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The Curious World of Samuel Pepys and John Evelyn
An intimate portrait of two pivotal Restoration figures during one of the most dramatic periods of English history
Samuel Pepys and John Evelyn are two of the most celebrated English diarists. They were also extraordinary men and close friends. This first full portrait of that friendship transforms our understanding of their times.
Pepys was earthy and shrewd, while Evelyn was a genteel aesthete, but both were drawn to intellectual pursuits. Brought together by their work to alleviate the plight of sailors caught up in the Dutch wars, they shared an inexhaustible curiosity for life and for the exotic. Willes explores their mutual interests—diary-keeping, science, travel, and a love of books—and their divergent enthusiasms, Pepys for theater and music, Evelyn for horticulture and garden design. Through the richly documented lives of two remarkable men, Willes revisits the history of London and of England in an age of regicide, revolution, fire, and plague to reveal it also as a time of enthralling possibility.
Samuel Pepys and John Evelyn are two of the most celebrated English diarists. They were also extraordinary men and close friends. This first full portrait of that friendship transforms our understanding of their times.
Pepys was earthy and shrewd, while Evelyn was a genteel aesthete, but both were drawn to intellectual pursuits. Brought together by their work to alleviate the plight of sailors caught up in the Dutch wars, they shared an inexhaustible curiosity for life and for the exotic. Willes explores their mutual interests—diary-keeping, science, travel, and a love of books—and their divergent enthusiasms, Pepys for theater and music, Evelyn for horticulture and garden design. Through the richly documented lives of two remarkable men, Willes revisits the history of London and of England in an age of regicide, revolution, fire, and plague to reveal it also as a time of enthralling possibility.
436 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 19, 2017
9 people are currently reading
154 people want to read
About the author
Margaret Willes
27 books4 followersMargaret Willes studied modern history and architectural history at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford. She was an editor at three London publishing houses before becoming the Publisher at the National Trust, where she began the Trust's own book imprint. In addition to producing the list that included many illustrated books, she also acted as the author of works such as Memories of Childhood (1997) and Scenes from Georgian Life (2001).
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
November 2, 2017
An interesting topic and lots of information crammed into this book but it feels disjointed and unstructured throughout. Willes asserts that she's not writing a dual biography of Pepys and Evelyn, but it's not as clear as it could be what her intention is: she uses the conceit of a 'cabinet of curiosities' which seems to be an excuse to jump from topic to topic at will.
So there are abbreviated sections here about the lives of both men, about the Anglo-Dutch Wars, the execution of Charles I, the New Model Army, the Great Fire and so on - but it all feels haphazard and superficial. I kept feeling that I was still reading a kind of general introduction even when I was 50% into the book...
Lacking an overall argument or thesis, this ends of being a jumble of information - interesting but frustratingly unstructured and bitty - I really wanted some kind of organisation to relate the various strands to each other.
So there are abbreviated sections here about the lives of both men, about the Anglo-Dutch Wars, the execution of Charles I, the New Model Army, the Great Fire and so on - but it all feels haphazard and superficial. I kept feeling that I was still reading a kind of general introduction even when I was 50% into the book...
Lacking an overall argument or thesis, this ends of being a jumble of information - interesting but frustratingly unstructured and bitty - I really wanted some kind of organisation to relate the various strands to each other.
October 17, 2017
I really liked this book.
I guess I am an Anglophile and enjoy British history. Of the nearly thousand years since the Conquest, there are many important stretches of time that are important. The Great War? The Battle of Britain? Margaret Thatcher’s time as PM? Perhaps. But it is also clear that the middle of the 17th century, including the Civil War, the Commonwealth, and the Restoration is a central period for understanding how the England of those days became the Britain of today.
It continues to amaze me that much of what we know on a first hand basis from that period comes from a small set of personal diaries that have survived. Perhaps the best known is the diary of Samuel Pepys - which covered a brief 10 year period between 1660 and 1669 - but what a period (the restoration of the Stuarts, the plague, the fire of London). Another source was the diary of John Evelyn, who covered a longer period. Readers should note how amazing this is - akin to having what we know first hand about today coming from a few surviving blogs (more or less).
