The Diary of Samuel Pepys, Vol. 6: 1665 [Hardcover]

Samuel Pepys (Author), Robert Latham (Editor), William Matthews (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 1972 | ISBN-10: 0520018591 | ISBN-13: 978-0520018594 | Edition: 1

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.

Editorial Reviews

Review

'The Latham-Matthews transcription of Pepys' Diary is one of the glories of contemporary English publishing.' The Times 'The pleasure of Pepys -- of reading him -- is his own pleasure in experience! Pepys' diary is the cheerful self-report, not of the man eminent in naval history, not of the historical witness, but of the unobjectionable hedonist.' Guardian 'Here, in one of the finest feats in all the long history of scholarship, is Pepys' Diary, once and for all. Exegi monumentum aere perennius.' Observer 'The editors have achieved the impossible! one can now read the Diary perfectly easily, month by month, year by year! here at last is a really learned edtiion where the learning is put at the disposal of the layman.' New Statesman 'It isn't often that one encounters a publication -- especially of this magnitude -- which achieves complete perfection, but there is no doubt that this does.' Sir Arthur Bryant --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Robert Latham was Pepys Librarian at Magdalene College, Cambridge. In addition to editing the eleven volumes of The Diary of Samuel Pepys, he was the editor of the acclaimed Shorter Pepys (1985) and A Pepys Anthology (1988), both published by University of California Press. William Matthews was Professor of English at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 379 pages
• Publisher: University of California Press; 1 edition (September 1, 1972)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0520018591
• ISBN-13: 978-0520018594
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,866,123 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The World Upside Down, April 26, 2004

By 

Marilyn L Lesh (Tucson, AZ (formerly UCLA)) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Diary of Samuel Pepys, Vol. 6: 1665 (Paperback)

I've long been a student and a collector of information on the personalities of Restoration England, growing out of a desire to know more about the background in literature classes. The Restoration crowd loved life, and in this volume (and presumably the next) you see how tenuous their lives were -- 5000 a week in the City of London dying of plague, two fleets of 100 ships each at war in a narrow sea, everyone so intent on feathering their nest and getting their next place, and an honest man rarest commodity of all. I love all these diaries. I've learned to ignore a lot of the textural (not text) notes that tell you if there was a blot on the page, or the symbol was not quite clear, but the footnotes are amazing and so is the information. Love Sam; he could have done pretty much as he pleased with me, I fear. But in his daily strolls of 5 miles and more I fear I could never have kept up as he went up and down the town, up and down the river. I've been to London and took the boat tour on the Thames from the houses of Parliament down to Greenwich to see the naval museum and Queen's house -- and he would walk, day or night, from London to Depworth, to Woolwich, to Greenwich (though he'd borrow the boat if he could) and pay attention to all he passed. What a companion!

Unfortunately for my budget's sake I started buying these in 3s and am now having trouble filling up 1666-1669. I will persevere, though, and anticipate a re-read of all or part probably every summer (while TV takes a dive and there's good light to read by until long into the evening). The only thing I have wished for is more portraits of the people he is speaking of--and the portraits by Huysmans and Lely that he reports having seen fresh painted. However, financially that may not have been doable. Will have to keep searching for a companion Restoration Portraits volume to keep me happy.

Great reading - do start from the beginning to get into the swing of things. A random paragraph doesn't put you "in the life" like the unrolling panorama does. A better map of London at your elbow (though there is one in the back of each volume) will also increase your pleasure.