Memoires Relating to the State of the Royal Navy of England, For Ten Years, Determin’d December 1688.
1690. [London]: Printed MDCXC [1690].
8vo, [4], 214, [18] p., [1] folded leaf. Title page in red and black. With a frontispiece portrait (A1v) signed: G: Kneller pinx: R: White sculp. Includes a folding table, with heading: A general state of account, relating to the 400000. l. per ann. payable out of the exchequer to the Treasurer of the Navy, for answering Mr. Pepys’s proposition. Speckled calf antique, red morocco label, a very clean fresh copy possibly large-paper.
§ First edition, the issue for private distribution without the commercial imprint on the title-page; the regular issue has the full imprint: "London: Printed for Ben. Griffin, and are to be sold by Sam. Keble, 1690. Pepys' account of what he thought was needed for the Royal Navy, written just after his retirement as Secretary of the Navy in 1688. It is the only work that is known to have published in his lifetime. This copy has nine of the manuscript corrections (in Pepys’s hand or under his direction) and the usual cancels. Pforzheimer 793 (regular issue with the full imprint); Wing P-1450. ESTC R13464. Item #105327
Price: $4,500.00