ABSTRACT
Elizabeth Inchbald kept her diary of 1776 (designated Folger M. a. 149) in THE LADIES’ Own Memorandum-Book: OR, DAILY POCKET JOURNAL, For the YEAR 1776, published yearly in London by G. Robinson, No. 25, Paternoster Row, and T. Slack, Newcastle. The cost of the book was one shilling. The title page describes the journal as being ‘Designed as a Methodical REGISTER of all their Transactions of Business, as well as Amusement’, and under the table of contents, it is announced as being written ‘By a LADY’. The 1776 journal consists of eighty-two unnumbered leaves and is bound in a brown leather cover with a simple design impressed around the edges of the leather. The front and back covers are pockets – hence the term pocketbook to describe the journal (see Volume 3, p. 154, Figure 3, Exterior of the Diary of 1814, for an illustration of a more sophisticated accordion-style pocket in the 1814 diary). The pockets are now empty, although the diaries of 1780 and 1814 include in their pockets items from 1776. The pocketbook measures roughly 12 cm in length by 8 cm in width by 1.5 cm in thickness. Its small size further reinforces the appellation pocketbook, as it is designed to fit in one’s pocket. The spine appears to have been repaired at some point, although (as of 2007) it is beginning to detach from the pages. Otherwise, this journal is in relatively good condition. At some point, the year 1776 was written on the cover, and although the ink has worn away, the impression made in the leather by the scratches of the pen still is visible. Additionally, the numeral 7 still is visible in black ink on the front cover. Presumably, this numeral indicates the volume number in the sequence of the diaries, which suggests that Inchbald may have begun them in 1770 at the early age of sixteen. Volume numbers are visible on the covers of most of the other diaries as well.
