Thursday 18th December 2014

Those of you who like audiobooks but have had to make do with abridged versions of Samuel Pepys’ diary will be pleased to hear about a new release from Naxos of the entire diary. Quite an undertaking!

Narrated by Leighton Pugh, the diary has been split into three volumes with the first, 1660-63, due to be released on 5 January 2015, according to Naxos’s page for the release.

Buried in a long blog post that’s currently on the front page of the Naxos Blog is confirmation of the source of the text:

Leighton Pugh has read The Diary of Samuel Pepys in the complete authoritative Latham and Matthews version – it comes out next year in three volumes (some 90 CDs). A major undertaking!

The 34-CD Volume I has a retail price of £99.99 and is currently available to pre-order on Amazon.co.uk for £82.25 or on Amazon.com for $83.42.

Amazon.com also lists Volume III, due out on 30 April 2015, so presumably Volume II will also be released early next year.

If you have a listen, do come back here to post your thoughts… does Pugh sound like Pepys to you?