About Saturday 29 May 1669

Jmacg on 30 May 2022  •  Link

From jmacg in New Zealand - thanks Phil and all the commenters, for many years of daily enjoyment. I came into this website halfway through it's first incarnation and have been with it all the way through the second time around. Now I'll have to find something else to do with my life...

About Wednesday 3 March 1668/69

Jmacg on 4 Mar 2022  •  Link

"she-cousin" is a curious term, but it's meaning is very clear and it probably saves a few words if you want to specify the gender. My wife claims it's sexist and she may be right, but who's to say the term "he-cousin" wasn't used as well?

About Thursday 31 December 1668

Jmacg on 1 Jan 2022  •  Link

And a Happy New Year from a very warm Martinborough, New Zealand. I'm also distressed that I won't share another New Year's Day with Sam'l & Co. I read the latter two-thirds of this diary the first time around, and everything so far in this second showing. There will be a wee hole in my life.

About Friday 17 July 1668

Jmacg on 18 Jul 2021  •  Link

It's interesting that on the last two hottest nights Sam has ever experienced, he needs a heavy rug as well as a sheet to keep warm. Here in my non-airconditioned house in NZ, I have nothing but a sheet on my bed for quite a few nights each summer. We're warmer than London, but not by all that much.

About Sunday 15 March 1667/68

Jmacg on 16 Mar 2021  •  Link

Surely our man wasn't hazer con elling Mrs. Martin in the presence of her sister and Mrs. Burrows?

About Wednesday 15 July 1663

Jmacg on 17 Jul 2016  •  Link

>...and to bed, sporting in my fancy with the Queen.

Is he saying he was wanking in bed, inspired by the Queen?

About Tuesday 10 June 1662

Jmacg on 13 Jun 2015  •  Link

I am a professional traditional book publisher, but these days my personal reading is nearly all on a Kindle Paperwhite, whether I am traveling or in an armchair at home. But that's for books which are largely or entirely text. Books with lots of illustrations are another matter. They are still much better in traditional book format - and that is the sort of book I publish.

IMHO, nostalgic notions of the feel of the paper, the smell of the bookbinder's glue etc are mostly a nonsense when applied to a newly published book. They are greatly outbalanced by the convenience and greater readability of an ebook on a good digital ink platform such as my Paperwhite.

My old books, and my beautifully designed and illustrated modern books, are still very precious to me.