The Letters of Samuel Pepys (0) - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 184383197X ISBN 13: 9781843831976

Publisher: Boydell Press, 2006

Synopsis

The correspondence included here represents the first selection of Pepys's letters drawn from all possible sources to be published since 1933. Since the Diary does not cover this period, the letters enable the reader to follow Pepys' early career on the staff of the Earl of Sandwich, his rise to greatness as Secretary of the Admiralty, and his retirement after the Glorious Revolution. Along the way Pepys fought battles with opponents of his naval reforms and enemies who tried to implicate him in the Popish Plot, while taking care of his various relatives and keeping up with an array of friends and acquaintances who included many of the great and famous of late-seventeenth-century England.
The letters have been chosen to reflect all these aspects of Pepys's varied and fascinating life, and include 30 never before published. They are accompanied by a running commentary, biographies of persons mentioned, a glossary, a chronology, and an introduction that explains how the letters have survived and analyses how they were written.

GUY DE LA BÉDOYERE is an historian and archaeologist with numerous books to his credit. His specialist field is Roman Britain but he has published three books for Boydell on the 'other' seventeenth-century diarist, John Evelyn (1620-1706), including the widely-acclaimed Particular Friends: The Correspondence of Samuel Pepys and John Evelyn which features all the letters exchanged by the two men over a period of 38 years.

About this title

Review:

Allows a solid and revealing reflection of the man over the full span of his life. [...] The Pepys of these letters is a rounded, conscientious and surprisingly troubled character - a useful counter-balance to the man who is so easily seen only in his prime, the diary years. Guy de la Bédoyère's informative editorial comments and linking passages could almost stand alone as a brief history of the period. THE LITERARY REVIEW
Well edited and interesting...throw[s] light on incidents that were important to his career. [...] One finished the book with a stronger conviction of his kindness and good nature. SPECTATOR
[Pepys's] letters in this well-selected and wide ranging collection are truly engaging and utterly civilized. RECUSANT HISTORY

From the Publisher:

From the THE LITERARY REVIEW, June 2006:
Allows a solid and revealing reflection of the man over the full span of his life. [...]
The Pepys of these letters is a rounded, conscientious and surprisingly troubled character – a useful counter-balance to the man who is so easily seen only in his prime, the diary years. Guy de la Bédoyère’s informative editorial comments and linking passages could almost stand alone as a brief history of the period.

About this edition

• Publisher: Boydell Press
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 184383197X
• ISBN 13: 9781843831976
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 290
• Editor: De La Bedoyere Guy