{"id":84609,"date":"2013-06-24T10:49:20","date_gmt":"2013-06-24T08:49:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ebookfriendly.com\/?p=84609"},"modified":"2018-01-23T21:03:50","modified_gmt":"2018-01-23T20:03:50","slug":"reading-vintage-illustrations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ebookfriendly.com\/reading-vintage-illustrations\/","title":{"rendered":"18 vintage photos and illustrations that show people reading"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Wonderful<\/a><\/p>\n

A list of wonderful illustrations and photos showing people who read – from the times when reading was still a privilege.<\/strong><\/div>\n

When thinking about reading, most of us take it for granted. It’s just there, it’s a thing we are given, nobody has to try hard to learn to read.<\/p>\n

See also:<\/strong>
\n[ef-archive number=2 tag=”lists” ]<\/div>\n

One or two hundred years ago it was not that easy, and the images from old books of that time are a great way to realize this.<\/p>\n

At the time of the signing of the U.S. Constitution in 1787, almost 60% of adult Americans could read. Since that time literacy rates in America grew rapidly to reach 80% in 1870.<\/p>\n

The 19th century was, however, the time when reading was still a privilege. In 1820 as much as\u00a080% of the African-American population was illiterate.<\/p>\n

I especially like the photo of blind boys with books that are “printed with raised letters, which they read by feeling of them.”<\/p>\n

There are also two illustrations of Abraham Lincoln reading, one from a book about his childhood, and the other one from a drama A Man of the People<\/em>.<\/p>\n

On the list, there is also a rare image of Charles Dickens reading a book at the back of his country house Gads Hill Place, in Higham, Kent. The photograph comes\u00a0from a biography written by his daughter\u00a0Mamie Dickens,\u00a0My Father as I Recall Him<\/em> (great read by the way).<\/p>\n

I found these wonderful images in ebooks, available on Project Gutenberg<\/a>. It’s great that books that entered public domain are available for online viewing, as it’s possible to search their content easily, including images<\/a>.<\/p>\n

[ef-reco id=”100684″ title=”Read also” info=”Top article”]<\/p>\n

18 vintage illustrations\u00a0that show people reading<\/h2>\n
\n

1<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

Oh, for a nook and a story-book,
\nWith tales both new and old;
\nFor a jolly good book whereon to look
\nIs better to me than gold.<\/p>\n

\u2013 Old English Song<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Illustration from The Child’s World<\/em> by Hetty S. Brown,\u00a0W. K. Tate, and Sarah Withers.\u00a0\u21e2 Project Gutenberg<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n

2<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Caption: “These books I got, and read them over and over; which did much strengthen my belief in the truth of the reports: yet by no means could I tell which was my way.” From A Short History of a Long Travel from Babylon to Bethel<\/em> by Stephen Crisp. \u21e2 Project Gutenberg<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n

3<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

Illustration from The Aldine, A Typographic Art Journal, Vol. 5<\/em>. \u21e2 Project Gutenberg<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n

4<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n

\"Reading<\/p>\n

Caption: “Reading by touch instead of sight. These boys are blind; their books are printed with raised letters, which they read by feeling of them.” From The Child’s Day, The Woods Hutchinson Health Series<\/em>, by Woods Hutchinson. \u21e2 Project Gutenberg<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n

5<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n

\"Mr.<\/p>\n

Caption: “Reading between the lines.” From\u00a0Mr. Punch’s Railway Book<\/em>.\u00a0\u21e2 Project Gutenberg<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n

6<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n

\"Child<\/p>\n

Child-Land<\/em>\u00a0is a children picture book with 200 illustrations by Oscar Pletsch and M. Richter. The book consists of one-paragraph stories, each one illustrated.<\/p>\n

The picture above accompanies the story called “The Bookseller”: “The boys like to call on Mr. Leaf, because he has such nice books. But sometimes they merely sit down and read them.” \u21e2 Project Gutenberg<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n

7<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n

\"Reading<\/p>\n

Caption: “Reading the Sunday newspapers.” From\u00a0Coffee and Repartee<\/em> by\u00a0John Kendrick Bangs.\u00a0\u21e2 Project Gutenberg<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n

8<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n

\"Riley<\/p>\n

Illustration by\u00a0Will Vawter from\u00a0Riley Songs of Home<\/em> by James Whitcomb Riley.\u00a0\u21e2 Project Gutenberg<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n

9<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n

\"Punch<\/p>\n

Kitty<\/i>\u00a0(reading a fairy tale<\/i>). “Once upon a time there was a Frog\u2014\u2014”
\nMabel<\/i>\u00a0(interrupting<\/i>). “I bet it’s a Princess! Go on!”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

