2 volumes, large 4to (318 x 241 mm). Half-titles with "presentation copy" printed in red, 2 engraved frontispieces, and 11 engraved plates. (Light offsetting from frontispiece portrait onto title in Vol. I, some minor toning and pale spotting.) ORIGINAL DRAB BOARDS, with original printed paper labels on spines, uncut (skillfully rebacked preserving original backstrips and labels, labels toned with some chipping, some pale staining and soiling to boards, boards rubbed and scuffed); cloth folding cases. Provenance: Francis Lunn (armorial bookplates); William A. Strutz (book label); his sale, Heritage Auctions, 27 June 2024, lot 45146).

FIRST EDITION, "PRESENTATION COPY" ON FINE PAPER. "Some copies of the book on fine paper, with beautiful impressions of the plates, are marked in red on the half title page 'Presentation copy'" (Grolier). According to Lowndes, only 12 copies were done for presentation.

Samuel Pepys served as the Secretary to the Admiralty during the reigns of Charles II and James II. His original diary, written in six volumes of shorthand, resides at Magdalen College, and was deciphered by the Rev. John Smith in the early nineteenth century. Pepys' Memoirs not only document some of the most turbulent events in English history, including the coronation of Charles II, the Great Plague, and the Great Fire of London, but also provide an observant and tangible record of habits, community, and day-to-day life at the time. Grolier, English 75; Lowndes, p.1828.