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The Great Fire of London
‘With one’s face in the wind you were almost burned with a shower of Firedrops . . .’
A selection from Pepys’s startlingly vivid and candid diary. Originally written in code, Pepys’s diary includes his unforgettable eyewitness account of the 1666 Fire.
[ Samuel Pepys (1633–1703) ]
Little Black Classics celebrates Penguin’s 80th birthday, introducing 80 works from the classics.
A selection from Pepys’s startlingly vivid and candid diary. Originally written in code, Pepys’s diary includes his unforgettable eyewitness account of the 1666 Fire.
[ Samuel Pepys (1633–1703) ]
Little Black Classics celebrates Penguin’s 80th birthday, introducing 80 works from the classics.
51 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1666
37 people are currently reading
1504 people want to read
About the author
Samuel Pepys
1,000 books73 followersSamuel Pepys was an English naval administrator and Member of Parliament, who is now most famous for his diary. Although Pepys had no maritime experience, he rose by patronage, hard work and his talent for administration, to be the Chief Secretary to the Admiralty under King James II. His influence and reforms at the Admiralty were important in the early professionalization of the Royal Navy.
The detailed private diary he kept during 1660–1669 was first published in the nineteenth 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.
His surname is usually pronounced /'pi:ps/ ('peeps').
The detailed private diary he kept during 1660–1669 was first published in the nineteenth 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.
His surname is usually pronounced /'pi:ps/ ('peeps').
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 111 reviews
March 9, 2016
Did you know that in London today there is only one building that is legally allowed a thatched roof? It’s, without a shadow of a doubt, the best building in London; it’s full of wonder, poetry, and the highest form of art. I’m, of course, subjectively referring to Shakespeare’s Globe. Such was the devastation of the great fire of London that today (almost four hundred years later) the law is still in place. The globe is the marvellous exception to the rule.
I’m digressing a bit here. Admittedly, I just wanted an excuse to praise one of the best places on earth. Can you blame me? I saw Richard II last week and I’m still in a state of awe. But, enough of that- there’s a book to review! Well, a very short one.
This diary is incredibly emotive in the good parts. The Great Fire of London was a terribly destructive event and Pepys, certainly, dramatized it here.
With one’s face in the wind you were almost burned with a shower of fire drops
He was an eyewitness to the devastation and was, naturally, completely horrified by what he saw. The blaze engulfed houses and reduced streets to rubble; it incinerated half the city and left its population homeless. They had to start again. The only beneficial thing to come of it was its consequential culling of the plague. This was, indeed, a time of turmoil for Londoner’s and this diary makes that very clear. However, only around a third of it is actually given over to the event. The rest of it is Pepys’s entries about his day-to-day life. These weren’t very interesting and only served as page fillers. This made me enjoy the edition a little less because very little of it was actually about the Fire. I enjoyed the bits that were on topic, but the rest was pointless.
Penguin Little Black Classic- 47
The Little Black Classic Collection by penguin looks like it contains lots of hidden gems. I couldn’t help it; they looked so good that I went and bought them all. I shall post a short review after reading each one. No doubt it will take me several months to get through all of them! Hopefully I will find some classic authors, from across the ages, that I may not have come across had I not bought this collection.
I’m digressing a bit here. Admittedly, I just wanted an excuse to praise one of the best places on earth. Can you blame me? I saw Richard II last week and I’m still in a state of awe. But, enough of that- there’s a book to review! Well, a very short one.
This diary is incredibly emotive in the good parts. The Great Fire of London was a terribly destructive event and Pepys, certainly, dramatized it here.
With one’s face in the wind you were almost burned with a shower of fire drops
He was an eyewitness to the devastation and was, naturally, completely horrified by what he saw. The blaze engulfed houses and reduced streets to rubble; it incinerated half the city and left its population homeless. They had to start again. The only beneficial thing to come of it was its consequential culling of the plague. This was, indeed, a time of turmoil for Londoner’s and this diary makes that very clear. However, only around a third of it is actually given over to the event. The rest of it is Pepys’s entries about his day-to-day life. These weren’t very interesting and only served as page fillers. This made me enjoy the edition a little less because very little of it was actually about the Fire. I enjoyed the bits that were on topic, but the rest was pointless.
