affiliation, the place of reading, the availability of books, and changes in publishing practices. With chapters highlighting the importance of reading communities, the uses to which reading may be put, and the importance of newspapers, the volume provides a richly textured account of reading practices in Britain NL-ZmNBD