Margaret Willes has written a dual biography of sorts for Pepys and Evelyn, featuring on letters between then and the story that the two knew each other well and were friends. With this central intuition, then the lives of the two men can be contextualized and their work and activities and writings can be compared and contrasted. There was a lot going on at the time and Pepys and Evelyn were in the thick of it. They come from different backgrounds and different economic starting points, but ended up jointly contributing to the cultural life of the time. Many people know about the importance of Pepys in modernizing the British Navy. Evelyn it turns out is one of the people most responsible for bringing the idea of the English garden to a popularity that has continued until today.
Willes ties Pepys and Evelyn together with the idea of curiousity - which suggests to me an openness to experience, an interest in experimentation (and even use of data) and a willingness to expand oneself and encounter new experiences and new products (such as coffee, tea, and chocolate). Besides, Pepys and Evelyn were not just influential on their own, they were active networkers in a tight elite society, so they were both in a position to know what was going on and who all the movers and shakers were. It is a very interesting and well told story. This is one of those books that helps one provide deeper context to a rich setting and see how lots of stories fit together.
I guess I am an Anglophile and enjoy British history. Of the nearly thousand years since the Conquest, there are many important stretches of time that are important. The Great War? The Battle of Britain? Margaret Thatcher’s time as PM? Perhaps. But it is also clear that the middle of the 17th century, including the Civil War, the Commonwealth, and the Restoration is a central period for understanding how the England of those days became the Britain of today.
It continues to amaze me that much of what we know on a first hand basis from that period comes from a small set of personal diaries that have survived. Perhaps the best known is the diary of Samuel Pepys - which covered a brief 10 year period between 1660 and 1669 - but what a period (the restoration of the Stuarts, the plague, the fire of London). Another source was the diary of John Evelyn, who covered a longer period. Readers should note how amazing this is - akin to having what we know first hand about today coming from a few surviving blogs (more or less).
Margaret Willes has written a dual biography of sorts for Pepys and Evelyn, featuring on letters between then and the story that the two knew each other well and were friends. With this central intuition, then the lives of the two men can be contextualized and their work and activities and writings can be compared and contrasted. There was a lot going on at the time and Pepys and Evelyn were in the thick of it. They come from different backgrounds and different economic starting points, but ended up jointly contributing to the cultural life of the time. Many people know about the importance of Pepys in modernizing the British Navy. Evelyn it turns out is one of the people most responsible for bringing the idea of the English garden to a popularity that has continued until today.
Willes ties Pepys and Evelyn together with the idea of curiousity - which suggests to me an openness to experience, an interest in experimentation (and even use of data) and a willingness to expand oneself and encounter new experiences and new products (such as coffee, tea, and chocolate). Besides, Pepys and Evelyn were not just influential on their own, they were active networkers in a tight elite society, so they were both in a position to know what was going on and who all the movers and shakers were. It is a very interesting and well told story. This is one of those books that helps one provide deeper context to a rich setting and see how lots of stories fit together.
November 10, 2017
"The Curious World of Samuel Pepys and John Evelyn" is a biography of both Samuel Pepys and John Evelyn. The author quoted from their diaries and personal correspondence, but she generally summarized what was said (probably because that's easier to read and understand).
She divided their lives into several themes: public careers and wider context of what was going on, descriptions of their family and major friends, their involvement in the Royal Society and interest in science, Pepys' interest in the theatre and music, Evelyn's interest in gardens and gardening and his books on horticulture, and their libraries (books, ballads, prints, etc.). The author also threw in some information about tea, coffee, and chocolate along with other imported consumer goods (including flowers and other plants).
These men lived through the Restoration of Charles II, the plague, and the Great Fire of London in 1666. It was interesting to see their views on what was going on and to get a sense of what life was like at that time. It's a quick look at what was happening and what some people's attitudes and interests were like. Overall, I'd recommend this book to those interested in this time period in England.
I received a free ebook review copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley.
She divided their lives into several themes: public careers and wider context of what was going on, descriptions of their family and major friends, their involvement in the Royal Society and interest in science, Pepys' interest in the theatre and music, Evelyn's interest in gardens and gardening and his books on horticulture, and their libraries (books, ballads, prints, etc.). The author also threw in some information about tea, coffee, and chocolate along with other imported consumer goods (including flowers and other plants).
These men lived through the Restoration of Charles II, the plague, and the Great Fire of London in 1666. It was interesting to see their views on what was going on and to get a sense of what life was like at that time. It's a quick look at what was happening and what some people's attitudes and interests were like. Overall, I'd recommend this book to those interested in this time period in England.
I received a free ebook review copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley.
July 8, 2024
If I was so bored reading Pepys abridged journal three years ago, why read him again? Well, for one this confirms my recommendation to fellow readers, especially those who read philosophy – it is often more informative to read an expert’s non-fiction about a person’s writings, influence, and life rather than the source material penned by the subject themselves.
In kind, this was a much more readable, informative account of Restoration England (1660–1688 under King Charles II) as experienced through the journals of contemporaries and personal friends Samuel Pepys and John Evelyn. Because both men wrote so voluminously about their day to day lives while holding lofty government positions, historians of the period have sourced their journals for many details into the time period.
The author posits their friendship as follows: “But friendship did develop, perhaps because of the underlying quality that both possessed – great curiosity. While today it tends to describe somebody who is inquisitive and nosey, and is particularly applied to cats, in the seventeenth century it meant a desire for knowledge, especially of science and the arts.”
On the rare occurrence I read niche non-fiction histories like these, their perspectives are worth reading because I learn the little ways things came to be that are otherwise taken for granted or we never bothered realize. For example:
Journaling: “Diary-keeping had become a custom for some by the end of the sixteenth century.”
Tea: “The first reference to tea in London comes in September 1658 when an advertisement appeared for a ‘China drink, called Teha.”
Coffee: “When coffee first arrived in Oxford, its purveyors extolled its virtues for keeping students awake…”
Chocolate: “Chocolate arrived in London in the 1650s, with an advertisement appearing in Publick Advertiser in 1657 announcing that in ‘a Frenchman’s house’ in Queen’s Alley off Bishopsgate customers could enjoy an excellent West India drink.”
Pineapples: “Pineapples were first imported from Barbados in the 1650s, and Charles II certainly tasted them, but gardeners were not able to raise them in England until the early eighteenth century. The pineapple was a horticultural holy grail, as well as the symbol of hospitality.”
Bookstores: “The modern concept of browsing through shelves of books did not pertain in the seventeenth century; when Pepys visited Kirton’s shop, he mentioned in his diary how the bookseller would bring out titles from his stock that might be of interest to the customer.”
In kind, this was a much more readable, informative account of Restoration England (1660–1688 under King Charles II) as experienced through the journals of contemporaries and personal friends Samuel Pepys and John Evelyn. Because both men wrote so voluminously about their day to day lives while holding lofty government positions, historians of the period have sourced their journals for many details into the time period.
The author posits their friendship as follows: “But friendship did develop, perhaps because of the underlying quality that both possessed – great curiosity. While today it tends to describe somebody who is inquisitive and nosey, and is particularly applied to cats, in the seventeenth century it meant a desire for knowledge, especially of science and the arts.”
On the rare occurrence I read niche non-fiction histories like these, their perspectives are worth reading because I learn the little ways things came to be that are otherwise taken for granted or we never bothered realize. For example:
Journaling: “Diary-keeping had become a custom for some by the end of the sixteenth century.”
Tea: “The first reference to tea in London comes in September 1658 when an advertisement appeared for a ‘China drink, called Teha.”
Coffee: “When coffee first arrived in Oxford, its purveyors extolled its virtues for keeping students awake…”
Chocolate: “Chocolate arrived in London in the 1650s, with an advertisement appearing in Publick Advertiser in 1657 announcing that in ‘a Frenchman’s house’ in Queen’s Alley off Bishopsgate customers could enjoy an excellent West India drink.”
Pineapples: “Pineapples were first imported from Barbados in the 1650s, and Charles II certainly tasted them, but gardeners were not able to raise them in England until the early eighteenth century. The pineapple was a horticultural holy grail, as well as the symbol of hospitality.”
