Windscheffel, Ruth C. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2769-5861 (2003) 'Enlarging the Text': a cultural history of William Ewart Gladstone's library and reading. Doctoral thesis, University of Liverpool.

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Abstract

and thematically. It is interdisciplinary in scope and methodology. It is based primarily on study of Gladstone’s books and marginalia (preserved at Hawarden, North Wales) and integrates his reading and library ownership securely into our understanding of his life and career. ‘Enlarging the Text’, is a late quotation from Gladstone particularly appropriate to the thrust of the thesis. By it he referred to the persistent human desire to acquire and transmit knowledge. This study analyses Gladstone’s personal efforts to achieve this through the collection, use and eventual ‘public’ endowment of a library. The phrase refers both to this endeavour and the concomitant broadening of Gladstone’s mind, which I argue accompanied it. The thesis is divided into three sections: ‘Making the Reader’ (Chapters 1-3), ‘Transforming the Reader’ (Chapters 4-5) and ‘Enlarging the Text’ (Chapters 6-7).

Item Type:	Thesis (Doctoral)
Status:	Unpublished
School/Department:	Vice Chancellor's Office
URI:	https://ray.yorksj.ac.uk/id/eprint/6622

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