"The candour of Pepys's Diary reveals the private man in unique detail. His letters, more considered, show him in another light: man of affairs, public-spirited, a networker. Furthermore, the Diary covers only nine years and five months of his life, but the letters provide vital evidence for his whole career: first on the staff of the future Earl of Sandwich, then the Diary years as Clerk of the Acts, his rise to greatness as Secretary of the Admiralty, and finally his retirement after the Glorious Revolution." "The letters selected here reflect all aspects of Pepys's varied and fascinating life, and include thirty never before published. Spelling has been modernised, and Guy de la Bedoyere supplies a commentary, biographies of persons mentioned, a glossary, a list of dates, and an introduction that explains how the letters have survived and analyses how they were written."--Jacket.