Title: Paradise Lost
Author: John Milton, Jacob Tonson (illus from 1688)
ISBN: –
Publisher: The Franklin Library, 1981, A Limited Edition for subscribers, in the 100 Greatest Books of All Time series
Condition: Hardover. Very minor wear, excellent for its age, gold gilt is perfect and intact. Has previous owner’s bookplate attached, which can be pasted over on request, pages are clean and unmarked and looks unread. A beautiful book, with woodcut illustrations by Paul Tonson specially commissioned for the 1688 edition, along with a frontispiece portrait of Milton with a tribute of John Dryden.
This book features:
- Full brown top-grade leather binding
- Genuine 22k gold gilt to all edges, front design, spine, and back
- Silk moire endsheets
- Satin bookmark, sewn-in
- Hubbed spine with 2 raised bands
- Smyth-sewn binding for durability
- Premium acid-neutral archival paper that will not yellow
About Paradise Lost (from wikipedia):
Paradise Lost is an epic poem in blank verse by the 17th-century English poet John Milton. It was originally published in 1667 in ten books, with a total of over ten thousand individual lines of verse. A second edition followed in 1674, redivided into twelve books with minor revisions throughout and a note on the versification; the majority of the poem was written while Milton was blind, and was transcribed for him.
The poem concerns the Christian story of the Fall of Man: the temptation of Adam and Eve by the fallen angel Satan and their expulsion from the Garden of Eden. Milton’s purpose, stated in Book I, is to “justify the ways of God to men” and elucidate the conflict between God’s eternal foresight and free will.
Milton incorporates Paganism, classical Greek references, and Christianity within the poem. It deals with diverse topics from marriage, politics and monarchy, and grapples with many difficult theological issues, including fate, predestination, the Trinity, and the introduction of sin and death into the world, as well as angels, fallen angels, Satan, and the war in heaven. Milton draws on his knowledge of languages, and diverse sources – primarily Genesis, much of the New Testament, the deuterocanonical Book of Enoch, and other parts of the Old Testament. Milton’s epic is generally considered one of the greatest literary works in the English language.
