The Illustrated Pocket Diary: Generic Continuity and Innovation, 1820–40

Introducing the neglected print culture genre of the illustrated pocket diary, the article examines its generic origins and development from the late eighteenth century to the first half of the nineteenth century. It pays particular attention to the various titles that competing booksellers issued in the course of the first four decades of the nineteenth century and the ways in which these titles were differentiated by means of their illustrative paratexts. The illustrated pocket diary is shown to thrive in the proliferating market for pocket books in that publishers targeted a range of class- and gender-specific consumer groups. They equipped their pocket diaries with paratexts such as plates depicting cultural loci and architectural feats, lists of members of parliament and the royal family, music and songs, contemporary poetry and biographical memoirs, as well as enigmas and conundrums to respond to the different needs and interests of the books’ prospective users.