Bookstores: “The modern concept of browsing through shelves of books did not pertain in the seventeenth century; when Pepys visited Kirton’s shop, he mentioned in his diary how the bookseller would bring out titles from his stock that might be of interest to the customer.”
October 25, 2017
A fabulously substantial and readable work that roots out the most interesting private and public aspects of two of the foremost diarists of the seventeenth century, The Curious World of Samuel Pepys and John Evelyn is a fascinating book about the murky world of the Restoration period, which, at over three centuries in our past shows that some surprisingly modern issues were considered by the period's men and women of letters: John Evelyn, for instance, was horrified by the noise and pollution in London, and wrote about it in his pamphlet Fumifugium, in which he recommends planting more sweet-smelling trees to overcome the foul stench of the coal smoke.
Willes begins with a background on the two men, combined with a history of the period they were writing in and of. Both Evelyn and Pepys were fully involved, in one way or another, in the world of the seventeenth century, and they had opposing backgrounds and views: Evelyn came from a wealthy family, where Pepys' father was a 'tailor to the legal community' – not a family of abject poverty, but nonetheless one that saw its fair share of financial and social struggles. On the execution of Charles I, the distinction in the views of the two is clear. Of the event, Evelyn writes that the execution, "struck me with such horror that I kept the day of his Martyrdom a fast, & would not be present, at that execrable wickednesse", whereas after attending the execution, Pepys "returned to school and told his friends that if he had to preach a sermon on the King, it would be 'The memory of the wicked shall rot'."
But despite their differences in views and backgrounds, the two men were friends, finding common ground in their love of knowledge and irrepressible curiosity.
The diarists' observations throw a chilling eyewitness light onto events such as the Great Plague of London: "June 1665 was very hot, and Pepys noted in Drury Lane how he saw 'two or three houses marked with a red cross upon the doors, and "Lord have mercy upon us" writ there – which was a sad sight to me, being the first of that kind that to my remembrance I ever saw'"; while Evelyn "noted 'all along the Citty & suburbs ... a dismal passage & dangerous, to see so many Cofines exposed in the streetes & the streete thin of people, the shops shut up, & all in mournefull silence, as not knowing whose turne might be next'". Pepys and Evelyn also witnessed the Great Fire of London, in the year following the Great Plague, and both vividly diarise also that event.
No less interesting than accounts of these tragedies of history are the lives of the men themselves – the very personal accounts of men who were born almost four centuries ago. Often, personal histories must be constructed using scraps of evidence that gives an incomplete and unsatisfying picture of people's lives (though future historians may yet have a field day with the Internet and Social Media), but in the cases of Pepys and Evelyn, we have not just each man's own personal day-to-day account of his life and thoughts, but that of his close friend, giving a second perspective on the times, and even on the men themselves. Willes puts this to good use in part two of the book, which delves into the private lives of Pepys and Evelyn.
Pepys had difficult in-laws: his wife Elizabeth's father was, in the words of Balthazar, Elizabeth's brother, "'Full of Wheemesis' – schemes to make money through inventions such as a machine for perpetual motion, and taking out patents for the perennial problem of curing smoky chimneys". Of Balthazar himself, Pepys' biographer wrote that if he had not existed "'only Dickens could have invented him'", and long after the connector between the two men, Elizabeth Pepys, was dead, Balthazar continued to plague Pepys for money and favours. Both men's lives were full of curious, colourful characters, from extended family members like Balthazar, to the servants in Pepys' life whom he befriended and in many instances cared for, even remembering particular favourites in his will.
Domestic intrigue, affairs, crises and grief dogged the marriages of both men, and though she remains exact and scholarly, Willes also writes about the personal lives of Pepys and Evelyn with empathy, noting upon the Evelyns' loss of three of their children, that "It has been suggested that parents in seventeenth-century England were inured to the sudden death of their children, but the outpouring of grief from both Mary and John give the lie to this."
