MILTON, John.

Paradise Lost. A Poem in Twelve Books.

“Better to reign in Hell, than to serve in Heaven": Rare second edition of JOHN MILTON'S MASTERPIECE PARADISE LOST

London: Printed by S. Simmons next door to the Golden Lion in Aldersgate-Street, 1674.

$6,500.00

In Stock Item Number: RRB-149837

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Rare second edition of Milton’s masterpiece, “one of the greatest works of the human imagination” (DNB). Small octavo, bound in three quarter leather over marbled boards with gilt titles and stamping to the spine in six compartments within raised bands. Revised and augmented by the author, the number of books has been extended from ten to twelve by dividing Books VII and X into two each. According to Milton's nephew, Edward Phillips, these changes were made at Milton's direction and were among the last literary labors undertaken by him. In very good condition.

First published in 1667, “Paradise Lost is generally conceded to be one of the greatest poems in the English language; and there is no religious epic in English which measures up to Milton’s masterpiece… Milton performed an artist’s service to his God” (Magill, 511, 515). The present issue includes Milton's defense of "the Verse." Simmons's note to the reader states that he had procured this explanation from Milton because readers of the poem had "stumbled" on first encountering it, asking "why the Poem Rimes not." Milton's strident defense of blank verse (unrhymed iambic pentameter) is printed in large type that fills two pages. His chosen meter, although no longer fashionable by 1667, was the dominant mode of Shakespeare's plays and is the closest to the natural rhythms of English speech. Samuel Johnson later commented sarcastically that, "finding blank verse easier than rhyme, [Milton] was desirous of persuading himself that it is better" [Morgan Library].