The social life and customs of 17th Century England are vividly portrayed in these extracts from the diary of Samuel Pepys.

Pepys never resumed the personal Diary which he abandoned in 1669 fearing he was going blind. He was one of the greatest accidental historians, never intending

"This study uses [Pepys's] surviving papers to examine reading practices, collecting, and the exchange of information in the late 17th century"--Back cover.

Selections from Samuel Pepys' diary offers a vivid picture of seventeenth century British life, and are accompanied by background information concerning his lif