The third and final part of the book digs deep into what is probably the very reason for their many years of close friendship – their interests, including a fascination with science and their involvement in the nascent Royal Society. Pepys was a sociable man who seemed to have a knack for discovering the most interesting – and prescient – people, such as William Petty, a self-educated Anatomy Professor and Cromwell's physician-general, among other things, who counted among his considerations "a prototype National Health Service", and "proposals of a decimal coinage".
The two men's interests took in music – Pepys was a quite accomplished musician, but Evelyn could not find any real talent in this area despite taking lessons and being a keen listener of other people's musicianship; the theatre; horticulture, an area in which Evelyn excelled, and for which he had a deep love, which took in the consideration, in Acetaria, Evelyn's book on salads, that "vegetables were a healthy addition to the diet".
With a chapter on the new beverages in Seventeenth century London of coffee, tea, and chocolate (in order of popularity), and the new coffee houses that began to spring up in the 1650s, and a chapter on the fashion of the time, which was extending to incorporate exotic clothes and, as an aside, even more exotic pets (Pepys mentions that he has a pet monkey in his diary), Willles covers pretty much all the changes in taste and fashions that took place in the lives of Londoners in the seventeenth century, including, of course, the cabinets of curiosities, after which the design of which Willes' own book is modelled. And Evelyn and Pepys enjoyed them all to the full.
The final chapter is devoted to Evelyn's and Pepys mutual love of books. Both had large libraries and numbered their books in the thousands. Whilst Evelyn's collection is now spread across several collections, including the British Library, since it was sold off in the late 1970s, Pepys library is housed intact at Magdalene College, Cambridge University.
Thank you to the publisher for a providing me with a review copy of the book
Willes begins with a background on the two men, combined with a history of the period they were writing in and of. Both Evelyn and Pepys were fully involved, in one way or another, in the world of the seventeenth century, and they had opposing backgrounds and views: Evelyn came from a wealthy family, where Pepys' father was a 'tailor to the legal community' – not a family of abject poverty, but nonetheless one that saw its fair share of financial and social struggles. On the execution of Charles I, the distinction in the views of the two is clear. Of the event, Evelyn writes that the execution, "struck me with such horror that I kept the day of his Martyrdom a fast, & would not be present, at that execrable wickednesse", whereas after attending the execution, Pepys "returned to school and told his friends that if he had to preach a sermon on the King, it would be 'The memory of the wicked shall rot'."
But despite their differences in views and backgrounds, the two men were friends, finding common ground in their love of knowledge and irrepressible curiosity.
The diarists' observations throw a chilling eyewitness light onto events such as the Great Plague of London: "June 1665 was very hot, and Pepys noted in Drury Lane how he saw 'two or three houses marked with a red cross upon the doors, and "Lord have mercy upon us" writ there – which was a sad sight to me, being the first of that kind that to my remembrance I ever saw'"; while Evelyn "noted 'all along the Citty & suburbs ... a dismal passage & dangerous, to see so many Cofines exposed in the streetes & the streete thin of people, the shops shut up, & all in mournefull silence, as not knowing whose turne might be next'". Pepys and Evelyn also witnessed the Great Fire of London, in the year following the Great Plague, and both vividly diarise also that event.
No less interesting than accounts of these tragedies of history are the lives of the men themselves – the very personal accounts of men who were born almost four centuries ago. Often, personal histories must be constructed using scraps of evidence that gives an incomplete and unsatisfying picture of people's lives (though future historians may yet have a field day with the Internet and Social Media), but in the cases of Pepys and Evelyn, we have not just each man's own personal day-to-day account of his life and thoughts, but that of his close friend, giving a second perspective on the times, and even on the men themselves. Willes puts this to good use in part two of the book, which delves into the private lives of Pepys and Evelyn.
Pepys had difficult in-laws: his wife Elizabeth's father was, in the words of Balthazar, Elizabeth's brother, "'Full of Wheemesis' – schemes to make money through inventions such as a machine for perpetual motion, and taking out patents for the perennial problem of curing smoky chimneys". Of Balthazar himself, Pepys' biographer wrote that if he had not existed "'only Dickens could have invented him'", and long after the connector between the two men, Elizabeth Pepys, was dead, Balthazar continued to plague Pepys for money and favours. Both men's lives were full of curious, colourful characters, from extended family members like Balthazar, to the servants in Pepys' life whom he befriended and in many instances cared for, even remembering particular favourites in his will.
