Samuel Pepys (1633-1703) made a significant contribution to British history by his work as a naval administrator, and he bequeathed to Magdalen College, Cambridge its greatest treasure – his library, a unique collection of 3,000 books and manuscripts, still preserved as he left it. There are 250 volumes of manuscripts and these NRS volumes published selected documents from the collection.

In this volume Tanner gives a lengthy general introduction to Pepys's career as a naval administrator and to the papers he left at his death, and also prints from them lists of ships and officers from 1660 to 1688.