Francis Kilvert - Kilvert's Diary

Kilvert's Diary

Kilvert is best known as the author of voluminous diaries describing rural life. After his death from peritonitis, his diaries were edited and censored, possibly by his widow. Later they were passed on to William Plomer who transcribed the remaining diaries and edited and published a three-volume selection and later a one-volume selection Kilvert's Diary, 1870-1879 (Jonathan Cape, 1938—corrected in 1960, and with an abridged and illustrated version for children published as Ardizzone's Kilvert in 1976). A different selection from Plomer's original version was published as Journal of a Country Curate: Selections from the Diary of Francis Kilvert by The Folio Society in 1960. In 1992 a new selection was published under the editorship of David Lockwood, Kilvert, the Victorian: A New Selection from Kilvert's Diaries (Seren Books, 1992). Out of print since 1970, the 3 volume indexed edition was reprinted in 2006 by O'Donoghue Books of Hay-on-Wye (http://www.kilverts-diary.com). The complete surviving diaries were destroyed, for reasons unknown, by the relatives who owned them, except for the volumes listed below, which had been given to other people, while Plomer's own transcription was destroyed by fire in the Blitz. Kilvert also privately published pleasant but conventional poetry.

The Cornish Diary: Journal No.4, 1870 - From July 19 to August 6, Cornwall was published by Alison Hodge in 1989. The National Library of Wales, which holds two of the three surviving volumes, published The Diary of Francis Kilvert: April–June 1870 in 1982 and The Diary of Francis Kilvert: June–July 1870 in 1989.