Reading Print, 1700–1800

Abstract How can we assess the way in which books were received by their readers? A tantalizing comment written on the title page of a Dublin publication of 1788, Winter Evenings: or, Lucubrations on Life and Letters, proclaims ‘A good read ‘; the hand seems to be contemporary and is probably that of an adult (see Figure 8).¹ Who enjoyed this book and when? Was it their own, or borrowed from a friend or a circulating library? Was it meant as a recommendation to others, or just a spontaneous response to a satisfactory experience of reading? The evidence for reading is obscure and fragmentary, difficult to uncover and even more difficult to interpret. It is impossible to generalize the experience of reading; the evidence is, by its nature, specific, therefore it is imperative to identify and record the common characteristics of a wide range of reading experiences. We would like to discover whether reading took place in company or alone, whether it was silent or aloud, and whether an audience listened passively or participated.