The Diary of a Nobody

by George Grossmith, Weedon Grossmith (Illustrator), Paul Bailey (Introduction)

Overview

The Diary of a Nobody is a comic masterpiece that has been hugely influential since its first publication in 1892.

Part of the Macmillan Collector’s Library; a series of stunning, clothbound, pocket sized classics with gold foiled edges and ribbon markers. These beautiful books make perfect gifts or a treat for any book lover. This edition features Weedon Grossmith’s original illustrations and an afterword by novelist Paul Bailey.

Proud to be ensconced with his wife Carrie at ‘The Laurels’ in the desirable London suburb of Holloway, bank clerk Charles Pooter decides to keep a diary. From the frequent visits from his dear friends Mr Cummings and Mr Gowing to the ups and downs of his feckless son Lupin, the self-regarding Mr Pooter considers, mistakenly, that all aspects of his life are worthy of note. The result is a hilarious spoof and a perfectly pitched satire on late Victorian society.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781509881390
Publisher:	Macmillan Collector's Library
Publication date:	02/05/2019
Edition description:	Reissue
Pages:	216
Sales rank:	1,008,671
Product dimensions:	3.80(w) x 6.00(h) x 0.40(d)

About the Author

George Grossmith (1847 -1912) was an English comedian, writer, composer, actor, and singer. His performing career spanned more than four decades. As a writer and composer, he created 18 comic operas, nearly 100 musical sketches, some 600 songs and piano pieces, three books and both serious and comic pieces for newspapers and magazines. Grossmith is best remembered for two aspects of his career. First, he created a series of nine memorable characters in the comic operas of Gilbert and Sullivan from 1877 to 1889, including Sir Joseph Porter, in H.M.S. Pinafore (1878), the Major-General in The Pirates of Penzance and Ko-Ko in The Mikado. Second, he wrote, in collaboration with his brother Weedon, the 1892 comic novel Diary of a Nobody. Grossmith was also famous in his day for performing his own comic piano sketches and songs, both before and after his Gilbert and Sullivan days, becoming the most popular British solo performer of the 1890s. Some of his comic songs endure today, including "See Me Dance the Polka". He continued to perform into the first decade of the 20th century. His son, George Grossmith, Jr., became a famous actor, playwright and producer of Edwardian musical comedies.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements

Introduction

George and Weedon Grossmith: A Brief Chronology

A Note on the Text

The Diary of a Nobody

Appendix A: Contemporary Reviews

1. From Baron de B.W. & Co., “Our Booking Office,” Punch, 103 (23 June 1892)
2. From The Saturday Review, 74 (23 June 1892)
3. From The Athenaeum (13 August 1892)
4. From The Literary World, 46 (29 July 1892)
5. From The Speaker, 6 (6 August 1892)
6. From The New York Times (19 December 1892)
7. Publisher’s Note to the “new edition” of 1910 (10 October 1910)
8. From The Bookman [London], 39 (December 1910)
9. From The Bookman [London], 57 (December 1919)
10. From Xanthias, Queen’s Quarterly, 27 (1920)

Appendix B: The Clerk’s Lot in Life

1. From Charles Edward Parsons, Clerks; Their Position and Advancement (1876)
2. From The Clerk:A Sketch in Outline of His Duties and Discipline (1878)
3. From Francis Davenant, Starting in Life: Hints for Parents on the Choice of a Profession or Trade for Their Sons (1881)
4. From The Story of a London Clerk: A Faithful Narrative Faithfully Told (1896)
5. From Charles Booth, ed., Life and Labour of the People in London (1896)
6. From Robert White, “Wanted:A Rowton House for Clerks,” Nineteenth Century, 42 (October 1897)
7. From Shan Bullock, Robert Thorne: The Story of a London Clerk (1907)

Appendix C: Domestic Economy at The Laurels

1. From G.S. Layard, “A Lower Middle-Class Budget,” Cornhill Magazine, 10 (Jan–June 1901)

Appendix D: Suburban Fictions in the Wake of the Diary

1. From R. Andom, Martha and I: Being Scenes from Our Suburban Life (1898)
2. From W. Pett Ridge, Outside the Radius: Stories of a London Suburb (1899)
3. From Barry Pain, Eliza (1900)
4. From Keble Howard, The Smiths of Surbiton: A Comedy without a Plot (1906)

Appendix E: Séances in the Suburbs

1. From Morell Theobald, Spirit Workers in the Home Circle (1887)
2. From Florence Marryat, There Is No Death (1891)
3. From Barry Pain, Eliza Getting On (1911)

Appendix F: Suburban Life and its Critics

1. From Geoffrey Mortimer, The Blight of Respectability (1897)
2. From H.G. Wells, The War of the Worlds (1898)
3. From T.W.H. Crosland, The Suburbans (1905)
4. From C.F.G. Masterman, In Peril of Change: Essays Written in Time of Tranquillity (1905)
5. From C.F.G. Masterman, The Condition of England (1909)

Works Cited and Recommended Reading

Editorial Reviews

Although The Diary of a Nobody has never been out of print for over the last hundred years, it has, until now, failed to attract an edition capable of really illuminating its lost social and literary contexts. Peter Morton’s Broadview edition remedies this lack with its excellent introduction, incisive textual annotation, and its comprehensive selection of extracts from background material. This extensive scholarly apparatus, rather than overwhelming the Diary’s comedy, succeeds in breathing new life into an established classic of its genre.” — Jonathan Wild, University Edinburgh

“Finally the Grossmith’s The Diary of a Nobody has an edition worth of its importance. Peter Morton’s introduction, like the secondary materials he has wisely chosen, pays attention to the aesthetic and cultural aspects of readers to see that the Diary for all its notoriety was not a singular phenomenon, but rather part of a flourishing of interest in the lives of clerks and other lower-middle-class figures. This is another fine Broadview edition that will find its home on the bookshelves of scholars, students, and readers of nineteenth-century literature.” — Scott Banville, University of Nevada Reno

From the Publisher