Henry B. Wheatley

The Diary of Samuel Pepys - Complete collects the unexpurgated entries he kept from 1660 to 1669, a panorama of Restoration London from playhouse to Navy Office. Pepys chronicles the Great Plague, the Great Fire of 1666, and the Second Dutch War, interleaving public crises with domestic quarrels and pleasures. Written in Shelton shorthand, sprinkled with French and Spanish, its brisk, reportorial prose and comic candor made it a foundational work of early modern life-writing, fully restored after nineteenth-century cuts.
Cambridge-educated and propelled by the patronage of Edward Montagu, Pepys rose from clerk to Secretary of the Admiralty, while nurturing passions for theater, music, and experiment; he later presided over the Royal Society. Marriage to Elizabeth St Michel, careful management of servants and money, and acute professional ambition shape the diary's scenes. Failing eyesight ended it in 1669; shorthand afforded privacy for a program of self-scrutiny and record-keeping.
Readers of history, literature, and urban life will find here a primary source of unrivaled texture and wit. For scholars and curious laypeople alike, this complete diary offers both daily counsel and grand narrative, illuminating how public catastrophe and private desire cohabit a modernizing city. Quickie Classics summarizes timeless works with precision, preserving the author's voice and keeping the prose clear, fast, and readable-distilled, never diluted.
Enriched Edition extras: Introduction · Synopsis · Historical Context · Author Biography · Brief Analysis · 4 Reflection Q&As · Editorial Footnotes.