Although his diary is now Samuel Pepys’s most famous work, it was unknown until long after his death. He only published one book in his lifetime, Memoires relating to the state of the Royal Navy of England, for ten years, determin'd December 1688, his account of the administration of the Navy from 1679 until his dismissal from office with regime change in 1688. It was published in 1690. With the exception of a 1971 edition titled Pepys' Memoires of the Royal Navy, 1679-1688, it has been out of print since 1908.
A new hardcover edition titled Pepy's Memoires of the Royal Navy, 1690 with a new introduction by David Davies which explains the political controversy that formed the background to the book’s publication, and shows how Pepys manipulated his mastery of arcane information (indeed, he would have made an ideal spin-doctor to a modern government), was released yesterday in the UK and will be released on 15 June 2010 in the US
The original publication had an appendix with a detailed list of the state of the fleet in December 1688, which in this new edition is illustrated with contemporary drawings of typical ships.
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