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List of longest diaries

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is a list of diaries notable for their exceptional length, primarily by word count but also by duration.

Table of diaries sortable by word count and duration
Author Word count Duration Period Notes
Laura Penrose Francis[1] 40 million 60 years 1952–2012 Word count and duration as of 2012.[2]
Robert Shields 37.5 million 25 years 1972–1997 Exact word count not available until 2049.[3]
Claude Fredericks 30 million 80 years 1932–2013 Word count is estimated; the manuscript runs to 65,000 pages.[4]
Joseph Holloway 25 million 45 years 1899–1944 "Dublin playgoer." Published diaries 1899 to 1944.[5] [6]
Edward Robb Ellis 22 million 71 years 1927–1998
Tony Benn 20 million[7] 69 years 1940–2009 A better estimate is 15.7m. "The full unedited diaries [in 2007] amount to around fifteen million words."[8]
Heinrich Witt 18 million 70 years 1859–1890 Witt (1799–1892) was born in Germany, lived in Peru, and wrote in English.[9]
Arthur Crew Inman 17 million 44 years 1919–1963 155 volumes.[10] Other accounts state 10 million words.[11]
Nella Last 12 million[12] 28 years 1939–1967 Participant in Mass Observation project.
Dr. John Henry Salter 10 million 83 years 1849–1932 GP of Tolleshunt D'Arcy, Essex.[13]
Henri-Frédéric Amiel 6 million 42 years 1839–1881 173 journals; 16,800 pages.[14]
Ellsworth James 5.9 million 63 years 1944–2007 Word count does not include first year (1944) which was handwritten. 1946-2007 manually typed.[15]
John Gadd 4 million 45 years 1975–2020 Started in 1947[16] but kept consistently from 1975.[17]
George C. Edler 2.859 million 80 years 1907–1987 76 volumes.[18] 1987 and 1988 Guinness Book of World Records has different dates.
Henry David Thoreau 2 million 25 years 1837–1861 Over 2 million words in 39 notebooks. [19] [20]
Beatrice Webb 1.79 million 70 years 1873–1943 Diaries available online.[21]
Samuel Pepys 1.25 million 9 years 1600s [22]
Margaret Elizabeth Fountaine 1 million 61 years 1878–1939 12 volume diary.[23]
Jean Lucey Pratt 1 million 61 years 1925–1986 Over a million words in 45 exercise books.[24]
Ernest Achey Loftus Unknown 91 years 1896–1987 Guinness World Record for longest kept diary.[25][26]
Caroline Bray Unknown 87 years 1815–1902 Née Hennell; she was the intimate friend of George Eliot. Diary and commonplace book.[27]
Claude Mauriac Unknown 69 years 1927–1995 Lejeune gives both 68 and 69 years. "We have yet to count the total number of pages, but the journal measures three and a half meters."[28]
William Lyon Mackenzie King Unknown 57 years 1893–1950 Word count not stated; the manuscript exceeds 50,000 pages.[29]

William Matthews, in his British diaries: An annotated bibliography of British diaries written between 1442 and 1942 (University of California Press, Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1950) lists 400 diaries with a duration of 30 years or more.

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Said to be a pseudonym. Beard, Mary (14 May 2016). "A Life Discarded by Alexander Masters – the biography of a nameless person". The Guardian. Retrieved 15 May 2024.
  2. ^ Masters, Alexander (2016). A life discarded–148 diaries found in a skip. London: 4th Estate. ISBN 9780008130794.
  3. ^ Martin, Douglas (29 October 2007). "Robert Shields, Wordy Diarist, Dies at 89". New York Times. Retrieved 8 September 2022.
  4. ^ Anastas, Benjamin. "The Most Ambitious Diary in History". The New Yorker. No. 1 November 2021. Retrieved 8 September 2022.
  5. ^ Havlice, Patricia Pate (1987). And so to bed. A bibliography of diaries published in English (1987). Metuchen, N.J., & London: The Scarecrow Press, Inc. p.387
  6. ^ Hogan, Robert; O'Neill, Michael J. (1967). Joseph Holloway’s Abbey Theatre. A selection from his unpublished journal, Impressions of a Dublin Playgoer. Cardondale & Edwardsville: Southern Illinois University Press. p.vi
  7. ^ Wilby, Peter. "Tony Benn: Peter Wilby reads the diaries". The Guardian. No. 22 March 2014. Retrieved 2 June 2023.
  8. ^ Benn, Tony (2007). Diaries 2001–2007. More time for politics. London: Hutchinson. p. ix.
  9. ^ Mücke, Ulrich (2016). The Diary of Heinrich Witt (vol. 1). Leiden & Boston: Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-27315-3.
  10. ^ Rosen, Robert (2011). Beaver Street–A history of modern pornography. London: Headpress. p.259.
  11. ^ Kominars, Sheppard (2007). Write for life: Healing body, mind and spirit through journal writing. Cleveland Clinic Press. p.56.
  12. ^ Meschia, Karen (2010-07-01). "Naomi the Poet and Nella the Housewife: Finding a Space to Write from: The Wartime Diaries of Naomi Mitchison and Nella Last". Miranda (2). doi:10.4000/miranda.1238. ISSN 2108-6559.
  13. ^ Matthews, William (1950). British diaries: An annotated bibliography of British diaries written between 1442 and 1942. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press. p.259.
  14. ^ Lejeune, Philippe (2009). On diary. University of Hawai'i Press. p.187.
  15. ^ Filbert, Jim (27 March 2024). "Oh my word!". Pike County Express. p.6. Access behind paywall.
  16. ^ Evans, Mike (23 December 2014). "Meet Mr. Gadd, 83, of Fontwell Magna in Dorset". Retrieved 8 September 2022.
  17. ^ de Bruxelles, Simon (10 August 2013). "Diaries record a life in mind numbing detail". The Times. Retrieved 8 September 2022.
  18. ^ Cronenwett, Philip. "Dear Diary…". Retrieved 20 November 2024.
  19. ^ Blythe, Ronald (1989). The pleasures of diaries: Four centuries of private writing. New York: Pantheon Books. p. 106.
  20. ^ Mallon, Thomas (1985). A book of one’s own: People and their diaries. London: Pan Books. p. 76.
  21. ^ "Beatrice Webb's Diaries". LSE Digital Library. Retrieved 15 November 2024.
  22. ^ "The diary of Samuel Pepys". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 29 December 2024.
  23. ^ Sage, Lorna (1999). The Cambridge guide to women’s writing in English. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 252.
  24. ^ Quinn, Anthony (5 November 2015). "A Notable Woman: The Romantic Journals of Jean Lucey Pratt edited by Simon Garfield". The Guardian. Retrieved 12 December 2024.
  25. ^ "Longest kept diary". Guinness World Records. Retrieved 8 September 2022. The books in the photo are not his actual diaries.
  26. ^ Loftus, Ernest. Diary 1986. Thurrock Museum. The final extant diary is for 1986, final entry is on Wednesday 31 December. Inspection made 9 July 2024.
  27. ^ Batts, John Stuart (1976). British manuscript diaries of the nineteenth century: An annotated listing. Totowa, New Jersey: Rowman & Littlefield. p. 52.
  28. ^ Lejeune, Philippe (2009). On diary. University of Hawai'i Press. pp.185 & 187
  29. ^ "Diaries of William Lyon Mackenzie King". Library and Archives Canada. February 28, 2013. Archived from the original on 16 April 2018. Retrieved 17 April 2018.
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