Penguin Little Black Classic- 47
The Little Black Classic Collection by penguin looks like it contains lots of hidden gems. I couldn’t help it; they looked so good that I went and bought them all. I shall post a short review after reading each one. No doubt it will take me several months to get through all of them! Hopefully I will find some classic authors, from across the ages, that I may not have come across had I not bought this collection.
May 5, 2020
Having just read A Journal of the Plague Year, I felt a need to complete my misery porn journey through Restoration England.
Except I’d forgotten that Pepys isn’t misery porn at all. In fact, he seemed to be having a great year in 1665: he was doing well economically, he was having lots of fancy new suits made (and friends would come over to look at his closet for entertainment!) and he had at least one mistress, whom he liked to write about in some strange mixture of French and Spanish to lightly disguise just what, exactly, he was doing with her.
This is one of those tiny Penguin extracts that cost 80p and offers a fifty-page glance and Pepys’s diary, from May of 1665 and September of 1666 to take in the great fire. It’s doubtless designed for people like me who expected Pepys to be a bit dry but were interested enough in the fire to give it a whirl anyway. As it turns out, Pepys is the opposite of dry; the fire may actually be the driest thing in this book. He definitely tops my list of literary people I’d invite to a dinner party, and I’m considering buying the whole diary, although a thousand pages might be overkill….
Anyway, it made a nice contrast with Defoe’s book, which is a largely macro look at London, whereas Pepys is of course entirely personal, and seems to live in a way that is familiar to the 21st century reader. I had this idea of 17th century London that everyone lived within a mile of their work and spent boring evenings in salons, but Pepys is always charging around town, to work, to dinner, “with the fairest flower to eat a cake …and kiss and tocar ses mamelles,” to the alehouse. He’s unstoppable.
Except I’d forgotten that Pepys isn’t misery porn at all. In fact, he seemed to be having a great year in 1665: he was doing well economically, he was having lots of fancy new suits made (and friends would come over to look at his closet for entertainment!) and he had at least one mistress, whom he liked to write about in some strange mixture of French and Spanish to lightly disguise just what, exactly, he was doing with her.
This is one of those tiny Penguin extracts that cost 80p and offers a fifty-page glance and Pepys’s diary, from May of 1665 and September of 1666 to take in the great fire. It’s doubtless designed for people like me who expected Pepys to be a bit dry but were interested enough in the fire to give it a whirl anyway. As it turns out, Pepys is the opposite of dry; the fire may actually be the driest thing in this book. He definitely tops my list of literary people I’d invite to a dinner party, and I’m considering buying the whole diary, although a thousand pages might be overkill….
Anyway, it made a nice contrast with Defoe’s book, which is a largely macro look at London, whereas Pepys is of course entirely personal, and seems to live in a way that is familiar to the 21st century reader. I had this idea of 17th century London that everyone lived within a mile of their work and spent boring evenings in salons, but Pepys is always charging around town, to work, to dinner, “with the fairest flower to eat a cake …and kiss and tocar ses mamelles,” to the alehouse. He’s unstoppable.
November 10, 2018
“I am eased at my heart to have my treasure so well secured.”
― Samuel Pepys, The Great Fire of London
Vol 47 of my Penguin Little Black Classics Box Set that I've read previously. For more Pepys, go here.
The first part of this book (May 1st - June 30th, 1665), comes from Volume VI of Pepy's great diary, and examines the Plague in London and the Second Anglo-Dutch War along with information about the Duke of Yorke (later King James II). He sees his fortune triple, due largely to multiple roles he is playing in the government (Treasurer of Tanger, Surveyor of the Victuals) in addition to his day job as Clerk of the Acts to the Navy Board. His skill and work ethic have earned him not just the attention and favor of Lord Sandwich, but also the Duke of Yorke and occasionally the King. This year the plague hits London hard. Those who can move their families out of the city. The Plague peaks during the Summer and begins to pull back as Winter freeze comes on.*
Pepys' writing about the Great Fire of London appears in the second part of this extract (September 2nd - 15th, 1666) and comes from Volume VII. It was a fantastic first hand account of the fire, the results, and the government's response. Like a lot of Peyps' Diary, the Great Fire portion is amazing because Pepys is like a Zelig. He is everywhere (in the Privy Council and hanging with the great unwashed masses in the street). He was not a perfect (especially in the way he treated women), but he WAS interesting.
