1688: MASTERPIECE OF 17th CENTURY ENGLISH BOOK ILLUSTRATION - RARE
Item History & Price
Reference Number: Avaluer:506553 |
THE FIRST ILLUSTRATED EDITION OF MILTON
OFFERED WITH NO RESERVE
Paradise Lost. A Poem in Twelve Books. London: by Miles Flesher for Jacob Tonson, 1688. FOLIO 12.5 x 7.5 inches Frontispiece portrait by R. White after William Faithorne, and twelve engraved plates chiefly after Medina by Michael Burghers and Peter Paul Bouche, WITH THE SCARCE LIST OF SUBSCRIBERS AT END, Early mottled calf, re-back...ed and restored, later paste-downs and blanks, inner boards unsympathetically strengthened, some rubbing to binding, and corner bumping with some small losses; internally some stoning, and some edge toning throughout, good impressions of the plates but somewhat closely trimmed on margins and on plates X / XI just intruding into plate and B of Book, inner plate margins somewhat tight. REFERENCES: Wing M2148; Pforzheimer 720; Wither to Prior 607
"The earliest serious effort to illustrate an important work of English poetry" (Hodnett, Five Centuries of Book Illustration, 1988, p.63). Tonson was clearly proud of his achievement in printing this edition of Paradise Lost: he is depicted holding a copy in the portrait of him painted by Godfrey Kneller in about 1720."
PRICE REFERENCES (for comparison only):
1) Copy oline in a modern binding $8500
.aptisrarebooks.com/product/paradise-lost-a-poem-in-twelve-books-john-milton-first-illustrated-edition-rare-2/
2) Copy at auction for $3000 LACKING the subscription pages :
christies.com/lotfinder/Lot/milton-john-1608-1674-paradise-lost-a-poem-5156114-details.aspx
3) Copy at Sotheby's 6250 GBP sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2013/library-english-bibliophile-l13411/lot.125.html