Nineteenth-Century Popular Lectures

Volume I: The Growth of the Popular Lecture, 1820–1850
1. Auflage 2027
ISBN: 978-1-032-77541-8
Verlag: Taylor & Francis

Buch, Englisch, 286 Seiten, Format (B × H): 156 mm x 234 mm

This collection brings together and contextualizes a wide variety of lectures given in institutions and clubs in 19th century England. The popular lecture became one of the most common artefacts of Victorian culture and yet, due to its ephemerality, we know little about who spoke, who listened, why these lectures were delivered, and how they were received. The volumes in this set show how the lecture emerged as a central part of popular culture, how it changed over time, and how the educational and entertaining components of the popular lecture were in constant tension, preserving a crucial piece of political, social, and cultural history.

This volume, 'Volume I: 1820-1850', provides a general introduction to the collection before focusing on lecture topics including the natural sciences, literature and the arts, and what can be labelled “domestic morality,” that is, lectures that reflect the general unsectarian religious atmosphere of the period. Selected lectures demonstrate how popular lecturing evolved, not just due to the platform appearances of well-known names, but also in much larger numbers due to the participation of local clergy, neighbourhood patrons, and largely anonymous institute members and governors.

Zielgruppe

Postgraduate and Undergraduate Advanced

Autoren/Hrsg.

Rodrick, Anne B.

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Weltgeschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Europäische Geschichte

Inhaltsverzeichnis

VOLUME I THE GROWTH OF THE POPULAR LECTURE, 1820–1850
Acknowledgments

General Introduction
Introduction to Volume 1: The Growth of the Popular Lecture, 1820–1850

PART 1: Developing the Popular Lecture, 1820–1850

1.1 Debating ‘mental culture’

1 The Cultivation of the Mind an Object of Primary Importance.

J. DAVIES

2 The Influence of Knowledge on Domestic and Social Happiness
J. BOWRING

3 Of Happiness in its Relations to Work and Knowledge.
JOHN FORBES

4 The Connection Between Science, Literature, and Religion
GEORGE GILFILLAN

1.2 Institutions of Culture Before 1850

5 An Address, Delivered at the Opening of the Literary and Scientific Institution.
ROBERT JONES

6 Address Delivered at the Soiree of the Stirling School of Arts, On the 10th January, 1849
JOHN P. NICHOL

7 Address of Charles Dickens, President of the First Soiree, October 5, 1843
CHARLES DICKENS

8 On the Utility of Mechanics’ Institutions
G. W. F. HOWARD, EARL OF CARLISLE

1.3 Collections and Advice

9 Address to the Readers, The Monthly Literary and Scientific Lecturer

10 Four Dogmas of the Constitution
JOHN JAMES PARK

11 The Substance of a Course of Lectures on British Colonial Slavery.
BENJAMIN GODWIN

12 Practical Hints to Unpractised Lecturers to the Working Classes
BENJAMIN SCOTT

PART 2: Delivering the Popular Lecture, 1820–1850

2.1 Science and Religion

13 The Inaugural Lecture Delivered before the Society of Christian Evidence at the Globe Tavern
ROBERT TAYLOR

14 A Critical Exposition of Phrenology.
CHARLES COVEY

15 The Chemistry of Life, exhibited in the Provisions of External Nature for the Physical Wants of Man
THOMAS TURNER

16 A Lecture on the Diffusion of Scientific Knowledge in Large Towns.

PEYTON BLAKISTON

17 On the Question: Are the Planets Inhabited? and, On the Stability of the Planetary System
GEORGE BOOLE

18 The Chemical History of a Candle. Lecture 1
MICHAEL FARADAY

19 The Chemistry of the Steam-Engine Practically Considered.

THOMAS CRADDOCK

20 The Natural History of Creation
EDWIN LANKESTER

2.2 Literature and Fine Arts

21 Lectures on the Dramatic Literature of the Age of Elizabeth.
WILLIAM HAZLITT

22 What Does Hamlet Mean.
THOMAS WADE

23 Hamlet
GEORGE DAWSON

24 Good Queen Bess
GEORGE DAWSON

25 At a Wrong Lecture
GEORGE GROSSMITH

26 Caroline Herschel
CLARA BALFOUR

27 The Laws of Colour, and their bearing on Ornamental Art, Calico Printing, and Paper Hanging
F. C. CALVERT

28 Early Popular Music
JOSEPH MAINZER

2.3: Social Sciences

29 Explanatory Report on the Plan and Object of Mr. Buckingham’s Lectures on the Oriental World.
JAMES SILK BUCKINGHAM

30 Lectures on an Entire New State of Society.
ROBERT OWEN

31 The Affghan War. A Lecture.
GEORGE THOMPSON

32 Observations on Civic Malaria and the Health of Towns
GEORGE GWYNNE BIRD

33 Mohammedism. A Lecture Delivered Before the Young Men’s Christian Association, of London,
in the Winter Course of 1847
WILLIAM ARTHUR

34 The Revolutions in Europe: A Lecture.
CHARLES LARKIN

35 The Origin and Reception of Several Important Discoveries 241
WILSON CRYER

36 The Characteristics and Tendencies of the Age 246
GEORGE DAWSON

37 The Importance of Life Assurance Societies 251
JOHN TEULON

38 On the Wants and Resources of India 253
JULIUS JEFFREYS

Conclusion
Bibliography of Sources
Bibliography of Works Cited in Editorial Endnotes, Volume 1
Index

Über Autor(innen)

Dr Anne Rodrick is a professor of history at Wofford College in Spartanburg, SC, USA, where she has taught for 23 years. She earned her PhD from the University of Texas/Austin. Her monograph, 'Lecturing the Victorians: Knowledge-Based Culture and Participatory Citizenship', is forthcoming and she has also published 'The History of Great Britain' (2005) and Self Help and Civic Culture: Citizenship in Victorian Birmingham (2004, reissued 2019).