From\u00a0Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 107 <\/em>by various authors.\u00a0\u21e2 Project Gutenberg<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n

10<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

Illustration by Margaret G. Hays from\u00a0The Mary Frances Cook Book<\/em>\u00a0written by Jane Earye Fryer.\u00a0\u21e2 Project Gutenberg<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n

11<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n

\"Dr<\/p>\n

One of preface illustrations of With the Children on Sunday<\/em> by Sylvanus Stall.\u00a0Caption says: “Dr. Stall reading to his grandchildren.”\u00a0\u21e2 Project Gutenberg<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n

12<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

One day she came running home from school, and said, “O mamma! a little American girl named Clara now comes to our school. She says she will teach me to read.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

From The Nursery<\/em>, March 1881, Vol. XXIX. \u21e2 Project Gutenberg<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n

13<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n

\"Abe<\/p>\n

The opening image of the 8th chapter of\u00a0Abe Lincoln Gets His Chance<\/em> by Frances Cavanah.\u00a0The text goes:<\/p>\n

Abe sat up late, holding his book close to the flickering flames in the fireplace. As the rain drummed on the roof, his thoughts were far away. He was with General Washington in a small boat crossing the Delaware River on a cold Christmas night many years before. He was fighting the battle of Trenton with a handful of brave American soldiers. They must have wanted very much to be free, he decided, to be willing to fight so hard and suffer so much.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u21e2 Project Gutenberg<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

14<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Ex Libris from\u00a0A Man of the People: A Drama of Abraham Lincoln<\/em>\u00a0written by Thomas Dixon:<\/p>\n

The books, and your capacity for understanding them, are just the same in all places. \u2013Abraham Lincoln<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u21e2 Project Gutenberg<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

15<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n

\"Said<\/p>\n

The caption says: “They usually read Dante’s Inferno and think how sweet it is to suffer.” From Said the Observer<\/em> by Louis J. Stellman. \u21e2 Project Gutenberg<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n

16<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

From\u00a0The Boys’ And Girls’ Library<\/em>, a book collecting a variety of useful and instructive reading for children,\u00a0comes the story “Henry and his sister”:<\/p>\n

\nSaid Henry, one day,
\nAs from school he came in,
\n\u201cDon\u2019t you think, sister dear,
\nA good boy I have been,<\/p>\n

Such a beautiful book to have gained?
\n\u201cJust look at these pictures,
\nThe bird on the tree,
\nThese lambs in the meadow,<\/p>\n

This flower, and this bee,
\nWith its honey from blossoms obtained.
\n\u201cAnd here is a story,
\nAnd here is a song;<\/p>\n

Let me read the story,
\nIt won\u2019t take me long;\u201d
\nAnd so the nice story he read.
\n\u201cOh, what a nice story!\u201d<\/p>\n

And little Jane\u2019s smile
\nPlayed on her face,
\nLike a sunbeam, awhile\u2014
\n\u201cI\u2019m so glad you were good!\u201d then she said.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u21e2 Project Gutenberg<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

17<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n

\"Little<\/p>\n

A photographic illustration from a book\u00a0Little Philippe of Belgium<\/em> by Madeline Brandeis, published in 1930.\u00a0\u21e2 Project Gutenberg<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n

18<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n

\"Charles<\/p>\n

Charles Dickens reading. A photograph from\u00a0My Father as I Recall Him<\/em> by Mamie Dickens.\u00a0\u21e2 Project Gutenberg<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u2022 \u2022 \u2022<\/p>\n

To get more posts like this, please subscribe by RSS<\/a> or email<\/a>. Let’s also connect on Facebook<\/a>, Twitter<\/a>, and Pinterest<\/a>.<\/p>\n

You may be also interested in other lists:<\/p>\n

[ef-archive number=5 tag=”lists”]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A list of wonderful illustrations and photos showing people who read – from times when reading was still a privilege.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":127188,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[7],"tags":[11652,11563,11455,11600],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ebookfriendly.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/Wonderful-vintage-illustrations-that-show-people-reading.jpg?fit=1080%2C1080&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pdOQhx-m0F","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebookfriendly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84609"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebookfriendly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebookfriendly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebookfriendly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebookfriendly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=84609"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/ebookfriendly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84609\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":127189,"href":"https:\/\/ebookfriendly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84609\/revisions\/127189"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebookfriendly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/127188"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebookfriendly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=84609"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebookfriendly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=84609"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebookfriendly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=84609"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}