# Is "The Diary of a Nobody" by George Grossmith and Weedon Grossmith a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Diary of a Nobody by George Grossmith and Weedon Grossmith (J. W. Arrowsmith, 1892) is identified by: First published in book form in June 1892 by J.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- First published in book form in June 1892 by J. W. Arrowsmith, Bristol, jointly with Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent & Co. of London, as one of the numbered volumes in Arrowsmith's series of single-volume novels
- For book publication the authors extended the 1888-89 Punch serial with roughly four more months of diary entries and added twenty-six illustrations by Weedon Grossmith
- The first edition is octavo, [ii], 300 pages plus a frontispiece (a double portrait of the authors), bound in brown cloth, the spine lettered in gilt, the front cover lettered and decorated in black and blue, with publisher's advertisements on the rear endpapers
- Publisher imprint reads J. W. Arrowsmith
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | George Grossmith and Weedon Grossmith |
| Publisher | J. W. Arrowsmith |
| Year | 1892 |
| True first | — |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | First published in book form in June 1892 by J. W. Arrowsmith, Bristol, jointly with Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent & Co. of London, as… |
| Book-club edition exists? | — |

## Points of issue
First published in book form in June 1892 by J. W. Arrowsmith, Bristol, jointly with Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent & Co. of London, as one of the numbered volumes in Arrowsmith's series of single-volume novels. For book publication the authors extended the 1888-89 Punch serial with roughly four more months of diary entries and added twenty-six illustrations by Weedon Grossmith. The first edition is octavo, [ii], 300 pages plus a frontispiece (a double portrait of the authors), bound in brown cloth, the spine lettered in gilt, the front cover lettered and decorated in black and blue, with publisher's advertisements on the rear endpapers.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Diary of a Nobody* by George Grossmith and Weedon Grossmith a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-diary-of-a-nobody
CC BY 4.0. Part of the Canonical First-Edition Points of Issue dataset (https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/api/first-edition-titles.json). Last reviewed 2026-07-04.