Original 215+-year-old antique engravings and etchings from various publication of Pepys Diary from circa 1790 to around 1805
Some portraits may not be from the diary, but are of people mentioned in the diary
Sheet and image sizes vary
Note: many of these plates have typical age-related condition issues, including browning of paper, foxing, cockling, etc.
Please click on a thumbnail for a view of the entire plate.
Samuel Pepys, FRS (/piːps/ PEEPS; (23 February 1633 – 26 May 1703) was an administrator of the navy of England and Member of Parliament who is most famous for the diary he kept for a decade while still a relatively young man. Pepys had no maritime experience, but he rose to be the Chief Secretary to the Admiralty under both King Charles II and King James II through patronage, hard work, and his talent for administration. His influence and reforms at the Admiralty were important in the early professionalisation of the Royal Navy. The detailed private diary that Pepys kept from 1660 until 1669 was first published in the 19th 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.