Lot 167
Milton, John
Paradise Regain'd
Auction: 16 June 2026 from 10:00 BST
Description
A Poem. In IV Books. To which is added Samson Agonistes. London: printed by J. M. for John Starkey, 1671. 8vo (18 x 11.5cm), 2 parts in 1 volume, separately paginated, register continuous, A2 B-O8 P4, [4] 111 [1], [2] 3-101 [3] pp., contemporary panelled calf, retaining initial licence leaf and terminal errata leaf, covers detached and worn, early ownership inscription and repeated monogram ink-stamp to front free endpaper, occasional spotting, housed in a custom gilt blue morocco slipcase [ESTC R299; Grolier, Wither to Prior, 613; Wing M2152]
Footnote
First edition of both Paradise Regained and Milton's verse drama Samson Agonistes, first issue, with ‘loah’ for ‘loth’ on page 67 of the first work. A verse account of the temptation in the desert as told in the Gospel of Luke, Paradise Regained has been identified as exhibiting the influence of the Quaker community at Chalfont St Giles, where Milton lived from 1665, and reflecting the radical views on education which he developed in his later years: 'The Jesus of Paradise Regained is not a warrior like the Son in book 6 of Paradise Lost, but rather a man who outwits his opponent. Milton's fictional Jesus is not, however, a sentimentalized figure: he denounces ordinary citizens as 'a herd confused, a miscellaneous rabble', so reflecting Milton's disdain for popular democracy, and he denounces the cultural accomplishments of ancient Greece, so reflecting the opinion of Milton in his late years that worldly learning was a vain pursuit' (ODNB).