MILTON, John; William BLAKE ( illustrator ). Poems in English: Paradise Lost [and] Miscellaneous Poems, Paradise Regain'd, Samson Agonistes.

MILTON, John; William BLAKE (illustrator). Poems in English: Paradise Lost [and] Miscellaneous Poems, Paradise Regain'd, Samson Agonistes. London: Nonesuch Press. 1926.

Two vols, Royal 8vo. Original vellum-backed boards with patterned paper sides, titles in gilt to spine; pp. I: [viii], 359, [1]; II: [vi], 283, [1]; untrimmed, text printed in Blado italic type by Walter Lewis, red title-page borders and ornaments by Douglas Percy Bliss, with 53 collotype illustrations after William Blake; extremities slightly bumped, spines a little soiled; offsetting to endpapers, the odd spot, but overall a very good, clean set.

Limited edition, no. 1430 of 1450 copies printed on Van Gelder rag paper, from a total edition of 1540.

Milton’s text follows the edition prepared by Henry Beeching (1859-1919) and published by the Oxford University Press. William Blake’s designs were selected by Geoffrey Keynes (1887-1982), who also contributed the Notes on the illustrations. Blake’s illustrations for Paradise Regain’d had previously been reproduced only once, while those for Comus, the Hymn on the Morning of Christ’s Nativity, and L’Allegro and Il Penseroso appear here for the first time.

Francis Meynell remarked: “My favourite, I think, of Nonesuch publications. The Blake illustrations are surprisingly right”.

Dreyfus 32.

SKU: 2124261