Paradise Lost, the epic poem on the ‘Creation’ and ‘Mankind’s Fall’. Samuel Prowett paid the British artist John Martin (1789-1854) 2000 guineas to produce 24 engravings to complement Milton’s famed text; he received a further 1500 guineas for a second smaller set of 24. The images he created are dramatic. Published in 1827, the two-volume book, and the prints (many sold separately) were a commercial success. This rare edition sits in the de Beer Collection, among many other outsized editions such as 16th century herbals, the voyages of Captain Cook, Edward Gibbon’s Decline and Fall, and the musical works of Handel. There is variety indeed.]]> John Milton]]> Books]]> Paradise Lost. Produced in folio format for the first time, and ‘adorn’d with sculptures’, the publisher no doubt wanted to make a ‘splash’ for one of England’s greatest poets. William Faithorne (1616-1691) was a painter who had done portraits of notables such as Oliver Cromwell, Queen Catherine, Cardinal Richelieu, and Thomas Hobbes. Previously used for the History of Britain (1670), his more kindly portrait of Milton (1608-1674) was re-worked by Richard White, a prolific English engraver.]]> John Milton]]> Books]]> Paradise Lost. Over the years, scribal and transmission errors, variant spellings, punctuation, capitalizations, and additions have cast doubt on the text’s reliability. By modernizing the text, reducing inconsistencies, and applying judicious attention to various words and phrases, John T. Shawcross has provided a new and ‘definitive’ edition for Milton scholars. In printing this edition, Andrew Hoyem (of Arion Press) pays tribute to the John Baskerville edition of 1759, and the second edition of Paradise Lost of 1674, the year that Milton died. This was when the poem was divided into 12 books. Here is a portion of the text that provided Blake with the inspiration to produce his Satan, Sin, and Death image.]]> John Milton]]> Paradise Lost. Over the years, scribal and transmission errors, variant spellings, punctuation, capitalizations, and additions have cast doubt on the text’s reliability. By modernizing the text, reducing inconsistencies, and applying judicious attention to various words and phrases, John T. Shawcross has provided a new and ‘definitive’ edition for Milton scholars. In printing this edition, Andrew Hoyem (of Arion Press) pays tribute to the John Baskerville edition of 1759, and the second edition of Paradise Lost of 1674, the year that Milton died. This was when the poem was divided into 12 books.]]> John Milton]]>