Samuel Pepys - Pepys Library

Pepys Library

Pepys was a lifelong bibliophile and carefully nurtured his large collection of books, manuscripts, and prints. At his death, there were more than 3,000 volumes, including the diary, all carefully catalogued and indexed; they form one of the most important surviving 17th century private libraries. The most important items in the Library are the six original bound manuscripts of Pepys's diary but there are other remarkable holdings, including:

• Incunabula by William Caxton, Wynkyn de Worde and Richard Pynson
• Sixty medieval manuscripts
• The Pepys Manuscript: a late 15th-century English choirbook
• Naval records such as two of the 'Anthony Rolls', illustrating the Royal Navy's ships c. 1546, including the Mary Rose
• Sir Francis Drake's personal almanac
• Over 1,800 printed ballads: one of the finest collections in existence.

Pepys made detailed provisions in his will for the preservation of his book collection; and, when his nephew and heir, John Jackson, died, in 1723, it was transferred, intact, to Magdalene College, Cambridge, where it can be seen in the Pepys Building. The bequest included all the original book cases and his elaborate instructions that placement of the books "...be strictly reviewed and, where found requiring it, more nicely adjusted".