The Diary of Samuel Pepys by Samuel Pepys - 1920

London: G. Bell and Sons. Ltd., 1920. Leather. Near Fine. 7.5" by 5". None. A handsome set of The Diary of Samuel Pepys with a portrait of Pepys to frontispiece of of volume one, from the pictures by Sir Godfrey Kneller in the Pepysian Library, Magdalene College, Cambridge. Transcribed by the late Rev. Mynors Bright M.A. from the shorthand manuscript in the Pepysian Library, Magdalene College, Cambridge. Edited, with additions and a preface by Henry B. Wheatley and with Particulars of the Life of Samuel Pepys to front of first volume. Samuel Pepys FRS, MP, JP, (23 February 1633 – 26 May 1703) was an English naval administrator and Member of Parliament who is now most famous for the diary he kept for a decade while still a relatively young man. Although Pepys had no maritime experience, he rose by patronage, hard work and his talent for administration, to be the Chief Secretary to the Admiralty under both King Charles II and subsequently King James II. His influence and reforms at the Admiralty were important in the early professionalisation of the Royal Navy. The detailed private diary Pepys kept from 1660 until 1669 was first published in the 19th century, and is one of the most important primary sources for the English Restoration period. It provides a combination of personal revelation and eyewitness accounts of great events, such as the Great Plague of London, the Second Dutch War and the Great Fire of London. In a handsome half calf binding with cloth covered boards. Externally, smart with only minor shelfwear and the very occasional mark to boards. Internally, firmly bound. Generally bright and clean throughout but with some foxing and offsetting from binding to endpapers. Near Fine