Ben P. Robertson's scrupulous editing and annotation makes the diaries available just in time; the objects themselves are beginning to crumble and fade.

In these tiny pocket books Mrs Inchbald recorded the ordinary events of daily life. There was no space to be introspective, and in any case that does not seem to have been the point. There is rarely any commentary and almost no sense of an imaginary reader. She wrote and she kept the diaries for herself and she could fill in the blanks. A typical entry, chosen almost at random, is Thursday March 6, 1783: "a fine Day - at rehearsal of Roman Father - followed Mrs Hitchcock to Mr Cardiffs and sat some time - drank tea at Mrs Hitchcocks and in the Pit with her at Douglas and Old Maid - Mr Crawfords appearance and a Riot. Account of cash: Coals - Pounds 0.2.9, Hair Dressing - Pounds 0.1.1".

Less typical is the diary for 1793 in which each day has just one event:

"Friday 8th March wrote to Mr Harris about my 4th night. Saturday 9th March repented that I did". Commissioned in 1806 to write prefaces to a twenty-five volume collection of British plays - a mammoth task to which she brought unique skills - Mrs Inchbald drew on lifelong habits of study. Her Remarks, on a total of 125 plays, laid the foundations of drama criticism in the early nineteenth century. The diary entries tell the unglamorous reality of a writer's life: she read, wrote and corrected proofs all day. One week in February 1808 she did almost nothing but read: "An entire wet day - read much - Had a Proof in the Evening"; "Fine, frosty & cold - read from morning till night".