This article is intended to be a chronological list of books on diaries and journals, including how-to, self-help and discussions of the diary or journal as a genre of literature.
For a list of fictional diaries, please see the list of fictional diaries. For a list of diarists, please see list of diarists.
| Author | Title | Publisher | Date | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lowell, Amy; Omori, Annie; & Doi, Kochi | Diaries of court ladies of old Japan | Houghton Mifflin | 1920 | Includes the Sarashina diary, the diary of Murasaki Shikibu, and the diary of Izumi Shikibu. |
| Forbes, Harriette M. | New England Diaries: A descriptive catalog of diaries, orderly books and sea journals | Privately printed | 1923 | A substantial work of over 440 pages; brief descriptions only. |
| Thomas, William S. | American revolutionary diaries. Also journals, narratives, autobiographies, reminiscences and personal memoirs | The New York Historical Society | 1923 | "Considerably more than three hundred titles are presented…" (p.1) 46 pages, very brief descriptions. |
| Ponsonby, Arthur | English Diaries: A review of English diaries from the sixteenth to the twentieth century with an introduction on diary writing | Methuen & Co. Ltd | 1923 | 120 English diarists included. |
| Ponsonby, Arthur | More English Diaries: Further reviews of diaries from the sixteenth to the nineteenth century with an introduction on diary reading | Methuen & Co. Ltd | 1927 | 37 English diarists included. |
| Ponsonby, Arthur | Scottish and Irish Diaries: From the sixteenth to the nineteenth century | Methuen & Co. Ltd | 1927 | 28 diarists. |
| Fyfe, James Gabriel | Scottish diaries and memoirs 1550–1746 | Eneas Mackay | 1928 | Over 460 pages, includes 29 diarists and The Lyon in Mourning (1745/46), "a remarkable collection of journals, narratives, and other documents written, or communicated orally, by men and women who participated in the Jacobite rising of 1745" (p.436). |
| Ponsonby, Arthur | British diarists | Ernest Benn Limited | 1930 | 80-page booklet in the "Benn's Sixpenny Library" series (no. 70) |
| Field, Joanna | A Life of One's Own | J. P. Tarcher, Inc. | 1934 | Joanna Field is a pseudonym of Marion Milner. |
| D'Oyley, Elizabeth | English diaries | Edward Arnold & Co. | 1935 | Includes Charles Wriothesley, Henry Machyn, Anthony À Wood, Samuel Pepys, Henry Teonge, John Evelyn, Elizabeth Byrom, James Boswell's Journal of a tour to the Hebrides, Fanny Burney, Dorothy Wordsworth, Sir Walter Scott, & Captain Robert Scott. |
| Ponsonby, Arthur | The little torch: Quotations from diaries of the past for every day of the year | George Routledge & Sons Ltd. | 1938 | 366 quotations from 222 diarists. |
| Aitken, James | English diaries of the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries | Pelican Books | 1941 | 155 pages, 19 diarists. |
| Aitken, James | English diaries of the 19th century 1800–1850 | Pelican Books | 1944 | 160 pages, 22 diarists. |
| Matthews, William | American diaries: an annotated bibliography of American diaries written prior to the year 1861 | University of California Press | 1945 | |
| O'Brien, Kate | English diaries and journals | W Collins | 1947 | 48 pages. O'Brien states "…the best English diaries have been written by bores" (p.7). Includes several illustrations and portraits. |
| Spalding, Philip Anthony | Self Harvest: A study of diaries and the diarist | Independent Press Ltd | 1949 | 112 pages, includes 91 British diarists. |
| Matthews, William | British diaries: An annotated bibliography of British diaries written between 1442 and 1942 | University of California Press | 1950 | |
| Waite, Vincent | English diaries and journals | A. Wheaton & Co,. Ltd. | 1952 | Includes 20 diarists; vague chapter headings such as “A king"; "A country doctor"; "A woman novelist"; "A poet’s sister" etc. Also includes the fictional work The diary of a nobody (1892) by George and Weedon Grossmith. |
| Dunaway, Philip & Evans, Mel | A treasury of the world's great diaries | Doubleday & Company, Inc. | 1957 | |
| Fothergill, Robert A. | Private chronicles: A study of English diaries | Oxford University Press | 1974 | |
