Appendix 1 Number of Individuals out of Every 1000 Who Could Not Sign Their Name on a Marriage Register: 1896–1907
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Appendix 1 Number of individuals out of every 1000 who could not sign their name on a marriage register: 1896–1907 Male Female Total 1896–1900 32 37 69 1901–1905 20 24 44 1905–1907 27 27 54 236 Appendix 2 Extract from Beatrice Harraden, ‘What Our Soldiers Read’, Cornhill Magazine, vol. XLI (Nov. 1916) Turning aside from technical subjects to literature in general, I would like to say that although we have not ever attempted to force good books on our soldiers, we have of course taken great care to place them within their reach. And it is not an illusion to say that when the men once begin on a better class of book, they do not as a rule return to the old stuff which formerly constituted their whole range of reading. My own impression is that they read rubbish because they have had no one to tell them what to read. Stevenson, for instance, has lifted many a young soldier in our hospital on to a higher plane of reading whence he has looked down with something like scorn – which is really very funny – on his former favourites. For that group of readers, ‘Treasure Island’ has been a discovery in more senses than one, and to the librarians a boon unspeakable. We have had, however, a large number of men who in any case care for good literature, and indeed would read nothing else. Needless to say, we have had special pleasure in trying to find them some book which they would be sure to like and which was already in our collection, or else in buying it, and thus adding to our stock. The publishers, too, have been most generous in sending us any current book which has aroused public interest and on which we have set our hearts. For we have tried to acquire not only standard works, but books of the moment bearing on the war, and other subjects too. The following are items from two or three of our order books. The order books have been chosen at random, but the items are consecutive; and the list will give some idea of the nature of our pilgrimages from one bedside to another bedside, and from one ward to another. One of Nat Gould’s novels; Regiments at the Front; Burns’s Poems; A book on bird life; ‘The Last Days of Pompeii’; Strand Magazine; Wide World Magazine; The Spectator; A scientific book; Review of Reviews; ‘By the Wish of a Woman’ (Marchmont); one of Rider Haggard’s; Marie Correlli [sic]; Nat Gould; Rider Haggard; Nat Gould; Nat Gould; Nat Gould; Good detective story; Something to make you laugh; Strand Magazine; Adventure story; ‘Tale of Two Cities’; ‘Gil Blas’; Browning’s Poems; Tolstoy’s ‘Resurrection’; Sexton Blake; ‘Scarlet Pimpernel’; Nat Gould; Wide World Magazine; Pearson’s Magazine; ‘Arabian Nights’; Jack London Shakespeare; Nat Gould; ‘The Encyclopedia’; Rex Beach; Wm. Le Queux; Strand Magazine; Nat Gould; Something in the murder line; Country Life; The Story Teller Magazine; one of Oppenheim’s novels; ‘The Crown of Wild Olive’; ‘Kidnapped’; Nat Gould; Shakespeare; Nat Gould; Silas Hocking; Oppenheim; Le Queux; Nat Gould; Nat Gould; Jack London; ‘Handy Andy’; ‘Kidnapped’; ‘Treasure Island’; Book about rose growing; ‘Montezuma’s Daughter’ (Rider Haggard); ‘Prisoner of Zenda’; Macaulay’s Essays; ‘The Magnetic North’ (Elizabeth Robins); Nat Gould; 237 238 Appendix 2 Sexton Blake; Modern High Explosives; ‘Dawn’ (Rider Haggard); ‘Wild Animals’; Book on horse-breaking; ‘Radiography’; ‘Freckles’ (by Gene Stratton-Porter); ‘The Blue Lagoon’; ‘Caged Birds’; ‘The Corsican Brothers’; ‘Sherlock Holmes’; French Dictionary; Kipling; ‘Mysticism’; Nat Gould; ‘Pilgrim’s Progress’; ‘Mystery of Cloomber’ (Conan Doyle); and so on. These are, of course, only a few items. I should say that on the whole, and leaving out entirely books on technical and special subjects, the authors most frequently asked for are: Nat Gould, Charles Garvice, Wm. Le Queux, Rider Haggard, Guy Boothby, Oppenheim, Rex Beach, Conan Doyle, Marie Corelli, Joseph and Silas Hocking, Jack London, Dickens, Mrs. Henry Wood, Kipling (whose ‘Barrack Room Ballads’ they learnt by heart), Dumas, Ian Hay, Baroness Orczy, and Hornung’s Raffles. And very favourite books are those dealing with wild animals and their habits, with ferrets, rats, and birds, and all stories of adventure and travel, and of course detective stories. Appendix 3 Booksellers from whose returns the Bookseller compiled its bestseller list during the 1930s and 1940s under the title ‘What the Other Fellow is Selling’ London, W1: J. & E. Bumpus, Ltd Glasgow: John Smith & Son London, EC4: A. & F. Denny, Ltd (Glasgow), Ltd London, WC2: W. & G. Foyle, Ltd Glasgow: W. & R. Holmes London, EC4: Jones and Evans Glasgow: Jackson, Son & Co. Bookshop, Ltd Guildford: Biddles, Ltd London, SW7: Lamley & Co. Hanley: Webberley, Ltd