Samuel Pepys, Vol 1: The Man in the Making 1633-69

by Bryant

Arthur Bryant's brilliant biography of the great 17th-Century diarist Samuel Pepys is renowned as a classic. This first volume brings to vivid life both Pepys who, in 1660, began keeping his famous Diary, and the dramatic times in which he the Restoration of Charles II, the Great Plague and the Fire of London, an economic crisis and a European war. Bryant's sureness of touch and clarity of style make this one of the most entertaining and interesting biographies in the English language. 'An extraordinary, thrilling and at times almost fantastic tale that Arthur Bryant has spun out of Pepys's hitherto unexplored manuscripts in a book that will appeal to the learned arid unlearned alike'
THE TIMES
'He has written a biography which makes the Diary itself more interesting... not only full of local and temporal colour, but such large events as the Restoration of the Monarchy are made plausible to the imagination by conveying to us the very thrill and quiver of reaction in the country'
SUNDAY TIMES

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Biography

334 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1933

Reviews

[Margie · Rating 4 out of 5]

An exhaustive, thoroughly researched biography of the great English diarist, Samuel Pepys, which covers the years of his birth through the great plague and subsequent great fire of London, all of which Pepys recorded in his diary. His personal diary covered a span of nine years until tragically his eyesight was impaired and close work was painful. After that he continued his diary, but his entries were recorded by secretaries and consequently not as revealing. This is volume 1 and there are 2 more volumes (in the Oviatt, yay, Oviatt librarians!). Pepys rose from being a tailor's son to being revered as England's greatest "Secretary of the Navy" (Chief Secretary to the Admiralty).

[Rob Markley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting and illuminating perspective on the times, made doubly so because of Pepys vital role in the reform of the navy and the subsequent importance of British naval power in the centuries to follow. Taken from the Pepys diaries turned into a narrative. I don't know what the diaries are actually like to read themselves?

[Murray · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very entertaining and well-written biography of the earlier years of Pepys up to the end of his famous diary. I recommend reading this before the diary itself.