The British Soldier and his Libraries, c. 1822-1901

Sharon Murphy is Lecturer in the School of English at Dublin City University, Ireland, where she is also Director of the Master’s in Children’s Literature programme. She is a graduate of University College Dublin, and of the University of Dublin, Trinity College. She is the author of Maria Edgeworth and Romance (2004), and has also contributed to essay collections and journals.    

Introduction.- 1. The East India Company’s Libraries.- 2. The Reading Environment, and Readers, in India.- 3. The Regular Army’s Libraries.- 4. The Reading Environment, and Readers, in the Regular Army.- Conclusion.- 

“There is much of interest in this book–it blends army life in India with changing attitudes at ‘Home’, in Victorian Britain, and shows how the soldier’s life undoubtedly got better during the 19th century. That the civilising influence of libraries had much to do with this may be questionable, but Murphy’s book provides a well-researched and readable argument in its favour.” (Rosie Llewellyn-Jones, Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society JRAS, May, 2018)