The Diary of Samuel Pepys: A New and Complete Transcription. Volume VI: 1665

Pepys, Samuel ; R.C. Latham & W. Matthews (edited by)

ISBN 10: 0713515562 / ISBN 13: 9780713515565

Published by Bell & Hyman, 1981,, 1981

About this Item

hardback, large 8vo, xii,368pp, illustrated, clean and tight, no inscriptions, Very Good / Very Good dustwrapper. ISBN: 0713515562.

Seller Inventory # 226706

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Diary of Samuel Pepys: A New and Complete Transcription. Volume VI: 1665
• Publisher: Bell & Hyman, 1981,
• Publication Date: 1981
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0713515562
• ISBN 13: 9780713515565
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: Very Good
• Dust Jacket Condition: Dust Jacket Included
• Seller catalogs:
  • literature

About this title

Synopsis

Samuel Pepys is as much a paragon of literature as Chaucer and Shakespeare. His Diary is one of the principal sources for many aspects of the history of its period. In spite of its significance, all previous editions were inadequately edited and suffered from a number of omissions - until Robert Latham and William Matthews went back to the 300-year-old original manuscript and deciphered each passage and phrase, no matter how obscure or indiscreet. The Diary deals with some of the most dramatic events in English history. Pepys witnessed the London Fire, the Great Plague, the Restoration of Charles II, and the Dutch Wars. He was a patron of the arts, having himself composed many delightful songs and participated in the artistic life of London. His flair for gossip and detail reveals a portrait of the times that rivals the most swashbuckling and romantic historical novels. In none of the earlier versions was there a reliable, full text, with commentary and notation with any claim to completeness. This edition, first published in 1970, is the first in which the entire diary is printed with systematic comment. This is the only complete edition available; it is as close to Pepys's original as possible.

Review

"[Pepys] was not only Charles II's chief naval administrator, but a keen amateur of learning and an indefatigable enthusiast of politics, music, theater, women, life. He sets down his daily experience with a journalist's eye for detail, something of a novelist's sensitivity and, since he is writing for himself, a delightful frankness."--"Publishers Weekly