‘With one’s face in the wind you were almost burned with a shower of Firedrops . . .’ A selection from Pepys’s startlingly vivid and candid diary. Originally written in code, Pepys’s diary includes his unforgettable eyewitness account of the 1666 Fire. [ Samuel Pepys (1633–1703) ] Little Black Classics celebrates Penguin’s 80th birthday, introducing 80 works from the classics.
Author
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').
