View source for Samuel Pepys: The Unequalled Self

{{Short description|2002 book by Claire Tomalin}}
{{Infobox book
| author            = [[Claire Tomalin]]
| isbn              =
| name              = Samuel Pepys: The Unequalled Self
| publisher         = [[Viking (publisher)|Viking]]
| subject            = The life of [[Samuel Pepys]]
| published         = 2002
| media_type        = book
| pages             = 499
| image             =
| caption           =
}}
'''''Samuel Pepys: The Unequalled Self''''' is a 2002 historical biography by [[Claire Tomalin]]. It charts the life of [[Samuel Pepys]], a 17th-century English diarist and naval administrator.  The main source for the biography is the diary which Pepys wrote between 1660 and 1669, though Tomalin also draws in various other sources, including letters and other contemporary records.
==Background==
Pepys was the seventh subject for the biographer, Claire Tomalin, who had previously written biographies of writers including [[Mary Wollstonecraft]], [[Katherine Mansfield]], [[Percy Shelley]] and [[Jane Austen]]. <ref>{{cite web |title=Claire Tomalin: A life in words |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/2705079.stm |website=news.bbc.co.uk |publisher=BBC |access-date=3 June 2024}}</ref> Before Tomalin's biography, recent studies of Pepys had included ''Samuel Pepys: A Life'' by Stephen Coote (2000) <ref>{{cite book |last1=Coote |first1=Stephen |title=Samuel Pepys: a life |date=2001 |publisher=Sceptre |location=London |isbn=9780340751244}}</ref> and ''Samuel Pepys and His World'', by [[Geoffrey Trease]] (1972).<ref>{{cite book |last1=Trease |first1=Geoffrey |title=Samuel Pepys and his world |date=1972 |publisher=Thames and Hudson |location=London |isbn=0500130361}}</ref>
==Reception==
The book was generally reviewed positively. ''The Guardian''{{'}}s Joanna Griffiths felt that Tomalin could have included more of Pepys' words from the diary, and opined that Pepys was a difficult subject for a biographer due to his diary revealing so much of himself, and the comparative lack of sources for periods of his life before and after the diary. Griffiths describes the biography as "notable for its generosity to the Pepysian fan."<ref name="Griffiths2002">{{cite news |last1=Griffiths |first1=Joanna |title=Life beyond the diary |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2002/sep/29/biography.whitbreadbookawards2002 |access-date=31 May 2024 |work=[[The Guardian]] |date=29 September 2002}}</ref> Reviewing for the ''New York Times'', Charles McGrath also stated that  "You don't always hear as much of Pepys himself as you would like", but also called Tomalin "an excellent summarizer".<ref name="McGrath2002">{{cite news |last1=McGrath |first1=Charles |title=I've Seen Fire, I've Seen Plague |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/29/books/i-ve-seen-fire-i-ve-seen-plague.html |access-date=31 May 2024 |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=29 December 2002}}</ref>
''The Unequalled Self'' won the 2002 Whitbread Book of the Year award in the biography and overall sections.<ref>{{cite web |title=Costa Book Awards Past Winners |url=http://www.costa.co.uk/media/300231/CBA-Past-Winners-2015-Version.pdf |access-date=31 May 2024}}</ref>
==References==
{{Reflist}}
[[Category:2002 non-fiction books]]
[[Category:Biographies about writers]]
[[Category:British biographies]]
[[Category:History of the Royal Navy]]
[[Category:History of London]]