* One note to those who haven't read much Pepys. Anytime Pepys is writing in French, he is usually having a rendevous with a "lady" or behaving badly. Early editions of Pepy's diaries either edited out Pepys' comments, or had yet to crack his "code".
An example of this is from late June (pg 22) where he says: "Thence after dinner I to White-hall with Sir W Berkely in his coach. And so I walked to Herberts and there spent a little time avec la mosa, sin hazer algo con ella que kiss and tocar ses mamelles, que me haza hazer la cosa a mi mismo con gran plaisir. ... [with the beautiful one, without doing anything with her other than kiss and touch her breasts which made me do the thing to myself with great pleasure] Thence to Fox hall, and there walked an hour alone, observing the several humours of the citizens that were there this holiday, pulling of cherries and God knows what."
― Samuel Pepys, The Great Fire of London
Vol 47 of my Penguin Little Black Classics Box Set that I've read previously. For more Pepys, go here.
The first part of this book (May 1st - June 30th, 1665), comes from Volume VI of Pepy's great diary, and examines the Plague in London and the Second Anglo-Dutch War along with information about the Duke of Yorke (later King James II). He sees his fortune triple, due largely to multiple roles he is playing in the government (Treasurer of Tanger, Surveyor of the Victuals) in addition to his day job as Clerk of the Acts to the Navy Board. His skill and work ethic have earned him not just the attention and favor of Lord Sandwich, but also the Duke of Yorke and occasionally the King. This year the plague hits London hard. Those who can move their families out of the city. The Plague peaks during the Summer and begins to pull back as Winter freeze comes on.*
Pepys' writing about the Great Fire of London appears in the second part of this extract (September 2nd - 15th, 1666) and comes from Volume VII. It was a fantastic first hand account of the fire, the results, and the government's response. Like a lot of Peyps' Diary, the Great Fire portion is amazing because Pepys is like a Zelig. He is everywhere (in the Privy Council and hanging with the great unwashed masses in the street). He was not a perfect (especially in the way he treated women), but he WAS interesting.
* One note to those who haven't read much Pepys. Anytime Pepys is writing in French, he is usually having a rendevous with a "lady" or behaving badly. Early editions of Pepy's diaries either edited out Pepys' comments, or had yet to crack his "code".
An example of this is from late June (pg 22) where he says: "Thence after dinner I to White-hall with Sir W Berkely in his coach. And so I walked to Herberts and there spent a little time avec la mosa, sin hazer algo con ella que kiss and tocar ses mamelles, que me haza hazer la cosa a mi mismo con gran plaisir. ... [with the beautiful one, without doing anything with her other than kiss and touch her breasts which made me do the thing to myself with great pleasure] Thence to Fox hall, and there walked an hour alone, observing the several humours of the citizens that were there this holiday, pulling of cherries and God knows what."
August 16, 2017
What I found encouraging about this little book was that Samuel Pepys did have days when he got up went to the office, meet with people, sure they were high up people eg Lord Sandwich and Dukes and sirs. Went home, worked in the office and went to bed. He had 'normal days' and my diary is sometimes like that when it seems to be stuck on repeat.
Samuel does mention his wife, buying a new suite, the Lords Day, the plague and he was pleased about the victory over the Dutch on June 3 1665.
The last 30 pages is about the Great fire of London in 1666 (three hundred years before I was born in 1966) To start with they didn't seem to do much about the fire and then the fire got to big and it was every man for himself. For Pepys it ment shifting his bags of gold and belonging to a safer friends house. He was still able to travel arround London. The fire did haunt his dreams. After it was over his house was safe.
Samuel does mention his wife, buying a new suite, the Lords Day, the plague and he was pleased about the victory over the Dutch on June 3 1665.
