MILTON

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First edition, first issue, Amory's state 1(b) of the title page (the traditional first state), dated 1667 and with Milton's name spelled in full and in larger type than "London" of imprint." Finely bound by Riviere in full brown morocco gilt, paneled sides with center, corner and other ornaments, spine gilt, all edges gilt. Housed in a cloth folding case. Near Fine, lacking preliminary blank; printer's error in the paper at foot of M2 affecting portions of the bottom two lines on both sides; small marginal repair on T4; some line-borders cropped at top; headline on V4 recto also cropped; lower margin repaired on Vv1 affecting the printed border rule at foot. A few notes in light pencil on rear endpaper. Small bookplates of noteworthy collectors George Goyder and William A. Strutz on paste down. The title exists in at least six states, of which the present state has been traditionally recognized as the first. Of the numerous theories attempting to explain the sequence of these variants over the centuries, Amory presents a reasonable (albeit initially counter-intuitive) case for priority belonging to the title page with the future date of 1668 and Milton's initials, corresponding to how Simons registered the work on 20 August 1667. See Hugh Amory, "Things Unattempted Yet: A bibliography of the first edition of Paradise lost," in The Book Collector, Spring 1983, pp. 41-66 (1b). The 1667 titles like this one, according to him, were used when the authorized 1668 titles were exhausted. Grolier English 33; Grolier Wither to Prior 599; Hayward 72; Pforzheimer 716 (giving priority to the setting with "Milton" smaller than "London" in imprint); Wing M2138. This famous epic poem made its appearance at an unfortunate time. London had barely recovered from the Plague of 1665 (during which eighty printers had died, wherein is seen another reason for the difficulty in finding a publisher), and the great district devastated by the Fire was still only partly rebuilt. It was not surprising that the 1200 copies which are thought to have made the first edition did not have a brisk sale" (Grolier, English). For centuries it has been considered Milton's masterpiece and a cornerstone of English poetry. It retells the fall of Satan as well as the banishment of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden.