The Diary of Samuel Pepys M.A. F.R.S. Clerk of the Acts and Secretary to the Admiralty. For the first time fully transcribed ... Edited with extensive additions by Henry B. Wheatley. AUTOGRAPH EDITION. Complete in 18 vols.

This is a rare or used book from the Berkelouw Rare Books Department.

New York: George E. Croscup 1892-1899. 8vo. Uniformly bound in original burgundy coloured half oasis. Spines gilt titled and with raised bands. Top edges gilt other edges uncut. This edition with special illustrations (mostly in two states) is limited to 125 numbered sets this being No. 106 containing the autograph of Henry B. Wheatley 26 May 1903 in Vol. I. Title-pages printed in red / black ink. Rear board on Vol. XVIII is slightly discoloured (but not disturbingly so) otherwise a fine handsome and desirable set. NOTE: Samuel Pepys (1633-1703) an English naval administrator and Member of Parliament is renowned for his diaries first published after his death in 1825. They offer insights into seventeenth century England with accounts of significant events including the Great Plague of London the Second Dutch War and the Great Fire of London. More prosaically he wrote in frank detail about day to day life at the time offering glimpses of another era. This autographed edition was published 200 years after Pepys' death testifying to the ongoing importance of the work. Wheatley comments in his introduction 'It is a wonderful thing that we know him now as he was never known in life ... [winning] for the diary such a distinguished position in English literature'.