KNOX, CLEONE. [KING-HALL, MAGDALEN]. - The Diary of a Young Lady of Fashion in the Year 1764-1765. Edited by her Kinsman Alexander Blacker Kerr.

New York: D.Appleton and Company, 1926. 1st US edition Pp.249, errata slip tipped-in to foreword page, gift message to front free endpaper, toning to endpapers. Green cloth spine with patterned paper-covered boards rather rubbed, oritinal paper label to spine darkened. Good. "The book covers the Grand Tour of a genteel Irish lady, Cleone, her father and her brother. From Ireland to England to France and then on to Switzerland and Italy; a Grand Tour was considered a necessity for the young and the wealthy. In this case, the father takes his children on a long trip around Europe, hoping that his spirited daughter will forget her attachment to the charming and roguish Mr. Ancaster. Of course, she doesn’t. But her wonderful descriptions of her travels help make life without ‘Mr. A’ (as she calls him) tolerable and diverting..Published in London in the year 1925, the book was thought to be a recent discovery by a man who claimed to be Cleone Knox’s descendant. It was great success in England and the US, becoming a bestseller, and everyone was intrigued with the eighteenth century girl’s private diary and her detailed descriptions of famous places and people and events. Alexander Blacker Kerr was the editor and self-proclaimed descendant. He makes a lot of interesting footnotes to the diary and even writes a forward where he details the history of the family and his discovery of the diary. One year later, the truth came out. The book was a hoax, written by a nineteen year old girl named Magdalen King-Hall. Both Alexander Blacker Kerr and Cleone Knox were pure invention. The public was outraged and the secret made headlines".(TalkingBookshop).** In 1994, BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour found itself in an embarrasing position when it broadcast an adaptation of the book under the misapprehension it was based on an authentic 18th century diary.

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