Image: Painting of Samuel Pepys by John Hayls. Public domain (via Wikimedia Commons)
About the talk
Samuel Pepys was a hugely able man — founder of the administration of the Royal English navy, Governor of Christ’s Hospital, Member of Parliament and friend of many of the great men of his day. He was also a member and a President of the Royal Society, taking part in its weekly meetings with huge enjoyment and enrichment of his knowledge of the world about him. But he is most famous for being one of the worlds world’s great diarists.
Susannah will talk about Pepys’ extraordinary library, now housed at Magdalen College, Cambridge, his passion for buying books, his contribution to the arts and sciences of his day, and his part in the burgeoning Enlightenment. She will also tell the incredible story of his Diary, writing that shared unique insight into life at the time, and contained eyewitness accounts of historical events, such as the Great Plague of London and the Great Fire of London, and how it finally came to be published.
About this series on The Enlightenment
The Enlightenment program is a series of lectures, concluding with a sophistry, co-hosted by the Royal Society of NSW and the Sydney Mechanics School of Arts — the two oldest institutions in NSW dedicated to education, the discussion of ideas and discovery. The theme of the series is “The Enlightenment”, which dates from the mid-17th century and underpins contemporary standards of living. Click here for more information about this series.
About Susannah Fullerton
Susannah Fullerton is an Australian author, literary historian and Jane Austen expert. She has been president of the Jane Austen Society of Australia since 1996 and is patron of the Rudyard Kipling Society of Australia. Susannah is very well known on the Australian speakers’ circuit as a literary lecturer. She presents regular series at the Art Gallery of NSW, the State Library of New South Wales, and libraries, schools and clubs. She is a regular guest on Richard Glover’s ABC Self-Improvement Wednesday programme and is often interviewed on TV and radio.
With Australians Studying Abroad she leads literary tours to England, Scotland, Ireland, France, Italy, and the USA. These tours take people to the homes of great writers, famous libraries, on walks through literary landscapes, cemeteries to see the graves of great writers and to galleries and museums.
She is the author of, among other books, Brief Encounters: Literary Travellers in Australia, 1836-1939.
susannahfullerton.com.au
#HistoryWeek17
www.historyweek.com.au
SMSA (Sydney Mechanics’ School of Arts)
