The Diary of Samuel Pepys

Samuel Pepys began his celebrated diary in 1660 at the age of 26 as a young and ambitious secretary. Due to his support of the king's restoration he soon found himself in an influential position in the Royal Navy's administration. He was to keep the diary for nearly ten years until his eye sight failed and in it he would record many of the great events of the age such as the outbreak of plague and the Great Fire of London as well as many smaller domestic and personal happenings. Although written in shorthand and principally for his own personal remembrance and pleasure it is clear at times that Pepys had one eye on posterity. It is a large work conveniently divided into one volume per year; here is the first based on the first complete edition that of Henry B. Wheatley originally published in 1893.