Around the Tea-Table

TalmageProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.0

Word count: 479K words
Chapters: 48

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Around the Tea-Table by T. De Witt TalmageAuthor: Talmage, T. De Witt (Thomas De Witt), 1832-1902,Language: English, Class: PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature, Release Date: Jan 11, 2005

Editor's review

Around the Tea-Table is a collection of essays by T. De Witt Talmage, a prominent nineteenth-century American minister and orator. The title means literally "around the tea table," and the pieces are mostly observations and reflections arising from scenes of everyday life, written in a warm and engaging style. Talmage was known for his pulpit eloquence and humor, and he drew thoughtful reflections on human nature and morality from ordinary subjects such as family, social life, and food and drink. The book is thus both a window onto nineteenth-century American social customs and religious culture and a suitable introduction to the style of Victorian English prose. As a free Project Gutenberg e-book, it is easy to obtain and well suited to extensive reading by English learners, as well as to casual browsing by readers interested in Anglo-American literature and religious history. Note that the essays carry a distinct period and religious standpoint, and some views are remote from contemporary readers; read them as historical documents rather than guides to life. The text is in the original English and requires some reading proficiency.

Who it's for

A good fit for

English learners who want to read original English essays extensively and expand their vocabulary
Readers of history and literature interested in nineteenth-century American religious culture and daily life
Commuters who enjoy short essays and want something they can pick up and read at any time
Those interested in the style of Victorian English prose

Not a good fit for

Beginners with no foundation in reading original English who need a Chinese parallel text
Readers expecting systematic historical argument or scholarly research
Those hoping for a biography of the author or modern life advice

Reading tips

Read one or two short pieces a day, guessing the meaning of unfamiliar words before looking them up, and keep a steady pace.
Keep a notebook and copy out the everyday metaphors and humorous expressions the author uses to launch his reflections.
Read alongside sources on nineteenth-century American social history to understand the religious and customary background.
Read mainly for breadth rather than translating sentence by sentence, focusing on the tone and structure of the essay form.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this book in Chinese or English?

It is in the original English. The author, T. De Witt Talmage, was a nineteenth-century American minister and writer, and the book is distributed as a free e-book by Project Gutenberg. Some English reading ability is required; try one or two pieces before deciding whether to read the whole book.

What is "Around the Tea-Table" about?

The title means "around the tea table." The book consists of essays and reflections arising from scenes of everyday life, moving from ordinary topics such as family, social life, and food to thoughts on human nature and morality. It is not a novel and has no continuous plot, so it suits reading in short sessions.

What is it like to read the free e-book edition?

The Project Gutenberg edition is mainly plain text, plainly formatted but easy to open on a phone, e-reader, or computer, and easy to copy and search. It has no modern annotations, so historical allusions and religious background must be looked up independently, which suits readers willing to do their own research.

Will the book's views feel remote to today's readers?

Yes. The author holds distinctly nineteenth-century religious and period views, and some of his arguments are remote from contemporary values. Read it as material for understanding the social customs and religious culture of the time rather than as a set of rules to live by.

Comments

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About the author

Talmage Author

Talmage is an author about whom little public information is available, and the only work currently confirmed is Around the Tea-Table. Judging from its title, the book centers on the tea table and the everyday setting of tea drinking, and may deal with table talk, social manners, or observations of daily life in an easy, informal essay style. Because basic details such as the author's nationality, dates of birth and death, and full English name are lacking, Talmage's life, writing background, and social position cannot be examined, nor can the place of this book within the author's career be determined. On the available evidence, Talmage's writing appears to lean toward observing and narrating ordinary life, drawing topics from familiar scenes rather than constructing large-scale theory. For readers interested in the tea-table culture and familiar essays of the English-speaking world, this work offers a concrete point of entry, though a fuller assessment of the author would require more bibliographic and biographical material.