List of longest diaries

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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
AuthorWord countDurationPeriodNotes
Laura Penrose Francis [1] 40 million60 years1952–2012Word count and duration as of 2012. [2]
Robert Shields 37.5 million25 years1972–1997Exact word count not available until 2049. [3]
Claude Fredericks 30 million80 years1932–2013Word count is estimated; the manuscript runs to 65,000 pages. [4]
Joseph Holloway25 million45 years1899–1944"Dublin playgoer." Published diaries 1899 to 1944. [5] [6]
Edward Robb Ellis 22 million71 years1927–1998
Tony Benn 20 million [7] 69 years1940–2009A better estimate is 15.7m. "The full unedited diaries [in 2007] amount to around fifteen million words." [8]
Heinrich Witt18 million70 years1859–1890Witt (1799–1892) was born in Germany, lived in Peru, and wrote in English. [9]
Arthur Crew Inman 17 million44 years1919–1963155 volumes. [10] Other accounts state 10 million words. [11]
Nella Last 12 million [12] 28 years1939–1967Participant in Mass Observation project.
Dr. John Henry Salter10 million83 years1849–1932GP of Tolleshunt D'Arcy, Essex. [13]
Henri-Frédéric Amiel 6 million42 years1839–1881173 journals; 16,800 pages. [14]
Ellsworth James5.9 million63 years1944–2007Word count does not include first year (1944) which was handwritten. 1946-2007 manually typed. [15]
John Gadd4 million45 years1975–2020Started in 1947 [16] but kept consistently from 1975. [17]
George C. Edler2.859 million80 years1907–198776 volumes. [18] 1987 and 1988 Guinness Book of World Records has different dates.
Henry David Thoreau 2 million25 years1837–1861Over 2 million words in 39 notebooks. [19] [20]
Beatrice Webb 1.79 million70 years1873–1943Diaries available online. [21]
Samuel Pepys 1.25 million9 years1660–1669Written in shorthand. [22] The 1893 edition is available online. [23]
Margaret Elizabeth Fountaine 1 million61 years1878–193912 volume diary. [24]
Jean Lucey Pratt 1 million61 years1925–1986Over a million words in 45 exercise books. [25]
Ernest Achey Loftus Unknown91 years1896–1987 Guinness World Record for longest kept diary. [26] [27]
Caroline Bray Unknown87 years1815–1902Née Hennell; she was the intimate friend of George Eliot. Diary and commonplace book. [28]
Claude Mauriac Unknown69 years1927–1995Lejeune 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." [29]
William Lyon Mackenzie King Unknown57 years1893–1950Word count not stated; the manuscript exceeds 50,000 pages. [30]

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.

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References

  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. ↑ "The Diary of Samuel Pepys: Daily entries from the 17th century London diary". pepysdiary.com. Retrieved 10 January 2025.
  24. ↑ Sage, Lorna (1999). The Cambridge guide to women’s writing in English. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 252.
  25. ↑ 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.
  26. ↑ "Longest kept diary". Guinness World Records. Retrieved 8 September 2022. The books in the photo are not his actual diaries.
  27. ↑ 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.
  28. ↑ Batts, John Stuart (1976). British manuscript diaries of the nineteenth century: An annotated listing. Totowa, New Jersey: Rowman & Littlefield. p. 52.
  29. ↑ Lejeune, Philippe (2009). On diary. University of Hawai'i Press. pp.185 & 187
  30. ↑ "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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