The last 30 pages is about the Great fire of London in 1666 (three hundred years before I was born in 1966) To start with they didn't seem to do much about the fire and then the fire got to big and it was every man for himself. For Pepys it ment shifting his bags of gold and belonging to a safer friends house. He was still able to travel arround London. The fire did haunt his dreams. After it was over his house was safe.
September 30, 2018
These are two extracts from Samuel Pepys diary. The first part is incredibly dull and I have no idea why anyone would want to read it. Just made me angry at rich and unaware people. The second part is about his experience in the great fire of London, and while I still thought he was a dullard, the topic itself was just interesting enough to better my reading experience.
January 23, 2022
We all know fire is scary, but to witness its whole potential must be an entirely different sort of deal. Pepys was one to do just that: the administrator is now known for having kept a diary that documents the Great Fire of London in 1666.
Short and sweet, this book features excerpts of Pepys diaries. He goes on about his daily business, which features church, his wive and ongoings with various other people, until his daily life is suddenly interrupted one day in September: London is on fire!
Today, it is estimated that this fire destroyed the homes of more than 70.000 of the City's 80.000 inhabitants. Pepys was, naturally, terrified by what was happening and describes the event with great and vivid detail. Because of the event's gravity, reading about it from a witness was fascinating, but overall, Pepys himself wasn't a man (and this might sound harsh) truly worth reading about centuries later. This was fun as a little historical excursion for the fire-related passages, the rest was admittedly, forgettable.
In 2015 Penguin introduced the Little Black Classics series to celebrate Penguin's 80th birthday. Including little stories from "around the world and across many centuries" as the publisher describes, I have been intrigued to read those for a long time, before finally having started. I hope to sooner or later read and review all of them!
Short and sweet, this book features excerpts of Pepys diaries. He goes on about his daily business, which features church, his wive and ongoings with various other people, until his daily life is suddenly interrupted one day in September: London is on fire!
Today, it is estimated that this fire destroyed the homes of more than 70.000 of the City's 80.000 inhabitants. Pepys was, naturally, terrified by what was happening and describes the event with great and vivid detail. Because of the event's gravity, reading about it from a witness was fascinating, but overall, Pepys himself wasn't a man (and this might sound harsh) truly worth reading about centuries later. This was fun as a little historical excursion for the fire-related passages, the rest was admittedly, forgettable.
In 2015 Penguin introduced the Little Black Classics series to celebrate Penguin's 80th birthday. Including little stories from "around the world and across many centuries" as the publisher describes, I have been intrigued to read those for a long time, before finally having started. I hope to sooner or later read and review all of them!
May 14, 2013
From BBC Radio 4 - Saturday Drama:
London in 1666 was a health and safety nightmare. It was illegal to build with wood and thatch but people did it anyway. Foundries were forbidden in the city but that didn't stop them operating. Charles II had banned dangerous overhanging windows but this was ignored by local government who carried on building them regardless. Many homes still contained muskets and gunpowder left over from Cromwell's time. Six hundred tons of highly potent gunpowder were stored in the Tower of London itself. Riverfront warehouses were full of oil and tallow. There was no fire service.
Further information can be found at Wikipedia.
London in 1666 was a health and safety nightmare. It was illegal to build with wood and thatch but people did it anyway. Foundries were forbidden in the city but that didn't stop them operating. Charles II had banned dangerous overhanging windows but this was ignored by local government who carried on building them regardless. Many homes still contained muskets and gunpowder left over from Cromwell's time. Six hundred tons of highly potent gunpowder were stored in the Tower of London itself. Riverfront warehouses were full of oil and tallow. There was no fire service.
Further information can be found at Wikipedia.
July 12, 2016
The plague and how to avoid it... Mr Pepys talks of the plague and beforehand talks of changing the clothes he has worn all through winter!
About his concern for the plague he decides to buy some chewing tobacco because of the realisation that he, basically, smells to high heaven and this will cover his nasty whiff by smelling and chewing it! You smelly blighters. Cor what a whiff!
Wow he stayed in my old town of Barking and the fire took out there as well.
Books like this are superb if not well written mainly as I can see from his perspective excactly where the fire was spreading, which I had done many years ago. GOOD STUFF!
No boring bits just history as it happened.
