Paradise Lost; Paradise Regain'd; A Poem in Twelve Books; A Poem in Four Books. To Which is Added Samson Agonistes: and Poems upon Several Occasions
Birmingham: Printed by John Baskerville for J. and R. Tonson in London, 1758. First Baskerville edition. Hardcover. 2 vol. 8vo. [33], 4-416, [2]; [3], ii-lxix, [4], 6-390, [2] pp. Latter nineteenth-century full polished calf with triple gold borders to each board, gold tooling to the turn-ins, spines in six compartments with gold tooling and a maroon and a green morocco label lettered in gold on each spine; all edges gilt. Marbled endpapers and pastedowns. Bound by Broca & Kaufmann. Packer 23. Broca & Kaufmann worked together in the latter part of the nineteenth century before Broca opened his own bindery (the two were partners from 1876 to 1890). Gaskell 4 and 5. Oxford DNB, James Mosley, "Baskerville, John". The first Baskerville edition of Milton's works, printed in 1758. Paradise Lost with the cancellans as per Gaskell; shows several of the errors as described in entry number 4. Paradise Regain'd accords with entry number 5 in Gaskell. Milton's works were the most successful of Baskerville's publications, with an oversubscribed list and the greatest number of sales. Benjamin Franklin himself was on the subscriber list. Franklin and Gaskell were correspondents, and Franklin visited the press. A beautiful set of Milton's works, one of Baskerville's greatest achievements. Near Fine. Item #000017184
Very light surface wear to the leather, a 19th century name stamp on the versos of the front endpapers, the leaves a touch foxed but are overall clean and bright.
Price: $2,000.00