Milton, John. Paradise Lost. A Poem in Twelve Books

London: Printed by Miles Flesher, for Jacob Tonson, 1688. First folio and first illustrated edition (The Fourth Edition, Adorn'd with Sculptures). Folio. (iv), 220, 219-250, 151-196, 297-343, (7) pp. Illustrated with an engraved frontispiece portrait of Milton by R. White and 12 engraved plates by Michael Burghers and P.P. Bouche, after B. de Medina and B. Lens. Quarter brown crushed straight-grain morocco over marbled paper-covered boards, red morocco spine label, stamped in gilt, joints and boards rubbed; marbled edges; illustrated book-plate of The Robin Collection on front paste-down; scattered spotting and light foxing to text; light toning, largely to margins; small singe hole at center of C3; small stain at bottom of Nn4r and lightly on adjacent pages; closed tear traversing bottom of Qq4; bookseller's ticket at bottom of rear paste-down (William Salloch). Pforzheimer 720; Coleridge 93b; Shawcross 347; Grolier, Wither to Prior 607; Wing M-2147; E. Hodnett, Five Centuries of Book Illustration (1988), p. 63

A handsome copy of the first folio and first illustrated edition of John Milton's classic. Featuring a fine engraved portrait of the author and 12 full-page copper-plate engravings (one appearing at the beginning of each book), it is considered "the earliest serious effort to illustrate an important work of English poetry" (Hodnett). Printed 21 years after the first edition and 14 years after Milton's death, this was also the first edition published for subscribers, with a limited issue of only 500 copies.

This lot is located in Philadelphia.

Provenance

From the collection of Justin G. Schiller

Milton, John. Paradise Lost. A Poem in Twelve Books