Handwriting

From 'Kilvert's Cornish Diary', ed Maber and Tregoning, 1989

'Kilvert's Cornish Diary' is a little gem.

I don't think there is any work on the manuscript which is more carefully researched, clearer, and more insightful.

The pages seen here come from Kilvert's original notebook of his holiday with the Hockins in Cornwall in 1870. 

Most useful is the glimpse of Kilvert's technique which the pages reveal. He left gaps which were to be filled in at some time after the initial entry. Some of the gaps are not completely filled, leaving smaller gaps, and sometimes he had more information than could be squeezed into the space he had allowed.

Perhaps most vainly hopeful is the thought that he clearly carried with him a small notebook which contained jottings for the day, from which he wrote up the diary notebooks at home later. There might just be a cache of these unregarded notebooks gathering dust in a loft somewhere.

If you wanted to get hold of just one Kilvert book, 'Kilvert's Cornish Diary' would be the one. It is a rich delight.