# Samuel Pepys and 17th century London



## Brian G Turner (Nov 21, 2015)

The BBC has a magazine piece about the life of Samuel Pepys:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-34786023



> Samuel Pepys never intended his famous diaries to be made public. But without them, we would be denied his very colourful eyewitness accounts of 17th Century London life.
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It intrigued me enough to look for his diaries, which are available (heavily annotated) to download via Amazon (and no doubt from other sites, such as Project Gutenberg:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B004TS74VW/?tag=brite-21


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## Ray McCarthy (Nov 21, 2015)

The diary supposedly by his wife is a modern fake. Also on Amazon 
BBC R4 had a Pepys serial some while ago, either earlier this year or last year.


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## Teresa Edgerton (Nov 21, 2015)

For someone writing a historical novel set in that period, Pepys's records of great events are a wonderful resource.

For anyone writing SFF in an imaginary world setting based on that period, his records of everyday living can be even more enlightening, because he talks about the small domestic matters you're unlikely to read about in history books.


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## Dave (Nov 22, 2015)

I have to strongly disagree. It can be difficult to determine the reasons why someone has written a diary but there is no proof that Pepys didn't want anyone else to read them. Pepys is obviously writing his diaries with an eye for them to be read by someone else (even if only subconsciously.) The gossip and tittle tattle are for a much wider audience. On the other hand, they were written in a coded shorthand (the first person to publish them didn't realise that the key to the shorthand was in a book upon the same shelf in the library at Cambridge, and therefore took years longer than necessary.) However, I don't think Pepys thought the shorthand was difficult to decode, precisely because the key was published, and in a readily accessible book.

People also usually write diaries for a short period. Often it is while they are unhappy in life. Thomas Turner's diaries are during the period of his first unhappy marriage in which he criticises his wife, reflects upon his love of excess in alcohol and gambling, and moans constantly about not getting paid on time by customers. I will accept that Pepys is not unhappy and that he writes for his own benefit.

Pepys writes for only a decade between the Reformation (though he does write about earlier events like seeing Charles I beheaded) and the death of his wife when he also thought (mistakenly) that he was going blind. However, his diaries are filled with his experiences and new discoveries and his passions, such as the theatre.

You also need to compare Pepys with John Evelyn who wrote diaries right from his teenage years up until the final weeks before his death. His diaries are, in my view, a much more complete record of the time. Evelyn doesn't get quite as "hands on" during the Fire of London. Pepys is more personally involved since his childhood home is burnt down and his present house and office are threatened. I think it is because of his better descriptions of Fire of London that we hold up Pepys' diaries and not Evelyn's. Evelyn writes much more dispassionately, almost like an outsider looking down on events with fewer personal feelings.

If you are interested in Pepys then there is an exhibition at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich that started yesterday (Friday). It is well worth going to and runs for the next few months.


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## Ray McCarthy (Nov 27, 2015)

I downloaded the complete diaries (with commentary/ notes) from Gutenberg as a single edition. 3,200 pages on my 6.8" Kobo Aura H2O(it's "HD" about equivalent to regular paperback book pages). Very interesting to dip into a bit at a time rather than read all 10 years in one go. Introduction has a potted / summary history of him.


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