The Diary Of John Evelyn

The Diary of John Evelyn (2002 edition)
Edited by Guy de la Bédoyère
Published by Boydell
ISBN: 9780851156392
Condition: Very Good (better preserved than most 17th-century courtiers)
Sold by Crappy Old Books™

Ah, John Evelyn: the man forever condemned to be “the other diarist,” living in the shadow of Samuel Pepys — history’s loud, lecherous party guest. Yet Evelyn’s Diary is the thinking person’s alternative: less gossip about wenches and plague-dodging, more thoughtful commentary on gardens, politics, art, and that time Charles II’s court was being particularly… Restoration-y.

This 2002 edition, carefully edited by Guy de la Bédoyère (a name so aristocratic it sounds like it should come with a free coat of arms), rescues Evelyn from the footnotes and gives him the space to shine. Here you’ll find:

• Wry accounts of a London where half the city burned down, and people still managed to complain about the price of firewood.

• Meditations on tree-planting that reveal Evelyn as the original eco-warrior, centuries before the word “recycling” was coined.

• Glimpses of a man trying very hard to appear serious and moral while living in an age of wigs so large they had their own ecosystems.

• A refreshing absence of Pepys’s endless bedroom confessions — unless you find horticulture erotic, in which case, buckle up.

Condition is listed as Very Good, meaning this copy has survived intact with only the lightest brush with shelf-time. No tragic spine cracks, no coffee stains — unlike Evelyn’s London, which was full of cracks, stains, and the occasional plague pit.

Perfect for:

• Lovers of Restoration gossip who prefer their scandal in Latin quotation marks.

• Environmentalists looking for a 17th-century patron saint of tree-hugging.

• Readers who like their diaries written in complete sentences, not emojis.

Crappy Old Books™: because history’s “second fiddles” deserve their encore too.

Keep browsing: See more Biography books Other books by Guy de la Bedoyere