Because the compiler lacks experience in the use of other devices these notes apply particularly to visitors using a Personal Computer.

There is no inbuilt search facility for this website which means that searches must be made by the facility provided by your web browser which is usually initiated by Ctrl + F which will enable a search of the current page but not of the whole site. The division of the site, particularly the Bibliography Text, into pages may be found in some ways inconvenient for the user but has been found necessary to avoid the process of maintenance and revision becoming unmanageable.

The Bibliography is ordered by the date upon which the diary commences, followed by the author’s name and these dates are conveniently found by appending ‘AD’ to the date being searched for. This avoids spurious results for dates of birth, historical events and other irrelevances. Dates sought without the suffix can be useful in locating recent publications within the years covered by the page being searched.

Searches will commonly be focussed on locating authors by name, by occupation or events of interest to the searcher. Location by name will usually be simple and will be most effective if the surname, followed by a comma and the first initial is used. Clerics will usually be revealed by a search for ‘Rev.’ or ‘Revd.’ and such other common occupations as ‘soldier’, ‘sailor’, ‘miner’, ‘lawyer’ and so forth may prove useful as may reference to specific countries or nationalities, as may some place names.

Success in searching must, unfortunately, depend to a large extent upon the detail and accuracy of the annotation of the diaries listed and users will, alas, find the quality of these annotations to be highly variable, for which the compiler apologises and hopes to improve over time: it is nevertheless hoped that users will find the process valuable even if often frustrating.