Domestic intrigue, affairs, crises and grief dogged the marriages of both men, and though she remains exact and scholarly, Willes also writes about the personal lives of Pepys and Evelyn with empathy, noting upon the Evelyns' loss of three of their children, that "It has been suggested that parents in seventeenth-century England were inured to the sudden death of their children, but the outpouring of grief from both Mary and John give the lie to this."
The third and final part of the book digs deep into what is probably the very reason for their many years of close friendship – their interests, including a fascination with science and their involvement in the nascent Royal Society. Pepys was a sociable man who seemed to have a knack for discovering the most interesting – and prescient – people, such as William Petty, a self-educated Anatomy Professor and Cromwell's physician-general, among other things, who counted among his considerations "a prototype National Health Service", and "proposals of a decimal coinage".
The two men's interests took in music – Pepys was a quite accomplished musician, but Evelyn could not find any real talent in this area despite taking lessons and being a keen listener of other people's musicianship; the theatre; horticulture, an area in which Evelyn excelled, and for which he had a deep love, which took in the consideration, in Acetaria, Evelyn's book on salads, that "vegetables were a healthy addition to the diet".
With a chapter on the new beverages in Seventeenth century London of coffee, tea, and chocolate (in order of popularity), and the new coffee houses that began to spring up in the 1650s, and a chapter on the fashion of the time, which was extending to incorporate exotic clothes and, as an aside, even more exotic pets (Pepys mentions that he has a pet monkey in his diary), Willles covers pretty much all the changes in taste and fashions that took place in the lives of Londoners in the seventeenth century, including, of course, the cabinets of curiosities, after which the design of which Willes' own book is modelled. And Evelyn and Pepys enjoyed them all to the full.
The final chapter is devoted to Evelyn's and Pepys mutual love of books. Both had large libraries and numbered their books in the thousands. Whilst Evelyn's collection is now spread across several collections, including the British Library, since it was sold off in the late 1970s, Pepys library is housed intact at Magdalene College, Cambridge University.
Thank you to the publisher for a providing me with a review copy of the book
June 23, 2024
This book proved to be a source of perfect nourishment for my craving for history .
These men have given so much insight on how London was maneuvered during the great fire and insight into the redesign of London with Christopher Wren’s architectural brilliance .
It was very interesting to read about how England was oscillating between Catholicism and Protestantism based on the King’s leanings .
Was intriguing to note ,the royal society and their amphitheatre like rooms where all their discussions took place .
It was so baffling to read how miserly the King of England was and how he tried to avoid paying his bills and having all these musicians perform for him and not feel a tiny sense of responsibility or obligation to pay them .
John Evelyn although a man of high accomplishments had so many failings .
He finds a perfect wife , creates a manual for her on how to be a good wife to him and only takes the first part of Ephesians 5:22 , 23, 24 Where it says wife submit to your husband (yes , happy to )but very craftily never mentions about husbands loving your wife as Christ loves the church and gave himself for her, and to love his wife as his own body .
He seems to constantly betray his devoted wife seeking intimate companionship with other women for various reasons ,
Some for intimate intellectual companionship , some for intimate spiritual companionship, some for sexual companionship , compromising his wife who was supposed to be his soulmate .
These men have given so much insight on how London was maneuvered during the great fire and insight into the redesign of London with Christopher Wren’s architectural brilliance .
It was very interesting to read about how England was oscillating between Catholicism and Protestantism based on the King’s leanings .
Was intriguing to note ,the royal society and their amphitheatre like rooms where all their discussions took place .
It was so baffling to read how miserly the King of England was and how he tried to avoid paying his bills and having all these musicians perform for him and not feel a tiny sense of responsibility or obligation to pay them .
John Evelyn although a man of high accomplishments had so many failings .
He finds a perfect wife , creates a manual for her on how to be a good wife to him and only takes the first part of Ephesians 5:22 , 23, 24 Where it says wife submit to your husband (yes , happy to )but very craftily never mentions about husbands loving your wife as Christ loves the church and gave himself for her, and to love his wife as his own body .
