READING EXPERIENCE DATABASE
CONTRIBUTION FORM
Please fill in as much of this form as you can. Only questions 1.1, 1.2 and 1.3 are COMPULSORY, but we
would like as much information as you can provide. In particular, we would be grateful if you would
complete all of Section ONE. Please refer to the Notes on Filling in the RED Form and/or the sample forms
provided before starting to fill in this form. Words and phrases underlined on this form are explained in the
Notes on Filling in the RED Form.
SECTION ONE: CONTRIBUTOR’S DETAILS and READING EXPERIENCE
N.B. Unattributed entries CANNOT be entered into the database.
1. Your name and contact details
Name:
Email Address:
OR Postal Address:
2. Evidence of the Reading Experience
Please use this space (or attach an additional sheet) to quote the words that act as the evidence of the reading
experience. If no quotation exists, please describe your findings here in your own words. If entering marginalia,
please see Section 1.2 of Notes on Filling in the RED Form. Please note that in order to comply with copyright
regulations, the quotation must not exceed 400 words.
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3. Source for the reading experience
The work in which you found the reading experience, for example, diary, correspondence, commissioned report,
biography, work of criticism, other secondary source etc. Please fill in EITHER Print OR Manuscript OR
Other. See Notes on Filling in the RED Form for more detailed instructions.
Print
Author:
Surname last –e.g. John Fraser
Editor:
Title:
Place of publication:
Date of publication:
Volume number and Page numbers:
OR
Manuscript
Author:
Surname last –e.g. John Aubrey
Title:
Location:
e.g. British Library
Call Number:
e.g. Add Mss 53607
Page/Folio numbers:
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OR
Other
Some sources cannot be entered in the formats above. Please enter these in the box below. See Notes on Filling
in the RED Form for further details.
Additional Information
Use this box to include any additional information about the source, for example the date and recipient of a
letter, date of a diary entry, location of an artefact (e.g. a book with marginalia) e.g. British Library;
Cambridge City Library; Harvard University Houghton Library; in the private collection of the Marquis of
Londonderry, etc..
4. Century of Reading Experience:
Please circle the relevant time period:
○1450-1499
○1500-1599
○1600-1699
○1850-1899
○1900-1945
○Unknown
○1700-1799
○1800-1849
AND Date of Reading Experience (if known):
Please specify an exact date, or a date range for the reading experience.
Format: day month year -e.g. 17 Feb 1789
5. Name of Reader
If you do not know the name of the reader, please type anon OR fill in the name of the reading group, OR the
listener if you are recording the experience of hearing a text read aloud. Please consult Notes on Filling in the
RED Form for further guidance.
Format: surname last –e.g. John Smith
OR Reading Group
OR Listener
6. Age and Gender of Reader/Listener:
Please circle one of the following:
○ Male
○ Female
○ Child (0-17) ○ Adult (18-100+)
○ Unknown
○ Unknown
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7. Text being read
Author (if known):
If you do not know the name of the author, but have a description, for example, ‘by a reverend clergyman’, or
‘by a widow’, please use this. If the author writes under a pseudonym, please use this: for example, ‘George
Eliot’ NOT ‘Marian Evans’.
Surname last –e.g. Jane Austen
Title (if known):
AND /OR
Genre
Please circle as many as appropriate:
○ Bible
○ Sermon
○ Other Religious
○Classics
○ Fiction
○ Drama
○ Essays/Criticism
○ History
○ Poetry
○ Children’s Lit
○ Social Science
○ Heraldry
○ Biography
○ Autobiog/ Diary
○ Geography/Travel
○ Politics
○ Philosophy
○ Education
○ Sport/ Leisure
○ Crafts
○ Textbook/self-education
○ Conduct books
○ Law
○Science
○ Arts/architecture
○ Cookery
○ Medicine
○Ephemera
○ Mathematics
○ Technology
○Emblem books
○ Natural history ○Miscellany/Anthology ○Astrology/alchemy/occult
○ Agriculture/horticulture/husbandry
○ Reference/ General works
○ Unknown
○ Other (please specify):
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SECTION TWO: DETAILS OF THE TEXT BEING READ
1.Form of Text
Please choose EITHER Print OR Manuscript OR Unknown.
Print – circle as many as appropriate:
○ Advertisement
○ Book
○ Broadsheet
○ Form
○ Handbill
○ Newspaper
○ Pamphlet
○Poster
○ Serial/periodical
○ Ticket
○ Unknown
○ Other (please specify):
OR
Manuscript – circle as many as appropriate:
○ Codex
○ Graffito
○ Letter
○ Pamphlet
○ Roll
○ Sheet
○ Unknown
○ Other (please specify):
OR
○ Unknown
2. Any known publication details of the text being read:
e.g year, edition, publisher, translation.
3. Provenance
Circle one:
○ Borrowed (circulating library)
○ Found
○ Subscription Library
○ Borrowed (institution library)
○ Owned
○ Unknown
○ Borrowed (private library)
○ Read in situ
○ Borrowed (public library)
○ Reading group
○ Borrowed (other)
○ Stolen
○ Other (please specify):
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SECTION THREE: FURTHER DETAILS
1. Date of Birth of Reader/Listener:
Format: day month year eg: 1 March 1839
2. Socio-Economic Group of Reader/Listener:
○ Unknown/NA
○ Servant
○ Labourer (agricultural)
○ Labourer (non-agricultural)
○ Clerk/tradesman/artisan/smallholder
○ Clergy (includes all denominations)
○ Professional/academic/merchant/farmer
○ Gentry
○ Royalty/aristocracy
○ Other (please specify):
3. Occupation of Reader/Listener:
4. Religion of Reader/Listener:
5. Country of Origin of Reader/Listener:
6. Country of Experience of Reader/Listener:
7. Time of Experience of Reader/Listener:
8. Place of Experience of Reader/Listener:
Please specify any details about the location – e.g. ‘on the train’, ‘9, George St, Edinburgh’, ‘London’ ‘by Lake
Geneva’, ‘in the parlour of my lodgings’, ‘in the reading room of the Bull Public House, Swanage’, in the boat’.
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9. Listeners present (if any) e.g. friends, servants, family, workmates:
If you are completing this form for a listener rather than for a reader, please list any other listeners present at
this reading. Consult Notes on Filling in the RED Form for further instructions.
10. Type of Experience (Reader only):
Circle as many as appropriate from each of the following groups:
a)
○ silent
○ aloud
○ unknown
b)
○ solitary
○ in company
○ unknown
c)
○ single event
○ serial event
○ unknown
OR
Type of Experience (Listener only)
Please specify the type of experience for any listeners present at the reading of the text. Consult Notes on
Filling in the RED Form for further instructions.
Circle as many as appropriate from each of the following groups:
a)
○ passive
○ reactive
○ unknown
b)
○ single event
○ serial event
○ unknown
11. Additional Comments
Please add any comments that you think are necessary. For example, ‘I am not certain of the reliability of this
source’, ‘I have not entered all the relevant reading experiences from this book or manuscript’, ‘These are
marginal notes in a book’, ‘This is editorial commentary or interjection’, ‘this information comes from a
secondary source’ ‘I have transcribed the words of an interview on 23 June, 1990, with Mrs Jane Smith, born in
1920’, etc.
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