Publisher's Synopsis
Samuel Pepys's great collection is the finest surviving seventeenth-century library and one of the major libraries of the world, despite its relatively modest size. Pepys collected with passion and discrimination to serve his wide-ranging, primarily secular, interests. His library of some 3,000 volumes is the earliest English private gentleman's library to survive intact. The books and manuscripts include a number of unique and many exceptionally rare volumes. Much of the other material is practically unknown. Scholars of the seventeenth century in manuy different fields, from politics and the history of science and administration to street ballads will welcome this full scholarlycatalogue, which constitutes such a unique and full index to late seventeenth-century English national history and culture.I. Printed BooksII. Ballads: i. Catalogue, ii. Indexes and ListsIII. Prints and Drawings: i. General, ii. PortraitsIV. Music, Maps, CalligraphyV. Manuscripts: i. Medieval, ii. ModernVI. BindingsVII.i.,ii. Pepys's Catalogue (facsimile)
