When reading becomes dangerous: Fire, Fear and Fatal Accidents – Part Two
By Jane Davis James Lackington bemoaned in his memoirs, “my master would never permit me to take a candle into my room, and that prohibition I looked upon as a kind
The Temple of the Muses
Reading by Candlelight: Why the Dark Made Reading a Social Act in the Eighteenth Century
To read by candlelight was a physical act. Readers leaned forward, craned their necks, narrowed their eyes. Flames danced and wavered constantly, so the letters themselves seemed to tremble. A single candle did not flood the page with light. Books had to be angled precisely to prevent words dissolving into shadow. Unsurprisingly, eye strain was a common complaint.