List of diaries by length
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] [ 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] [ 17]
George C. Edler
2.859 million
80 years
1907–1987
76 volumes.[ 18] 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
1660–1669
Written in shorthand.[ 22] [ 23]
Margaret Elizabeth Fountaine 1 million
61 years
1878–1939
12 volume diary.[ 24]
Jean Lucey Pratt 1 million
61 years
1925–1986
Over a million words in 45 exercise books.[ 25]
Ernest Achey Loftus Unknown
91 years
1896–1987
Guinness World Record for longest kept diary.[ 26] [ 27]
Caroline Bray Unknown
87 years
1815–1902
Née Hennell; she was the intimate friend of George Eliot . Diary and commonplace book.[ 28]
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."[ 29]
William Lyon Mackenzie King Unknown
57 years
1893–1950
Word 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.
References
^ 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 .
^ Masters, Alexander (2016). A life discarded–148 diaries found in a skip . London: 4th Estate. ISBN 9780008130794 ^ Martin, Douglas (29 October 2007). "Robert Shields, Wordy Diarist, Dies at 89" . New York Times . Retrieved 8 September 2022 . ^ Anastas, Benjamin. "The Most Ambitious Diary in History" . The New Yorker . No. 1 November 2021. Retrieved 8 September 2022 . ^ Havlice, Patricia Pate (1987). And so to bed. A bibliography of diaries published in English (1987) . Metuchen, N.J., & London: The Scarecrow Press, Inc. ^ 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. ^ Wilby, Peter. "Tony Benn: Peter Wilby reads the diaries" . The Guardian . No. 22 March 2014. Retrieved 2 June 2023 . ^ Benn, Tony (2007). Diaries 2001–2007. More time for politics . London: Hutchinson. p. ix. ^ Mücke, Ulrich (2016). The Diary of Heinrich Witt (vol. 1) . Leiden & Boston: Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-27315-3 ^ Rosen, Robert (2011). Beaver Street–A history of modern pornography . London: Headpress. ^ Kominars, Sheppard (2007). Write for life: Healing body, mind and spirit through journal writing . Cleveland Clinic Press. ^ 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 . ^ Matthews, William (1950). British diaries: An annotated bibliography of British diaries written between 1442 and 1942 . Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press. ^ Lejeune, Philippe (2009). On diary . University of Hawai'i Press. ^ Filbert, Jim (27 March 2024). "Oh my word!" . Pike County Express .
^ Evans, Mike (23 December 2014). "Meet Mr. Gadd, 83, of Fontwell Magna in Dorset" . Retrieved 8 September 2022 . ^ de Bruxelles, Simon (10 August 2013). "Diaries record a life in mind numbing detail" . The Times . Retrieved 8 September 2022 . ^ Cronenwett, Philip. "Dear Diary…" . Retrieved 20 November 2024 . ^ Blythe, Ronald (1989). The pleasures of diaries: Four centuries of private writing . New York: Pantheon Books. p. 106. ^ Mallon, Thomas (1985). A book of one’s own: People and their diaries . London: Pan Books. p. 76. ^ "Beatrice Webb's Diaries" . LSE Digital Library . Retrieved 15 November 2024 .^ "The diary of Samuel Pepys" . Encyclopædia Britannica . Retrieved 29 December 2024 .^ "The Diary of Samuel Pepys: Daily entries from the 17th century London diary" . pepysdiary.com . Retrieved 10 January 2025 .^ Sage, Lorna (1999). The Cambridge guide to women’s writing in English . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 252. ^ 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 . ^ "Longest kept diary" . Guinness World Records . Retrieved 8 September 2022 .^ Loftus, Ernest. Diary 1986 . Thurrock Museum. ^ Batts, John Stuart (1976). British manuscript diaries of the nineteenth century: An annotated listing . Totowa, New Jersey: Rowman & Littlefield. p. 52. ^ Lejeune, Philippe (2009). On diary . University of Hawai'i Press. ^ "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 .
