Books

This is the elegant and uncommon quarto edition of Milton, printed by legendary English printer and type designer, John Baskerville in 1759. Baskerville's 1758 edition was a smaller octavo format. One of the greatest works in the English language, "Paradise Lost" is Milton's epic poem on the rebellion of Satan, his temptation of Eve, and the ultimate expulsion of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden. The text is Thomas Newton's meticulous restoration of Milton's original, divided into twelve books, each preceded by a scene-setting "Argument." Volume I also includes a Life of Milton, Andrew Marvil's poetic tribute to Milton's masterpiece, and Samuel Barlow's "In Paradisum Amissam Summi Poetae Johannis Miltoni." Volume II presents Milton's "Paradise Regain'd," which is a shorter epic poem of the temptation of Jesus by Satan, the closet play "Samson Agonistes," and various other verses. A lovely set of this important edition of Milton. Both volumes uniformly bound in calf over boards with gilt spine titles on red and green title blocks, five raised bands on spines with gilt ornamentation to compartments. There are splits along joints but all boards remain firmly attached. Minor extremity wear to boards, including rubs and modest chips. Mild age toning to interiors. A beautiful set overall. Full calf over boards. Quartos. lxxii, 416 pages and 390. [ii] pages.

Paradise Lost is an epic poem in blank verse by the 17th-century English poet John Milton. The first version, published in 1667, consisted of ten books with over ten thousand lines of verse.