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MEMOIRS OF JOHN EVELYN, 2 Vols. 1818 1st Ed. Leather, Plates. English Diarist MEMOIRS OF JOHN EVELYN, 2 Vols. 1818 1st Ed. Leather, Plates. English Diarist MEMOIRS ILLUSTRATIVE OF THE LIFE AND WRITINGS OF JOHN EVELYN, ESQ. F.R.S. Comprising his Diary, from the year 1641 to 1705-6, and a selection of his familiar letters. To which is subjoined, The Private Correspondence between King Charles I. and his Secretary of State, Sir Edward Nicholas, Whilst his Majesty was in Scotland, 1641, and at other times during the Civil War; also between Sir Edward Hyde, afterwards Earl of Clarendon, and Sir Richard Browne, Ambassador to the Court of France, in the time of King Charles I. and the Usurpation. The whole now first published, from the original mss. in two volumes Edited by William Bray, Esq. Fellow and Treasurer of the Society of Antiquaries of London London: Printed for Henry Colburn, 1818. First Edition. Two volumes. Hardcovers. Full leather, original polished calf boards with gilt rulings, later leather spine and spine labels, marbled page edges. Large quartos (11.9 inches tall). Volume I: xxiii, [1], 620 pages + portrait frontis + 2 plates (1 folding) + 1 genealogical table (folding) + 1 plan of Deptford (folding). Volume II: viii, [4], 366, [1], [1], 335, [1] pages + portrait frontis + 3 plates. Armorial book plate of early owner (E. Herbert Litchfield) on front pastedowns as well as a second bookplate of Francis Turreff. John Evelyn FRS (31 October 1620 – 27 February 1706) was an English writer, gardener and diarist. John Evelyn's diary, or memoir, spanned the period of his adult life from 1640, when he was a student, to 1706, the year he died. He did not write daily at all times. The many volumes provide insight into life and events at a time before regular magazines or newspapers were published, making diaries of greater interest to modern historians than such works might have been at later periods. Evelyn's work covers art, culture and politics, including the execution of Charles I, Oliver Cromwell's rise and eventual natural death, the last Great Plague of London, and the Great Fire of London in 1666. Evelyn's posthumously "rival" diarist, Samuel Pepys, wrote a different kind of diary, covering a much shorter period, 1660–1669, but in much greater depth, within the same era. Over the years, Evelyn's Diary has been overshadowed by Pepys's chronicles of 17th-century life. Evelyn's Diary remained unpublished as a manuscript until 1818. It is in a quarto volume containing 700 pages, covering the years between 1641 and 1697, and is continued in a smaller book – which brings the narrative down to within three weeks of its author's death. Despite entries going back to 1641, Evelyn only actually started writing his diary much later, relying on almanacs and accounts of other people for many of the earlier events. A selection from this was edited by William Bray, with the permission of the Evelyn family, in 1818, under the title of Memoirs illustrative of the Life and Writings of John Evelyn, comprising his Diary from 1641 to 1705/6, and a Selection of his Familiar Letters. CONDITION: Good Covers. / Very Good+ Contents. (Covers have edge and corner wear, rubbing and soil, some erosion of gilt rulings. Original spines are replaced by later leather spines and title labels. The tightly bound Contents are complete and intact with some offsetting and foxing of title pages and other pages adjacent to the plates, occasional marginal foxing spots of text pages, light or moderate foxing spots on the margins of the plates.) Check our other auctions and store listings for additional unusual items Check our other auctions and store listings for additional unusual items Listing and template services provided by inkFrog