Guy de la Bédoyère on transcribing Pepys's shorthand
Hot on the heels of his video review of The Strange History of Samuel Pepys’s Diary, Guy de la Bédoyère published another video, this time about transcribing Samuel Pepys’s shorthand.
Site News: Pepys in the media
Restoring Pepys's presses
Recently, Bainbridge Conservation, a London-based business, has been working on stabilising and repairing Pepys’s bookcases (or “presses” as he called them) at Magdalene College. They contain his thousands of books and manuscripts, and need to be moved temporarily during building works.
They documented some of the process on their Instagram account and have kindly allowed me to share the photos from the two posts here.
A guide to Pepys's shorthand
Kate Loveman has written a very clear and useful guide to reading the shorthand in which Pepys wrote his diary, Tachygraphy. Scroll down that page to download the PDF guide for an insight into how Pepys wrote, and the work involved in translating his diary entries into modern English.
Museum of London resources about Pepys
Kate posted this to the discussion list and I thought it was worth highlighting here –?various new resources from the Museum of London that feature Pepys. They’re aimed at young children – around age 6 or 7 – and are focused on the Great Fire of London, deaf Londoners, and the shorthand that Pepys used.
Samuel Pepys and Slaves
The London Review of Books has a review by Fara Dabhoiwala of a book by Simon Newman called Freedom Seekers: Escaping from Slavery in Restoration London which heavily features Samuel Pepys.
Dr Kate Loveman interviews author Deborah Swift
As part of her current research project, Reimagining the Restoration: Samuel Pepys’s Diary and popular history for the 21st Century, Dr Kate Loveman has interviewed two authors: Catherine Johnson author of historical novels for young adults and children, set between 1660 and 1832, and Deborah Swift, author of novels including three based on women featured in Pepys’ diary, Pleasing Mr Pepys (2017), A Plague on Mr Pepys (2018), and Entertaining Mr Pepys (2019).
'Samuel Pepys and His Books' out in paperback
You may remember our review a few years ago of Kate Loveman’s book Samuel Pepys and His Books. The only problem with the book at the time was the very high cost, ￡81. Today the paperback has been released and, while it’s not cheap, it’s cheaper at ￡30.
I think this is only available in the UK, as I can’t see it on Amazon.com. Do post in the comments if you find it available elsewhere.
New book: Walking Pepys's London
There’s a new book about to come out by Jacky Colliss Harvey, called Walking Pepys’s London. The publisher has offered readers of this site 20% off plus free UK delivery if you order it from their website using the coupon code PEPYSDIARY. Here’s the blurb:
Did the Puritans ban Christmas dinner?
The History of Parliament blog has a new post today about how Christmas was celebrated, or not, in the mid-17th century, which users Pepys’ diary’s one of its examples:
A paper about Pepys's eye problems
David James Harries recently got in touch to mention a paper he wrote for The Journal of Dry Eye and Ocular Surface Disease, entitled ‘Pepys’s Eyes: A Modern Answer to an Old Conundrum?’. Here’s the abstract: