Samuel Pepys - Autograph Letter Signed, 1668 

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Samuel Pepys - Autograph Letter Signed, 1668  :
$2550.00

Samuel Pepys (23 February 1633 – 26 May 1703) was an English naval administrator and Member of Parliament who is now most famous for the diary he kept for a decade while still a relatively young man. 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 both King Charles II and subsequently King James II.

His influence and reforms at the Admiralty were important in the early professionalisation of the Royal Navy.

The detailed private diary Pepys kept from 1660 until 1669 was first published in the 19thcentury, 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. [Wikipedia]Offered here: Autograph Letter Signed: “Pepys”, 1p, 7-3/4” x 11-1/4”, Chatham, 13 February 1668. Also signed by fellow officers Middleton and Mennes. Beautifully and archivally matted and framed along with a color reproduction image of Pepys to an overall size of 20-1/2” x 18”. Written to an unidentified group of gentlemen, confirming insufficient evidence prohibits him from determining anything in a case in which his correspondents are involved. Overall evenly age-toned, with minimal spotting, some marginal chipping and fraing. Autograph letters signed by Pepys are considered uncommon on the public market. Authentication: Sotheby’s sales. Provenance: Sotheby’s sales, Sale # 6581, June 10, 1994, where it carried an estimate of $4,000-$6,000.