About his concern for the plague he decides to buy some chewing tobacco because of the realisation that he, basically, smells to high heaven and this will cover his nasty whiff by smelling and chewing it! You smelly blighters. Cor what a whiff!
Wow he stayed in my old town of Barking and the fire took out there as well.
Books like this are superb if not well written mainly as I can see from his perspective excactly where the fire was spreading, which I had done many years ago. GOOD STUFF!
No boring bits just history as it happened.
November 3, 2019
But much terrified in the nights nowadays with dreams of fire and falling down of houses.
January 1, 2021
3.5 ⭐️’s* (Very Good).
”With one’s face in the wind you were almost burned with a shower of Firedrops...”
A fascinating extract taken from The Diary of Samuel Pepys which includes eyewitness accounts of the Great Plague of London, the Second Dutch War, and the Great Fire of London.
Read
August 7, 2025i don't know where the most random urge to read this even came from
September 4, 2016
4 SEP 2016 - a fabulous listen-to. Thank you, Radio 4, Saturday Drama/BBC.
Here - http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01sc9cp
Here - http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01sc9cp
January 29, 2016
I honestly thought I would find this book more interesting than I did.
It is an excerpt of the diary of Samuel Pepys, published in a Penguin Little Black Classic, taken from his full diary, consisting of two parts.
The first, supposedly about the plague arriving in London, really is rather dull. The plague gets a brief passing mention towards the end of the text, the remainder is fairly mundane information, some almost like reading gibberish unless concentration is applied:
12 May 1665: By water to the Exchequer, and there up and down through all the offices to strike my tallies for 17500l- which methinks is so great a testimony of the goodness of God to me; that I, from a mean clerk there, should come to strike tallies myself for that sum, and in the authority that I do now, is a very stupendous mercy to me. I shall have them struck tomorrow. But to see how every little fellow, looks after his fees, and to get what he can for everything, is a strange consideration - the King's Fees, that he must pay himself for this 17500l coming to above 100l...
25 June 1665: Up, and all day in some little grutchings of pain, as I use to have - from winde - arising, I think, from my fasting so long and want of exercise - and I think, going so hot in clothes, the weather being hot and I in the same clothes I wore all winter...
The second part of the excerpt covers the inception of the fire on 2 September 1666 through to 15 September, when the fire is still in full control of the city. This section is a little more interesting.
Obviously it covers the fire from the perspective of a wealthy property owner, with assets at risk, having sometimes only a matter of hours to collect what possessions can be taken from a home before it succumbs to the flames.
2 September 1666: ...so as we were forced to begin to pack up our own goods and prepare for their removal... Mr Hater and I did remove my money and Iron chests into my cellar - as thinking that the safest place. And got my bags of gold into my office ready to carry away, and my chief papers of accounts also there, and my tallies into a box by themselves...
For me this sits somewhere between two and three stars, but closer to two than three, so that's where I settle.
It is an excerpt of the diary of Samuel Pepys, published in a Penguin Little Black Classic, taken from his full diary, consisting of two parts.
The first, supposedly about the plague arriving in London, really is rather dull. The plague gets a brief passing mention towards the end of the text, the remainder is fairly mundane information, some almost like reading gibberish unless concentration is applied:
12 May 1665: By water to the Exchequer, and there up and down through all the offices to strike my tallies for 17500l- which methinks is so great a testimony of the goodness of God to me; that I, from a mean clerk there, should come to strike tallies myself for that sum, and in the authority that I do now, is a very stupendous mercy to me. I shall have them struck tomorrow. But to see how every little fellow, looks after his fees, and to get what he can for everything, is a strange consideration - the King's Fees, that he must pay himself for this 17500l coming to above 100l...
25 June 1665: Up, and all day in some little grutchings of pain, as I use to have - from winde - arising, I think, from my fasting so long and want of exercise - and I think, going so hot in clothes, the weather being hot and I in the same clothes I wore all winter...
The second part of the excerpt covers the inception of the fire on 2 September 1666 through to 15 September, when the fire is still in full control of the city. This section is a little more interesting.
Obviously it covers the fire from the perspective of a wealthy property owner, with assets at risk, having sometimes only a matter of hours to collect what possessions can be taken from a home before it succumbs to the flames.
