Historical dream account · English · published source text
The Rector and the Upside-Down Book
Horace G. Hutchinson
Dreams and Their Meanings (1901) · 1901 edition, chapter IV, printed pp.148–148; PDF pages 160–160; original scan leaves 164–164
Dreamer identified by the source: Unnamed correspondent’s husband
Read in your language or share a constellation ↗
" My husband, who is rector of this parish, is often tormented by a dream that he is reading the services in church — never in the sermon." (Perhaps he has sufficient fervour of extempore preaching to make the loss of his place in the sermon no matter of consequence.) "He fancies he is reading the service as usual, when he happens to lift his eyes from the book for a moment, and when he looks back at the book he cannot find the place. He stops short, turns the leaves backwards and forwards, gets into a flurry, fancies the book is upside down, turns it, but still cannot read the right sentence, the congregation are all staring at him in astonishment, and then, in an agony of shame and confusion he awakes."
Source & context
A published personal recollection sent to, or personally recorded by, Horace G. Hutchinson and printed in his 1901 edition. Recurrent personal accounts are counted once, not once per occurrence. Where Hutchinson interrupts a quotation, his original reporting phrases remain in the excerpt. The correspondent is the rector’s wife; the dreaming subject is her husband, not the person writing the letter. This is a personally recalled recurring scene with specific actions, not a generic list of dream types.
Unnamed correspondent’s husband, reported in Horace G. Hutchinson, Dreams and Their Meanings (London, New York and Bombay: Longmans, Green and Co., 1901), 1901 edition, chapter IV, printed pp.148–148; PDF pages 160–160; original scan leaves 164–164. Primary witness: original 1901 edition at Internet Archive. The compiler, dreamer, and separately credited earlier recorder are distinguished. Editorial title and navigation themes added; no generated narrative or new translation.
The publication year is not the dream date. No exact dream date or present-day person location is inferred. Dates printed in the narrative remain source wording.
Public domain in the United States (1901 edition) ↗
The original English 1901 edition is public domain in the United States by expired publication term; Archive metadata reports NOT_IN_COPYRIGHT. No new Archive license or Public Domain Mark grant is asserted. The linked NoC-US statement describes the US-only rights basis; blanket worldwide clearance is not asserted. Hutchinson’s own writing and named or unidentified contributors are distinguished; no contributor is assigned the compiler’s death date. Unnamed original correspondent/friend; no modern contributor identity or permission is invented..
Source locator and text provenance
1901 edition, chapter IV, printed pp.148–148; PDF pages 160–160; original scan leaves 164–164
The original text and redactions are preserved. The page title is an editorial navigation label.
Whitespace/linewrap normalization, witnessed end-of-line dehyphenation, and listed scan-verified OCR repairs only. No dream narrative, person, event, translation or stylistic rewrite added.
- Account text SHA-256
- 41dfb963bbaefcf155076577b7ac02af085dddc25f273a4310677967e0469d86
- Source file SHA-256
- 40a41bb112104c3680401c260e060fde498bfe84e41f4394ee28e47f7e827b5f
Content notes
- Anxiety
Connections in the Loom
Titles, theme labels, illustrations and map connections are editorial navigation aids. They are separate from the account’s words and do not establish connections between real people.