Book selected: The Diary of a Nobody, by George and Weedon Goldsmith
New title: The Diary of a Nobody-the abridged illustrated version Published by SuperPress
From Penguin to Folio. This altered book expresses the invisibility of the origins of neologisms that get absorbed into the fabric of the language. The text on the reverse of the page can be barely read through the thin, ageing, non-archival paper. The paperback finds its way into the cased cloth-bound hardback, and is an abridged illustrative collage of the Victorian novel by the Grossmith brothers. This account of banal middleclass life lent many words and phrases to the English language, first published as a serial in Punch, then appeared in bookform in 1892.
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