{Ed. Note: Pictures of this edition were taken at Book Gallery, in Phoenix. Last I checked, they still have this copy with the King James II original document.}

Samuel Pepys (1633-1703) produced what is considered one of the greatest memoirs ever written. His diaries cover only nine years, 1660 to 1669, but an eventful nine years they were! The Great Plague of London, the Second Dutch War and the Great Fire of London were the dominating events of the decade and Pepys lived through and documented all of them. Pepys also provides much more than a glimpse of his personal life, discussing his pursuit of women, his interactions with friends and his relationship with his wife.

Pepys was Chief Secretary to the Admiralty under both King Charles II and subsequently King James II.  Pepys enjoyed wine, books, music, the theatre, and science, in addition to being a lifelong bibliophile, having more than 3,000 volumes in his library.

The diary was written in a private cipher and remained unreadable for more than a hundred and fifty years. The Reverend John Smith transcribed the diaries into plain English, taking him three years to do so (1819-1822). Unfortunately for Smith, he was unaware that a key to the cipher was stored in Pepys’s library just a few feet away from the diary itself! It is Smith’s transcription that provided the basis for the first published edition of the diary, which is shown below. It was edited by Lord Braybrooke, and released in two volumes in 1825.

What makes the copy of the first edition shown below unique is the inclusion of an original document from King James II, three pictures of which are included below.

Pictures