Samuel Pepys in 50 Places and Objects

by Kendall, Paul

• ISBN13: 9781398128637
• ISBN10: 1398128635
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2026-09-29
• Publisher: Amberley Publishing
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Summary

The life of politician and diarist Samuel Pepys spanned seven decades, during which he witnessed some of the most significant events in British history, including the execution of Charles I in 1649 and the Glorious Revolution of 1688. Pepys kept his famous diary between 1660 and 1669, recording the world around him in remarkable detail, from the Restoration of Charles II in 1660 to the plague of 1665 and the Great Fire of London in 1666.

This extraordinary record of seventeenth-century England offers vivid insight into politics, court life, national defense, and commerce, as well as the rhythms of everyday life. Pepys writes of visits to coffeehouses, taverns, theaters, and bear pits, and with striking candor, brothels.

This book explores Pepys’s life and diary through the places and objects associated with him. Readers are taken to the locations where he lived and worked, the dockyards he inspected at Woolwich and Chatham, and the churches where he worshipped, as well as the coffeehouses and taverns he frequented. It also examines key objects from his life, including the bills of mortality he read during the plague, his wig, the church steeple from which he observed the Great Fire, and his will.

Filled with quirky facts and engaging illustrations, this book brings seventeenth-century London vividly to life through the places and objects that shaped Samuel Pepys’s remarkable story.

Author Biography

Educated at Queen Mary & Westfield College, University of London, Paul Kendall served as an Honorary Midshipman with the University of London Royal Naval Unit. He is an author and historian from Kent, who has written thirteen books on the First World War and various aspects of British history.