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How many words are in Samuel Pepysâs diary?
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Samuel Pepys
Samuel Pepys, oil painting by John Hayls, 1666; in the National Portrait Gallery, London.
The diary of Samuel Pepys contains approximately 1,250,000 words.1
Written in Thomas Sheltonâs system of shorthand, the manuscript fills six quarto volumes currently held in the Pepys Library. It serves as a remarkably candid and detailed record of his life and the events of 17th-century London, including the Great Plague of London and the Great Fire of London.12