The Diary of Samuel Pepys: 1666 v. 7: 07

by SPepys (Author)

• Used

  Paperback
  2008

  $17.82

  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.

• Used

  Paperback
  2000

  $3.45

  The Index to the complete Diary of Samuel Pepys in its most authoritative and acclaimed edition. This renowned edition of The Diary of Samuel Pepys, edited by Robert Latham and William Matthews, is the first to present a newly transcribed text of the famous Diary and to equip it with a systematic commentary. Published in eleven volumes (nine of the Diary itself, followed by a Companion volume and this Index), it has justly become regarded as the definitive edition. The Index, compiled by Robert Latham, gives the essential key to the nine volumes of the Diary text, including the introduction and the footnotes. It makes it possible to retrieve a massive variety of information, whether the user wishes to trace successive references to individual people, places and events, or to follow through a general topic, or even to locate specific references and phrases from amongst the wealth of subject matter covered by the Diary. The entries are made readily accessible by the use of sub-headings, and are also valuably detailed - often reflecting the style of the Diary itself by borrowing from Pepys's own phraseology. As a result the Index becomes more than merely functional, and offers opportunities for much enjoyable exploration. In many instances references are gathered together under important group headings that can be used to build up a composite picture of different aspects of seventeenth-century England. General topics such as books, dress, food, ships and taverns are afforded detailed entries which include, where necessary, editorial information to identify or elaborate on Pepys's own references. The Index volume completes the set, and maintains the exemplary standards of this great work of scholarship, which was hailed by The Times as 'one of the glories of contemporary English publishing'.

• Used

  Hardcover
  1970

  $3.45

• New

  Paperback
  2003

  $19.51

  The 1660s represent a turning point in English history, and for the main events - the Restoration, the Dutch War, the Great Plague, the Fire of London - Pepys provides a definitive eyewitness account. Along with lively descriptions of his socializing, his amorous entanglements, his theater-going & music-making. Unequaled for its frankness, high spirits & sharp observations, the diary is both a literary masterpiece & a marvelous portrait of 17th-century life.