Talk:Samuel Pepys
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To the honor of this generous gentleman, a (freeware) personal modeless WysiWiki is available. More on the dedicated mailinglist: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/pepys-users/message/7 -- FridemarPache
Hi. I own the first and last volumes of the Latham edition (11 total), and it says the diary wasn't ciphered, but somehow the word cipher made it to the title of the first edition (maybe it meant something different back then), so I changed that. I have to check it, but I believe the Latham edition (1970's, I think) was the first unabridged, uncensored version of the diary, not the 1893's one. Asereje 01:32, 18 Jul 2004 (UTC)
Status of the diary text: code/cipher?
The diary was *not* written in code or any form of cipher. It was written in the standard office shorthand that Pepys and his clerks used everyday for naval administration. This is all made clear in the Latham and Matthews introduction and in Claire Tomalin's book. Proper names were written out in long hand, and there is good textual evidence that Pepys wrote out a fair copy of the diary from rough notes. Parts of the diary -- especially his rencontres and liaisons -- are written in a curious private language, mainly a mixture of Latin and Spanish. Its possible that this was intended to stop anyone else reading it, but L&M speculate that he is probably hiding only from himself. Thruston 13:01, 9 Mar 2005 (UTC)