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Diaries of Note

366 Lives, One Day at a Time
Brief Description
Captures moments in time like nothing else. RICHARD E. GRANT Intimate . . . and rarely predictable. MICHAEL PALIN Completely fascinating and inspiring. Completely addictive. STEPHEN FRY A volume to treasure, sigh and snigger over. BIDISHA An engrossing collection of the most remarkable diary writing -... Read More
Format: Hardback
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An engrossing collection of the most remarkable diary writing - by the famous, infamous and everyman alike - curated by the creator of the globally bestselling Letters of Note.

An engrossing collection of the most remarkable diary writing - by the famous, infamous and everyman alike - curated by the creator of the globally bestselling Letters of Note.

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

Captures moments in time like nothing else. RICHARD E. GRANT

Intimate . . . and rarely predictable. MICHAEL PALIN

Completely fascinating and inspiring. Completely addictive. STEPHEN FRY

A volume to treasure, sigh and snigger over. BIDISHA

An engrossing collection of the most remarkable diary writing - by the famous, infamous and everyman alike - curated by the creator of the globally bestselling Letters of Note.

What is more personal, more intimate, than the diary? Throughout time and across the world, humans from all walks of life have kept diaries: they are the repositories of our most unvarnished truths, our most poignant hopes, hidden desires and our deepest fears. Now, in Diaries of Note, Shaun Usher - best-selling author of Letters of Note - collects 366 of the most noteworthy diary entries ever written, one for each day of the leap year, each authored by a different individual.

The diary welcomes all to its pages, and through this book you will encounter world leaders, such as Nelson Mandela, Theodore Roosevelt and Emperor Uda, artists and writers, like Frida Kahlo, Seamus Heaney, David Sedaris and Shirley Jackson, film stars and musical icons, including Brian Eno, Emma Thompson and Elton John, as well as people whose lives were never illuminated by fame - yet their diaries reveal them to have been extraordinary.

Beautifully illustrated with woodcut-style drawings, Diaries of Note is a book to spend time curled up with, exploring a world of human emotion and experience that by turns reflects and expands our own and is a testament to the power of personal narratives.

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9780571390229

Publisher: Faber & Faber

Format: Hardback

Date Published: 09 October 2025

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: Faber & Faber

Edition: Main

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Width: 153.0mm

Height: 234.0mm

Weight: 250g

Pages: 480

About the Author

Shaun Usher's obsession with old-fashioned correspondence began when he fell in love with his future wife, Karina, by letter in 2002. This ultimately led to the 2009 launch of Letters of Note, an online museum of 'correspondence deserving of a wider audience', which to date has been visited more than 100 million times. In 2013, the first Letters of Note book was published to wide acclaim. It soon became an international bestseller and inspired Letters Live, a star-studded live show in which letters are brought to life on stage. After years of preparation, his latest project, Diaries of Note, launched online on 1 January 2023 and commenced a daily dive into the lives of others, as recorded in their private moments.

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    In Letters of Note: Sex, Shaun Usher collects together some of the most noteworthy missives ever written on the subject, from euphemism-laden, flirtatious exchanges and desire-driven expressions of passion to sincere and thoughtful meditations on the meaning of sex. Includes letters by: John Cheever Sigmund Freud Dorothy Day James Joyce Margaret Mead Henry Miller AnaΓ―s Nin Mae West & many...
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    Letters of Note, the book based on the beloved website of the same name, became an instant classic on publication in 2013, selling hundreds of thousands of copies. This new edition sees the collection of the world's most entertaining, inspiring, and unusual letters updated with fourteen riveting new missives and a new introduction from curator Shaun Usher. From Virginia Woolf's...
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  • Letters of Note: Space
    In Letters of Note: Space, Shaun Usher brings together fascinating correspondence about the universe beyond our planet. This collection contains hopeful thoughts about the future of space travel, awestruck messages penned about the world beyond our own and celebrations of the human ingenuity that has facilitated our understanding of the cosmos. Includes letters by: Buzz Aldrin Isaac Asimov Marion Carpenter...
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    In Letters of Note: Fathers, Shaun Usher collects together remarkable correspondence by and about fathers, including proud parental words of love, advice from experienced dads to new ones, as well as letters from both frustrated and adoring offspring. Includes letters by: Anne Frank W.E.B. Du Bois Jawaharlal Nehru Groucho Marx Che Guevara Ted Hughes Katherine Mansfield Fergal Keane Arthur Conan...
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    In Letters of Note: New York, Shaun Usher curates a collection of extraordinary written exchanges about the Big Apple, from the marvelling of wide-eyed newcomers and the devoted outpourings of native citizens, to the frustrated outcries of the dispossessed and the fond reminiscences of old-timers. Includes letters by: Italo Calvino, Ralph Ellison, Kahlil Gibran, Bianca Jagger, Helen Keller, Martin Scorsese,...
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