London, S[amuel] Simmons; John Starkey, 1674; 1680.
Annotated with manuscript copy of Dryden's Epigram on Milton. The revised, second edition of Paradise Lost, the last literary project Milton completed before his death in November 1674. By reorganising the work into 12 books, Milton consciously adopted the division used by Virgil in the Aeneid, making 'explicit the parallel with the epics of classical antiquity' to which he had always aspired (ODNB).
With the oft omitted frontispiece portrait of Milton by William Dolle, as well as the prefatory note on 'The Verse' making the case for 'English Heroic Verse without Rime, as that of Homer in Greek, and of Virgil in Latin', and the short commendatory poem by Milton's friend, the noted metaphysical poet and satirist Andrew Marvel, defending his 'sublime' use of blank verse.
The frontispiece annotated in a seventeenth century hand with an early rendering of John Dryden's eulogistic Epigram on Milton: 'Three poets in three distant lands born, Greece, Italy and England did adorn: The first in loftiness of thought surpast; The next in majesty; in both the last: The force of Nature could no further go: To make a Third, she joyn'd the former Two'. Dryden's lines first appeared in print in the illustrated fourth edition of Lost published in 1688.
The dated ownership inscription for J. Vardille(?) 1783 to the title page could suggest a connection to the female poet Anna Jane Vardill (1781-1852), known for her Romantic sonnets and precocious translations of Anacreon. Her The Rights of Woman makes passing reference to Paradise Lost — 'Satan, the origin of ill, Says Milton shew'd consummate skill' — suggesting Vardille was at the very least familiar with the text.
Bound with the second edition of Paradise Regain'd, apparently produced after Milton showed the unpublished manuscript of Lost to his friend the Quaker Thomas Ellwood, who remarked that 'thou hast said much here of Paradise Lost, but what hast thou to say of Paradise Found?' (Masson, 6.496). More pacifistic in tone, Regain'd was published together with Milton's closet drama Samson Agonistes.
Two works in one vol.; 8vo (16.5 x 11 cm); bookplate to front pastedown; [Paradise Lost] second edition; 12 parts, engraved portrait frontispiece, woodcut initial p.2, old cataloguing notes in pencil to front free endpaper recto, ownership inscription to title page, MS poem in pen to frontispiece upper margin in a contemporary hand, head margin cropped throughout with occasional loss to headlines and page numbers, foxing and areas of darker toning, pp.229-230 corner tear, pp.103, 173 and 176 incorrectly paginated 101, 171 and 174 respectively, lacking Latin prefatory poem by 'S.M' and final bank leaf; [Paradise Regain'd] second edition; 4 parts, license to A1 verso, light foxing throughout, p.95 misnumbered 45, pp. 126 and 127 numbered 129 and 130 respectively, lacking ads; later calf, spine gilt in compartments, corners and boards slightly rubbed, front joint cracked but holding; [6], 333, [1]; 132pp.
ESTC R13351; Wing M2144; Coleridge 91a; Shawcross 318; Grolier (Wither to Prior) 605 [not mentioning final blank]; ESTC R300; Wing M2153; Coleridge 169; Shawcross 326.
With the oft omitted frontispiece portrait of Milton by William Dolle, as well as the prefatory note on 'The Verse' making the case for 'English Heroic Verse without Rime, as that of Homer in Greek, and of Virgil in Latin', and the short commendatory poem by Milton's friend, the noted metaphysical poet and satirist Andrew Marvel, defending his 'sublime' use of blank verse.
The frontispiece annotated in a seventeenth century hand with an early rendering of John Dryden's eulogistic Epigram on Milton: 'Three poets in three distant lands born, Greece, Italy and England did adorn: The first in loftiness of thought surpast; The next in majesty; in both the last: The force of Nature could no further go: To make a Third, she joyn'd the former Two'. Dryden's lines first appeared in print in the illustrated fourth edition of Lost published in 1688.
The dated ownership inscription for J. Vardille(?) 1783 to the title page could suggest a connection to the female poet Anna Jane Vardill (1781-1852), known for her Romantic sonnets and precocious translations of Anacreon. Her The Rights of Woman makes passing reference to Paradise Lost — 'Satan, the origin of ill, Says Milton shew'd consummate skill' — suggesting Vardille was at the very least familiar with the text.
Bound with the second edition of Paradise Regain'd, apparently produced after Milton showed the unpublished manuscript of Lost to his friend the Quaker Thomas Ellwood, who remarked that 'thou hast said much here of Paradise Lost, but what hast thou to say of Paradise Found?' (Masson, 6.496). More pacifistic in tone, Regain'd was published together with Milton's closet drama Samson Agonistes.
Two works in one vol.; 8vo (16.5 x 11 cm); bookplate to front pastedown; [Paradise Lost] second edition; 12 parts, engraved portrait frontispiece, woodcut initial p.2, old cataloguing notes in pencil to front free endpaper recto, ownership inscription to title page, MS poem in pen to frontispiece upper margin in a contemporary hand, head margin cropped throughout with occasional loss to headlines and page numbers, foxing and areas of darker toning, pp.229-230 corner tear, pp.103, 173 and 176 incorrectly paginated 101, 171 and 174 respectively, lacking Latin prefatory poem by 'S.M' and final bank leaf; [Paradise Regain'd] second edition; 4 parts, license to A1 verso, light foxing throughout, p.95 misnumbered 45, pp. 126 and 127 numbered 129 and 130 respectively, lacking ads; later calf, spine gilt in compartments, corners and boards slightly rubbed, front joint cracked but holding; [6], 333, [1]; 132pp.
ESTC R13351; Wing M2144; Coleridge 91a; Shawcross 318; Grolier (Wither to Prior) 605 [not mentioning final blank]; ESTC R300; Wing M2153; Coleridge 169; Shawcross 326.
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