Ultimately, we can only be grateful for this strange series of events. Almost 400 years after its composition, Pepys’s diary still fascinates and delights its readers for its passages on the plague, the Great Fire of London, and the scandals of the court of King Charles II.
#SamuelPepys

Loveman also notes the strangeness pointed out by Leigh Hunt in 1841, that a diary of such personal and sometimes scandalous information was written at all and so meticulously; stranger still that it be freely donated to his College where it contents were at risk of discovery.

Lastly, the diary is comprised of over 1 million words, spanning 3100 pages and meriting six volumes for the complete works. Thus, the abridged first edition required editing out around three quarters of the total.

This was especially true in certain cases where Pepys’s intentions were subtly encoded in his writing and easily missed. Secondly, the diary was frequently lewd and faced censorship for obscenity.

Did you know that efforts to have the diary published were far from easy? Firstly, the diary was composed in shorthand, the transcription of which was more like translation, as @kateloveman.bsky.social notes in her recent work, ‘The Strange History of Samuel Pepys’s Diary’.

This print has been used to illustrate many other conclaves in the 17th century, with the images being 'recycled' and the names of the Popes replaced each time. These conclave prints were popular tourist souvenirs.

In this instance, the conclave took five months to elect a new Pope - it concluded in the July of that year, when the cardinals were starting to suffer from the summer heat.

The print depicts the ceremonies associated with the death of Alexander VIII (Pietro Vito Ottoboni) and the conclave to elect the new Pope Innocent XII (Antonio Pignatelli) in 1691.

A lovely picture of the library!

Thank you!