A Journal of the Plague Year: An account by Daniel Defoe of one man's experiences of the year 1665 in which the bubonic plague struck the city of ... the last epidemic of plague in that city.

A Journal of the Plague Year is a book by Daniel Defoe first published in March 1722. It is an account of one mans experiences of the year 1665 in which the bubonic plague struck the city of London in what became known as the Great Plague of London the last epidemic of plague in that city. The book is told somewhat chronologically though without sections or chapter headings and with frequent digressions and repetitions.Presented as an eyewitness account of the events at the time it was written in the years just prior to the books first publication in March 1722. Defoe was only five years old in 1665 when the Great Plague took place and the book itself was published under the initials H. F. and is probably based on the journals of Defoes uncle Henry Foe who like H. F. was a saddler who lived in the Whitechapel district of East London.In the book Defoe goes to great pains to achieve an effect of verisimilitude identifying specific neighborhoods streets and even houses in which events took place. Additionally it provides tables of casualty figures and discusses the credibility of various accounts and anecdotes received by the narrator. The book is often compared to the actual contemporary accounts of the plague in the diary of Samuel Pepys. Defoes account which appears to include much research is far more systematic and detailed than Pepyss first-person account.A Journal of the Plague Year is a book by Daniel Defoe first published in March 1722. It is an account of one mans experiences of the year 1665 in which the bubonic plague struck the city of London in what became known as the Great Plague of London the last epidemic of plague in that city. The book is told somewhat chronologically though without sections or chapter headings and with frequent digressions and repetitions.[1]Presented as an eyewitness account of the events at the time it was written in the years just prior to the books first publication in March 1722. Defoe was only five years old in 1665 when the Great Plague took place and the book itself was published under the initials H. F. and is probably based on the journals of Defoes uncle Henry Foe who like H. F. was a saddler who lived in the Whitechapel district of East London.In the book Defoe goes to great pains to achieve an effect of verisimilitude identifying specific neighborhoods streets and even houses in which events took place. Additionally it provides tables of casualty figures and discusses the credibility of various accounts and anecdotes received by the narrator. The book is often compared to the actual contemporary accounts of the plague in the diary of Samuel Pepys. Defoes account which appears to include much research is far more systematic and detailed than Pepyss first-person account.