GROSSMITH, George and Weedon, The Diary of a Nobody (J.W. Arrowsmith, Bristol, and Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent and Co., London), 1892

8vo; pp. viii, 300 [but unusually the prelims are counted in the total page count], [2] (ads).

A very good copy indeed: two-coloured cloth binding more or less unmarked; corners very slightly bumped, covers a little darkened; light pencil ownership inscription; offsetting to the half-title and rear ads as always; first gathering perhaps a tiny bit loose, but generally very good throughout.

The Diary of a Nobody was serialized in Punch magazine in the late 1880s, and is here presented in an expanded, edited and illustrated form in book form for the first time, as number XI in Arrowsmith's attractive ‘Three & Sixpenny Series’.

Something of a 'sleeper', The Diary of a Nobody was not particularly well received at first, growing in popularity only a generation later, in particular amongst 'Victorians' who felt out of a touch with early twentieth century modernity.

From then on the book's fame grew exponentially. In 1930 Evelyn Waugh called it “the funniest book in the world”. The word ‘Pooterish’ came to refer to pomposity and self-sabotage.

Since the first stage adaptation in 1954 there have been many different versions in theatres and for television.

This is the scarce first state, indicated by the advertisements listing only the previous ten titles in the Three & Sixpenny Series. No endpapers, as issued; no tissue-guard to the portrait, as is often the case (and none seems to have ever been present; this perhaps also an indicator of the first state).