Diary and Correspondence of Samuel Pepys. by Pepys, Samuel - 1920

New York: Bigelow, Brown and Co., Inc, 1920. Finely bound example of the diary and correspondence of Samuel Pepys. Octavos, four volumes. Bound in three quarters morocco, gilt titles and tooling to the spine, raised gilt bands, top edge gilt, marbled endpapers. Frontispiece engraving to each volume, illustrated. Deciphered by Rev. J. Smith from the original shorthand. Life and notes by Richard, Lord Braybrooke. In near fine condition. A nice set. Alexander conquered the world; but Pepys, with a keener, more selfish understanding of life, conquered a world for every sense" (Charles Whibley). "Pepys led a full, varied and voraciously-enjoyed life and clearly took pleasure in setting it all down in plain words. Unlike most frantically busy men, he had remarkable powers of observation" (Paul Johnson). "The bald truth about oneself, what we are all too timid to admit when we are not too dull to see it, that was what Pepys saw clearly and set down unsparingly" (Robert Louis Stevenson).