SOURCE: “A Look at Pepys,” in American Book Collector, Vol. 7, No. 10, October 1986, pp. 17-24.

In the following essay, Rostenberg studies Pepys's large collection of books, musical texts, and manuscripts as a reflection of both his own interests and those of his contemporaries.

On the evidence of his detailed, chatty, and often delightful diary (kept from March 1659/60 to 1669), Samuel Pepys was a man of many parts: an able public servant, a music lover endowed with personal talent, and a participant in the scientific experimentation of the age. He was the friend of many, the admirer of numerous ladies with whom he relished a kiss and a warm embrace, the stalker of literary bargains, and the extremely proud owner of an enviable collection of books and manuscripts.

It is evident that the sober John Evelyn exercised considerable influence upon the extroverted Pepys. The respect of the younger man for the...