Samuel Pepys was an English naval administrator and Member of Parliament, who is now most famous for his diary. 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 King James II. His influence and reforms at the Admiralty were important in the early professionalization of the Royal Navy.
The detailed private diary he kept during 1660–1669 was first published in the nineteenth 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.
His surname is usually pronounced /’pi:ps/ (‘peeps’).
Books in order of publication:
| The Great Fire of London | 1666 |
| The Diary of Samuel Pepys | 1669 |
| The Illustrated Pepys: Extracts from the Diary | 1978 |
| The Shorter Pepys | 1985 |
| A Pepys Anthology | 1987 |
| The Concise Pepys | 1997 |
| The Diary of Samuel Pepys, Vol. III: 1662 (The Diary of Samuel Pepys #3) | 2000 |
| The Diary of Samuel Pepys, Vol. IV: 1663 (The Diary of Samuel Pepys #4) | 2000 |
| The Diary of Samuel Pepys, Vol. IX: 1668-9 (The Diary of Samuel Pepys #9) | 2000 |
| The Diary of Samuel Pepys, Vol. X: Companion (The Diary of Samuel Pepys #10) | 2000 |
| Diary of Samuel Pepys: Selected Passages | 2004 |
| The Diary of Samuel Pepys, Vol 1: 1660 | 2006 |
| The Diary of Samuel Pepys 1661 (The Diary of Samuel Pepys #2) | 2006 |
| The Diary of Samuel Pepys, 1665 (The Diary of Samuel Pepys #6) | 2006 |
| The Diary of Samuel Pepys, 1666 (The Diary of Samuel Pepys #7) | 2006 |
| The Diary of Samuel Pepys 1667 (The Diary of Samuel Pepys #8) | 2010 |
| The Diary of Samuel Pepys, Vol 5: 1664 (The Diary of Samuel Pepys #5) | 2010 |
| The Diary of Samuel Pepys: Volume I – 1660 | 2010 |
| The Joys of Excess | 2011 |
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