John Milton. PARADISE LOST. A POEM IN TWELVE BOOKS. Fourth edition stated; first folio edition; first illustrated edition. London: Miles Flesher, for Jacob Tonson, 1688 (one of three imprint variants for this ed.). Folio; [4], 219, [1], 219-250, 151-196, 297-343, [7]pp., plus plates. Leather boards, marbled endpapers. A plate for each book, with (12) total plates; list of subscribers at end, watermark on endpapers. Wickenheiser p. 159; ESTC 15589; USTC 3113387.

15 x 9 3/8 in.

From the Collection of Professor Roberto Severino, Washington, D.C.

Paradise Lost is a well-known epic poem that has been illustrated by many important artists such as William Blake and Gustave Doré since its first publication in 1667. This edition from 1688 was published by Jacob Tonson who greatly appreciated Milton's work. It is the first illustrated edition, the first edition to be published as a folio, and it is also an early example of subscription publishing.

Binding copy with boards extremely fragile with significant wear and losses to leather, back board detached; spine extremely worn without backstrip, with bands visible and frayed, splitting at center hinge; pages with light toning and foxing, marginalia, occasional stain or soiling, occasional small losses or chips not impacting text; damp staining throughout at upper half, small wormhole that runs through most of volume with additional tiny wormholes at inner and outer margin, small losses at margins, small loss in 2L1, Book II plate cut short at outer margin, several pages partially detached; lacking portrait frontispiece, with (2) additional pages of manuscript.