London, SWI: Hugh Rees, Ltd Hove: Combridges London, W1: Selfridge’s Book Dept Hull: A. Brown & Sons London, WC2: W. H. Smith & Son, Ipswich: W. E. Harrison & Sons Ltd. Liverpool: Philip, Son & Nephew London, W1: Times Book Club Liverpool: Henry Young & Sons, Ltd London, W1: F. J. Ward Manchester: W. H. Willshaw London, W2: Wm Whitely, Ltd Newcastle-on-Tyne: Mawson, Swan & London, EC3: Alfred Wilson, Ltd M., Ltd. Belfast, W. Erskine Mayne Norwich: Jarrold & Sons, Ltd Bristol: Wm George’s Sons, Ltd Nottingham: Henry B. Saxton Cambridge: Bowes & Bowes Oldham: J. A. Bardsley, Ltd Cambridge: Deighton Bell & Co., Ltd Oxford: Basil Blackwell, Ltd Cambridge: W. Heffer & Sons, Ltd Oxford: Slatter & Rose, Ltd Cheltenham Spa: Banks of Ramsgate: Blinko & Sons, Ltd Cheltenham, Ltd Rugby: George Over, Ltd Chester: Philipson & Golder St Andrews: W. C. Henderson & Son, Dublin: Eason & Son, Ltd Ltd Durham: House of Andrews Seaford: Ronald Gibson Edinburgh: Andrew Elliot Sheffield: A. B. Ward Exeter: A. Wheaton & Co., Ltd Swansea: Morgan & Higgs, Ltd 239 Appendix 4 From the Mass Observation Archive (ref. FR 2537): ‘Reading in Tottenham, November 1947’ Lists of fiction subjects were shown to all those questioned (as with non-fiction subjects) and their comments were invited. Some of these are: On love stories: ‘I like old fashioned novels. Love and happy endings I suppose – by big writers.’ ‘I remember queuing up after the last war to get two books, one called ‘This Freedom’; and ‘If Winter Comes’. There’s been nothing like them since, only ‘Gone with the Wind’. I liked that, but there’s no big books by big writers, is there?’ (Housewife, aged over 41, elementary education) ‘I don’t like modern books at all, especially love stories – they’re too trashy and they’re unpleasant and they’ve got no story in them – they’re not a patch on the old ones that kept you interested – something happening all the way through.’ (Housekeeper, aged over 41, single) On horror stories: ‘I love them horror stories. Sort of make yer creep they do, and those detec- tive stories. Real clever some of them are. The men as write them must have brains, some of ’em. ’Cos, some of them aren’t worth the paper they’re written on. It gets yer out of yerself as you might say when you read a good one and it makes yer think.’ (Woman, sugar boiler, aged over 41, elementary educa- tion.) On adventure: ‘I buy those westerns and thrillers they sell in the shops, you know, about a bob apiece.’ (Youth, 16–20yrs, engineering worker, elementary education) On fiction in general: ‘Like books on philosophical problems – horror stories bore me to tears. I like reading books about men who have created changes – when you read books like that you pick up such a lot of facts.’ (Man, aged over 41, local govt offi- cial, secondary ed.) ‘I read mystery stories for amusement. I’ve read several American stories about white men and niggers [sic].’ (Man, aged 21–40, photographic block- maker, secondary education) ‘I don’t like my love stories too sloppy, though like some books are, and I like to be able to guess who committed the murder and sometimes I look at the 240 Appendix 4 241 end. I know I shouldn’t but I often do.’ (Woman, aged 21–40, elementary education) ‘I like a good mystery story and I like adventure stories very much. I’ve had some very good books from the library round here. I’ve belonged to it so long that I’ve read nearly all the books. I like a good book like ‘Gone with the Wind’ and other picture novels but they’re hard to find really. They say, like everything else, a good book’s hard to find.’ (Man, corporation worker, aged 21–40, sec- ondary ed.) Favourite fiction subject When asked to give their favourite fiction subject (as opposed to saying which were of interest) the largest proportion plumped for ‘Detective and mystery’ – three people in every ten. It will be remembered that ‘Travel and adventure’, the most popular non-fiction subject, was the favourite of less than one in ten, and was of interest only to three in ten. The second most popular fiction subject is ‘Love’: this is just half as popular as ‘Detection and mystery’, but then it appeals only to the female half of the population. Historical stories are the next most popular, and then short stories. It is interesting to compare subjects of interest with subjects preferred: subjects were mentioned in the following order, the per- centage mentioning them is given in brackets after: Of Interest Preferred Detection (60%) Detection (30%) Short stories (35%) Love (15%) Love (34%) Historical (10%) Adventure (31%) Short stories (9%) Funny (30%) Adventure (7%) Historical (27%) Funny (6%) Horror (21%) Others mentioned by less than one Others mentioned by less than in five one in twenty Although the percentages of people in any social group preferring any subject is necessarily small, some interesting facts emerge.