Poems - photo 1
Poems - photo 2

Poems

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$ 40 320
Auction dateClassic
06.10.2022 12:00UTC -04:00
Auctioneer
CHRISTIE'S
Event location
USA, New York
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Archive
ID 813643
Lot 28 | Poems
Poems

John Milton, 1645

MILTON, John (1608-1674). Poems of Mr. John Milton, both English and Latin, compos'd at several times. London: Ruth Raworth for Humphrey Moseley, 1645.



The important and very fine Huntington-Chew-Blair copy of the first collected edition of Milton's poems, with integral first blank. Previously the portrait was thought to be an integral leaf, but the original first blank is present in this copy, which helped prove the true collation of the book. This compilation, printed by the nonconformist printer Ruth Raworth, publishes the poetry of Milton's university years. His verses are in English, Latin, and Italian; this virtuosic multilingualism earned him an appointment as Secretary for Foreign Tongues of Cromwell's Commonwealth only a few years later. The rather ungainly engraved portrait was added at the insistence of publisher Humphrey Moseley, but Milton hated it so much that he asked the engraver to add a few lines of Greek verse as a caption—verses which insult the artist and image and instruct the viewer to laugh at it. This is the issue without "S." in the imprint. Beverly Chew sold this book, along with other English literature, to Henry Huntington, but bought it back when the library deaccessioned a number of them, allowing it to appear in the catalogue of his sale at Anderson Galleries, catalogued by Henrietta Bartlett. Pforzheimer 722; Wing M-2160.



Octavo (154 x 94mm). Engraved frontispiece portrait by William Marshall, separate title pages for A Mask and Poemata (two small rust holes on p. 109, small repairs to blank area of final leaf, a few page numbers just shaved). 19th-century red morocco gilt by Mercier de Cuzin, edges gilt. Morocco pull-off box and chemise. Provenance: Beverly Chew, 1850-1924 (morocco label; sold en bloc in October 1912 to:) – Henry E. Huntington, 1850-1927 (by gift to:) – Huntington Library (duplicate release pencil note on rear flyleaf; sold back to:) – Beverly Chew (sold his sale, Anderson Galleries, 8 December 1924, lot 277) – Natalie Knowlton Blair, 1887-1951 (morocco Blairhame label; her sale, 3 December 2004, lot 209).

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