2 September 1666: ...so as we were forced to begin to pack up our own goods and prepare for their removal... Mr Hater and I did remove my money and Iron chests into my cellar - as thinking that the safest place. And got my bags of gold into my office ready to carry away, and my chief papers of accounts also there, and my tallies into a box by themselves...
For me this sits somewhere between two and three stars, but closer to two than three, so that's where I settle.
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February 8, 2017
A difficult book to rate. It is priceless as a historical reference and you cannot rate it as lower than 5 for that. But he was not particularly great at writing and it isn't all that exciting except for a historical reference. I was expecting a little more, perhaps, maybe just better writing, but goodness it is extremely interesting regarding what it pertains.
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September 21, 2019
Honestly thought I'd enjoy this more than I did, but holy mother of Jesus was the majority of this... not great. Samuel Pepys is a monumental ass who thought himself important enough to keep a diary of his life. A poorly written diary too, consisting of him telling us he's going to meet the same friends and the same lovers without actually telling us what happens. Everything was painstakingly repetitive and I'm glad I only read this snippet rather than his whole published diary. The only saving grace were the actual entries regarding the fire (if only for a change of subject). They were few, but were at least better. To read about this huge historical event from someone who lived it was at least really interesting.
August 23, 2019
Interesting account of daily life in London in the 1600s - the first half concerns life with the plague and war with the Dutch as a backdrop; the second half is a first person account of the fire of London. Pepys was intimately involved with the events of the fire and it is a terrible thing indeed (or as Pepys says ‘endeed’). It is also interesting in its ordinariness, whether the 21st century or the 17th, folks got up, went to work, came home, and ate dinner with their families. Nice to know some things don’t change.
June 8, 2021
2.5 Stars*
This short book was alright. It's an eye witness account of the great fire of London in 1666. This book starts with naval war, then the plague hits followed by the great fire. The events themselves were interesting to read through, especially the plague bit, but the reading was clunky for me. Now, this is from 1665-1666 so i didn't expect modern writing obviously, hence the three stars as a positive tipping point.
All in all, a small little book which does the job it set out to do. Inform me of the events that occurred through an eye witness account. Thanks book.
This short book was alright. It's an eye witness account of the great fire of London in 1666. This book starts with naval war, then the plague hits followed by the great fire. The events themselves were interesting to read through, especially the plague bit, but the reading was clunky for me. Now, this is from 1665-1666 so i didn't expect modern writing obviously, hence the three stars as a positive tipping point.
All in all, a small little book which does the job it set out to do. Inform me of the events that occurred through an eye witness account. Thanks book.
August 6, 2020
3.5/5
August 25, 2020
I thought it would be a no-brainer I would like this. It's a historical account of London around and during the great fire of London in 1666, which burned down much of The City as well as burned out the plague (to name one good thing that came from it). The signs of the fire are still present in modern day London, i.e. there's the monument commemorating it which is simply called The Monument, and thatched roofs have been prohibited (notable exception being The Globe; which given the fact that the original Globe burned down (not during the great fire but at another time) may or may not have been the smartest of decisions. It looks lovely though).
But I digress, I was expecting to like this a lot - but I didn't really. Unquestionably, this has been a very important work for historical value, but reading it is rather dull. I know it is rather surprising that reading about a massive fire is dull, but it is the writing which just really wasn't that good. One thing that stood out for me, were the little dramas of people who were constantly trying to save their possessions by moving them a couple of streets down, only to have to repeat the process over and over as the fire progressed.
~Little Black Classics #47~
But I digress, I was expecting to like this a lot - but I didn't really. Unquestionably, this has been a very important work for historical value, but reading it is rather dull. I know it is rather surprising that reading about a massive fire is dull, but it is the writing which just really wasn't that good. One thing that stood out for me, were the little dramas of people who were constantly trying to save their possessions by moving them a couple of streets down, only to have to repeat the process over and over as the fire progressed.
~Little Black Classics #47~
November 29, 2017
With one’s face in the wind you were almost burned with a shower of Firedrops...
Nearly everyone in England knows of Samuel Pepys, who wrote of the Great Fire of London and buried a block of cheese in his garden as the fire closed in on where he lived. Pepys taught us about the fire as it went, and now we look back on what he wrote during 1666 as we learn through history.