He seems to constantly betray his devoted wife seeking intimate companionship with other women for various reasons ,
Some for intimate intellectual companionship , some for intimate spiritual companionship, some for sexual companionship , compromising his wife who was supposed to be his soulmate .
February 14, 2018
Such potential for something more, that seems lost with every page. The central issue for its failure is that an academic attempted a mass-market non-fiction book, but didnt pull it off. The prose is academic, and the author is not confident enough to take a few stabs at something deeper about either Pepys Evelyn or their wider world and scope, without references. The prose is the same: lifeless and dense. Page after page, offers up some interesting details and appetizers of the 17th century, without any satisfaction provided by the author. The book is also more than a bit disorganized, especially in the beginning 100 pages, where the author repeats the same information in a few instances, and everything seems to be directionless.
Moreover, I didnt really get to know Pepys or Evelyn too much, nor did I feel I understood their bond or connection or why the book was written about them, which is the intent of the book. The last 150 pages is organized based on the separate characteristics of Pepys and Evelyn, not their shared experiences or friendship. So, I finished the book, with confusion of why Pepys and Evelyn were the subject of the book, and also still desiring to know more about both of them, and this fascinating age they lived in.
Moreover, I didnt really get to know Pepys or Evelyn too much, nor did I feel I understood their bond or connection or why the book was written about them, which is the intent of the book. The last 150 pages is organized based on the separate characteristics of Pepys and Evelyn, not their shared experiences or friendship. So, I finished the book, with confusion of why Pepys and Evelyn were the subject of the book, and also still desiring to know more about both of them, and this fascinating age they lived in.
July 14, 2020
"[A]t a Culterian lecture at the Royal Society, attended by Evelyn and Pepys, Hooke talked about 'bangue': 'It is a certain Plant which grows very common in India, and the Vertues or Quality thereof, are there very well known; and the Use thereof (tho' the Effects are very strange, and at first hearing, frightful enough) is very general and frequent; and the Person, from whom I received it, hath made very many Trials of it, on himself, with very good Effect.'" (214)
"Pepys confided to his diary how he 'stopped at Martins my bookseller, where I saw the French book which I did think to have had for my wife to translate, called L'escholle de Filles; but when I came to look into it, it is the most bawdy, lewd book that I ever saw ... so that I was ashamed of reading in it.' Pepys, being Pepys, returned three weeks later, and bought the book in a plain binding 'because I resolve, as soon as I have read it, to burn it, that it may not stand in the list of books, nor among them, to disgrace them if it should be found.'" (238)
"Pepys confided to his diary how he 'stopped at Martins my bookseller, where I saw the French book which I did think to have had for my wife to translate, called L'escholle de Filles; but when I came to look into it, it is the most bawdy, lewd book that I ever saw ... so that I was ashamed of reading in it.' Pepys, being Pepys, returned three weeks later, and bought the book in a plain binding 'because I resolve, as soon as I have read it, to burn it, that it may not stand in the list of books, nor among them, to disgrace them if it should be found.'" (238)
November 13, 2017
Margaret Willes’s The Curious World of Samuel Pepys and John Evelyn packs in a lot of information into a rather short work. As a reader, I could appreciate the well-researched nature of the book, and I could tell that Willes enjoys the subject matter. I have never read any biographies about Pepys or Evelyn, and while Willes says this was not the purpose of the work, I feel now that I have read a biography about both of them more than finding out about the curious world they lived. I would recommend this book to others because of the amount of information and the fact that it was an enjoyable easy read, but I would caution that I do not feel the book actually achieves the author’s goal.
Thank you, NetGalley and Yale University Press for the copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Thank you, NetGalley and Yale University Press for the copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
May 31, 2024
An enjoyable romp through the 17th century, using the lens of these two figures who lived through it.
I have an almost voyeuristic curiosity for the everyday lives of those long gone. And diarists like Evelyn and Pepys pique my interest for the manifold ways they choose to present themselves.
