On 1 January 1660 ("1 January 1659/1660" in contemporary terms), Samuel Pepys began to keep a diary. He recorded his daily life for almost ten years. This record of a decade of Pepys' life is more than a million words long and is often regarded as Britain’s most celebrated diary.
John Smith's transcription was the basis for the first published edition of the diary, edited by Lord Braybrooke, released in two volumes in 1825.