When I saw The Great Fire of London in Penguin Little Black Classics, I had to get it, and I had to get it fast. I was really excited to read this. Unfortunately I found this to be really boring, and very hard to read. The first half of this was just a drag. It was informative about the Black Plague and how it worked throughout London, but there was just something about it that left me bored and yawning, barely able to make it past eight pages.
I ended up skipping ahead massively, too bored to read about the dreary life of Samuel Pepys; this wasn’t why I got the book. I skipped ahead to the start of his diary entry in September 1666, and about the fire, and I was much, much more invested. I sped through this half of the book, and I really, really enjoyed it. Pepys really puts it into perspective what it was like, how things were. It was fascinating, and I feel like I learned a lot more than I ever learned back in primary school, and this was really, really sweet.
If you’re going to read this, I would recommend getting it out of your local library and only reading the second half of it. The first half really isn’t worth it, unless you really like reading diaries.
October 21, 2021
This was one of the filler books I picked up during the 'Lock The Box' event. It was supposed to be a quick read and given the short length of just 50 pages, it should have been but I really struggled to get through it. The entire book is a date-by-date diary entry by someone who wrote everything in hurry for the sake of documentation. Well, there are places and people and events but the narrative fails to tie the elements together for a cohesive delivery.
It was hard for me to engage with the author's experience. Now, it is understandable that the book doesn't guarantee to be an engaging story in any manner. It's a real account of a horrific experience for the starter and Samuel Pepys most certainly did not sit after the incident to account for his life before, life during and the life after the London fire. It is a diary entry in its most basic form where the author keeps a log of his daily activities and it is best understood by the person who wrote it, like most of the diary entries are.
It was hard for me to engage with the author's experience. Now, it is understandable that the book doesn't guarantee to be an engaging story in any manner. It's a real account of a horrific experience for the starter and Samuel Pepys most certainly did not sit after the incident to account for his life before, life during and the life after the London fire. It is a diary entry in its most basic form where the author keeps a log of his daily activities and it is best understood by the person who wrote it, like most of the diary entries are.
November 18, 2024
"Everybody endeavouring to remove their goods, and flinging into the river or bringing them into lighters that layoff; poor people staying in their houses as long as till the very fire touched them, and then running into boats, or clambering from one pair of stairs by the water-side to another. And among other things, the poor pigeons, I perceive, were loth to leave their houses, but hovered about the windows and balconys till they were, some of them burned, their wings, and fell down."
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April 24, 2022I get it, a personal experience surrounding a disturbing event that had its impact on a huge scale is worthy of sharing, but what I don't get is how that is qualified as a classic. The curators of this collection really filled it up with some of the most irrelevant works one could ask for.
Also, this was boring. No I do not care about the fire.
Also, this was boring. No I do not care about the fire.
July 16, 2022
On the one hand I find Pepys' chattering narrative voice quite dull... But in the other it is also strangely endearing. Also this short pair of excerpts from his diaries has the added virtue of having been selected to have interesting contents, viz war, plague, the Great Fire, and even a couple of of fond untranslated descriptions of his extramarital activities. If you wanted a sense of Pepys but didn't want to plod through a larger collection of his writings, this would be a good choice.
May 21, 2019
These are literally extracts from Pepys’ journals of 1665 and 1666, covering both the plague and the titular fire. He buried his cheese and wine so they wouldn’t be destroyed. Lad.
April 5, 2024
me when rich white men whine 🥱
August 5, 2024
I love reading diaries (though I feel some sort of guilt) BUT DIARIES WRITTEN IN CODE, I love even more, though I didn’t enjoy reading it much since the topic didn’t particularly interest me.
October 28, 2024
Kind of sick reading this now living in London, all the neighbourhoods and street names are the same?? From 400 years ago? The scale of English history blows my mind
May 1, 2025
a tricky read if you’re dyslexic 🫠
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January 16, 2018This is one of the Penguin pocket classics, and it's one of the best ones I've read so far. It's kind of mindblowing that in such a short period of time Pepys experienced the plague and the great fire of London. What a time.
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