Skip to content
The Case of the Pocket Diary Found in the Snow — cover
Get your copy
Aeneas Press edition Edwardian

The Case of the Pocket Diary Found in the Snow

by Augusta Groner 1850–1929

The book, and the century it came out of.

Translated by Grace Isabel Colbron

A pocket diary is found in the snow, and Joseph Muller — small, shabby, apologetic, the best man in the Vienna police — reads a life out of it and works back to a death. Groner was an Austrian schoolteacher who invented the first professional detective in German fiction; Muller solves it and, as usual, would rather not have. Illustrated with 57 full-page plates — paintings by Mayburger, von Alt and Van Acker among them.

Joseph Muller, Secret Service detective of the Imperial Austrian police, is one of the great experts in his profession.
The first sentence of The Case of the Pocket Diary Found in the Snow
A note on this edition

The Case of the Pocket Diary Found in the Snow, by Augusta Groner, complete and unabridged. Spelling and punctuation follow present-day American usage; the sentences, the paragraphs and the voice are the author’s, word for word.

It was written in another era and may carry attitudes a reader today will find dated. They are kept for the sake of the work and do not reflect the views of this house.

The edition
Format
Ebook
Extent
about 48 pages
Reading time
about an hour
Illustrations
Full-page plates, credited
Text
Complete, unabridged
Translation
Grace Isabel Colbron
Language
en
This edition
2026
ISBN
9785501181953
The plates

57 paintings are bound into this edition

Six of them are shown here, taken from the volume itself. Each is reproduced full page and named with its painter and year.

Der Markusplatz in Venedig mit österreichischem Militär, Rudolf von Alt
Der Markusplatz in Venedig mit österreichischem Militär Rudolf von Alt 1860
Binnenplaats bij het stadhuis te Culemborg, Jan Weissenbruch
Binnenplaats bij het stadhuis te Culemborg Jan Weissenbruch 1860
The Room of the German School, Eduard Hau
The Room of the German School Eduard Hau 1857
The Letter Carrier in the Rosenthal, Carl Spitzweg
The Letter Carrier in the Rosenthal Carl Spitzweg 1858
Violinist in the Belfry Window, Eduard von Steinle
Violinist in the Belfry Window Eduard von Steinle 1858
The Bridge at Narni, Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot
The Bridge at Narni Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot 1826
The setting

A page from this edition

Not a mock-up: this page is taken from the finished volume. The ornament above the chapter belongs to its shelf and to no other, the opening letter is set as a drop capital, and the plate below carries the name of the painter and the year.

A page of The Case of the Pocket Diary Found in the Snow as set for this edition
The opening of a chapter
A page of The Case of the Pocket Diary Found in the Snow as set for this edition
A page where a plate falls

Both photographed from the finished volume.

Colophon

The Case of the Pocket Diary Found in the Snow, issued in this edition by Aeneas Press in 2026 on the Mystery & Crime shelf. Newly set, with the ornament of its series above each chapter and a drop capital on the opening page. Illustrated with full-page plates, each named with its painter.

Published as an ebook and not issued in print by this house; it carries one ISBN, 9785501181953, and is supplied worldwide. This edition — its setting, its ornament, its cover art, and the selection and attribution of its plates — © 2026 Aeneas Press.

Before you buy

Questions readers ask

Is this the whole of The Case of the Pocket Diary Found in the Snow?
Yes — complete and unabridged. Nothing is cut, condensed or paraphrased. This is the book, not a summary of it.
What exactly did you change?
The spelling and the punctuation follow present-day American usage. Augusta Groner's sentences are untouched — same words, same order, same rhythm.
Are the pictures really in the book?
Yes. The edition carries full-page plates bound into the text, each one named with its painter and the year it was made. Six of them are shown on this page.
How long is it?
About 48 pages, which is roughly about an hour of reading.
What do I actually get?
An illustrated ebook with its own ISBN, sold worldwide. One file, yours to keep, readable on any device.
If this one suits you
The Case of the Pocket Diary Found in the Snow
$4.99
Buy the ebook