| Progoff, Ira | At a Journal Workshop: The basic text and guide for using the Intensive Journal | Dialog House Library | 1975 | |
| Batts, John Stuart | British manuscript diaries of the nineteenth century: An annotated listing | Rowman & Littlefield | 1976 | |
| Rainer, Tristine | The New Diary: How to use a journal for self-guidance and expanded creativity | Jeremy P. Tarcher/Putnam | 1978 | |
| Capacchione, Lucia | The Creative Journal: The art of finding yourself | Ohio University/Swallow Press | 1979 | |
| Lifshin, Lyn | Ariadne's Thread: A collection of contemporary women's journals | Harper & Row | 1982 | |
| Arksey, Laura; Pries, Nancy; & Reed, Marcia | American diaries: An annotated bibliography of published American diaries and journals. Volume 1: Diaries written from 1492 to 1844 | Gale Research Company | 1983 | |
| Mallon, Thomas | A Book of One's Own: People and their diaries | Ticknor & Fields | 1984 | |
| Kagle, Steven | Early nineteenth century American diary literature | Twayne Publishers | 1986 | |
| Arksey, Laura; Pries, Nancy; & Reed, Marcia | American diaries: An annotated bibliography of published American diaries and journals. Volume 2: Diaries written from 1845 to 1980 | Gale Research Company | 1987 | |
| Vivian, Frances | Letts keep a diary–A exhibition of the history of diary keeping in Great Britain from 16th–20th century in commemoration of 175 years of diary publishing by Letts | Charles Letts & Co Ltd | 1987 | |
| Fulwiler, Toby | The Journal Book | Heinemann | 1987 | A collection of essays on using journals in K12 classrooms. |
| Havlice, Patricia Pate | And so to bed. A bibliography of diaries published in English | The Scarecrow Press, Inc. | 1987 | |
| Blodgett, Harriet | Centuries of Female Days: Englishwomen's private diaries | Rutgers University Press | 1988 | |
| Blythe, Ronald | The pleasures of diaries: Four centuries of private writing | Pantheon Books | 1989 | |
| Brett, Simon | The Faber book of diaries | Faber & Faber | 1989 | |
| Adams, Kathleen | Journal to the Self: Twenty-two paths to personal growth | Hachette | 1990 | |
| Blodgett, Harriet | Capacious Hold-All: An anthology of Englishwomen's diary writings | University Press of Virginia | 1992 | |
| Stevens, Carla | A book of your own: Keeping a diary or journal | Clarion Books | 1993 | |
| Schiwy, Marlene A. | A Voice of Her Own: Women and the journal-writing journey | Simon & Schuster | 1996 | |
| Price, Dan | How to Make a Journal of Your Life | Ten Speed Press | 1999 | |
| Taylor, Irene; & Taylor, Alan | The assassin's cloak: An anthology of the world's greatest diaries | Canongate Books | 2000 | |
| Williams, Kate; et al | Great Diaries: The world's most remarkable diaries, journals, notebooks, and letters | DK Penguin Random House | 2000 | |
| Bender, Sheila | Keeping a journal you love | North Light Books | 2001 | |
| Jolly, Margaretta | Encyclopedia of life writing: Autobiographical and biographical forms. Volume 1 A–K | Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers | 2001 | |
| Jolly, Margaretta | Encyclopedia of life writing: Autobiographical and biographical forms. Volume 2 L–Z | Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers | 2001 | |
| Johnson, Alexandra | Leaving a Trace: On keeping a journal | Back Bay Books | 2002 | |
| Diehn, Gwen | The Decorated Page: Journals, scrapbooks & albums made simply beautiful | Lark Books | 2002 | |
| Alaszewski, Andy | Using Diaries for Social Research | SAGE Publications | 2006 | |
| Kominars, Sheppard B. | Write for Life: Healing body, mind, and spirit through journal writing | Cleveland Clinic Press | 2007 | |
| Lejeune, Philippe | On diary | University of Hawai'i Press | 2009 | |
| Johnson, Alexandra | A brief history of diaries: From Pepys to blogs | Hesperus Press Limited | 2011 | |
| Kempthorne, Charley | Narrative Journaling: 28 days to writing more or less happily for the rest of your life | The LifeStory Institute | 2014 | |
| Bayley, Sally | The Private Life of the Diary: From Pepys to tweets | Unbound | 2016 | |
| Henderson, Desirée | How to read a diary: Critical contexts and interpretive strategies for 21st-century readers | Routledge | 2019 | |
| Ben-Amos, Batsheva; & Ben-Amos, Dan | The diary: The epic of everyday life | Indiana University Press | 2020 | |