I happen not to know much about Restoration England, so this was a useful introduction to the era and the men. I'm not sure how much it would advance the conversation for those already familiar with the material.
Accessibly written if overlong, with over 50 colour plates to keep the reader motivated!
I have an almost voyeuristic curiosity for the everyday lives of those long gone. And diarists like Evelyn and Pepys pique my interest for the manifold ways they choose to present themselves.
I happen not to know much about Restoration England, so this was a useful introduction to the era and the men. I'm not sure how much it would advance the conversation for those already familiar with the material.
Accessibly written if overlong, with over 50 colour plates to keep the reader motivated!
December 6, 2025
I was quite disappointed in this book. I expected more of a dual biography tied together with an account of the friendship between Pepys and Evelyn. (I just finished the excellent THE INFIDEL AND THE PROFESSOR which did just that for Hume and Smith.). But I got something else that was much dryer. After some opening chapters outlining the lives of the two men, we are given several chapters, supposedly on their interests, that are really just dull accounts of early modern gardening, book collecting, etc. There were entire pages that I just skimmed as my eyes glazed over. Unless you are utterly fascinated by detailed accounts of early modern gentlemanly pursuits, skip this.
October 31, 2017
This well-researched book delves into the minutiae of the 17th century. Friends Samuel Pepys and John Evelyn were prodigious letter writers and diarists, and provide much information about life in London, including firsthand accounts of the Great Fire, the plague, the Restoration, and the introduction of “the trio of exotic beverages” tea, coffee, and chocolate. We also learn a bit about each man’s passion: for Evelyn, it was horticulture, and for Pepys, music and theater.
January 17, 2020
Two interesting characters who lived in interesting times! Largely I enjoyed this book. It's not quite a biography of the two subjects, rather it gives a broad overview of their lives and friendship before looking in more detail at their family lives and the interests they had in common....books, theatre, gardening. At times it felt a little disjointed and dry, with a lot of detail.
January 6, 2018
This book came closest to communicating the personalities of Pepys and Evelyn - it was an excellent idea to talk about both men in a book because the interaction between the two friends provides a more rounded feel for the times and who these men were.
November 9, 2019
An excellent book that gives an overview of various aspects of life in the times of Samuel Pepys and John Evelyn. Not a biography of them but it uses their known interests such as gardening, literature and their public life to show what life was like in those times.
December 5, 2021
Summary
Possibly I misunderstood what the book was all about. I was hoping for much more about the period. Instead much of the text is about the 2 protagonists interests and as such is very "niche".'
Possibly I misunderstood what the book was all about. I was hoping for much more about the period. Instead much of the text is about the 2 protagonists interests and as such is very "niche".'
December 19, 2024
A well-written and very interesting account of the intertwined worlds of Samuel Pepys and John Evelyn. Thoroughly enjoyed it
August 31, 2025
Oh my gosh, this book was so boring. I put it down after one chapter. No dialog, pure tedious prose.
February 24, 2018
GNABI received a free electronic copy of this history from Netgalley, Margaret Willes, and Yale University Press in exchange for an honest review. Thank you all for sharing your hard work with me.
This is an excellent biography of but Samuel Pepys and John Evelyn. Though their ideals and expectations were completely at odds, it was astonishing how often they joined together to make life more secure and safe for the common man. These were two extraordinary statesmen who worked for the cause of humanity.
pub date Sept 19, 2017
rec Sept 22, 2017
Yale University Press
This is an excellent biography of but Samuel Pepys and John Evelyn. Though their ideals and expectations were completely at odds, it was astonishing how often they joined together to make life more secure and safe for the common man. These were two extraordinary statesmen who worked for the cause of humanity.
pub date Sept 19, 2017
rec Sept 22, 2017
Yale University Press
February 12, 2019
Samuel Pepys led a colourful life, to be sure, but unfortunately this book is more in black and white than glorious technicolour. It’s obviously been diligently researched, but it is quite dry. I know that academic tomes have to be on the serious side, but that doesn’t mean they have to be boring. Unfortunately, this book was.
Thank you to NetGalley and Yale University Press for a review copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Thank you to NetGalley and Yale University Press for a review copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
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