Paradise Lost; [bound with] -- Paradise Regain'd.

London: printed by Miles Flesher, for Jacob Tonson; printed by R. E. and are to be sold by Randal Taylor,, 1688. The earliest serious effort to illustrate an important work of English poetry First folio and first illustrated edition of Paradise Lost, a large paper copy, bound with the third edition of Paradise Regain'd. The two works are not often found together in a contemporary binding, as these two editions were issued by separate publishers in 1688. Large paper is the preferred format: in ordinary paper copies, the plates in Paradise Lost are inevitably trimmed. Paradise Lost was first published in a plain-dress small quarto edition in 1667 and then in octavo editions in 1674 and 1678. In contrast, this illustrated folio edition, the fourth overall, was designed to announce Milton as a great national poet. The main illustrator, John Baptist Medina (1659-1710), broke from conventional biblical iconography and "shows himself more familiar with all the intricate detail of Paradise Lost than any other artist. [He] seems to have benefited from the lack of a precedent and his designs as a consequence are a great deal more interesting and vigourous than those of many later artists" (Pointon, p. 3). The publisher, Jacob Tonson (1655-1736), was "highly instrumental in creating and nurturing an audience and an appreciation for [Paradise Lost] and for Milton, keeping the poet's reputation alive in a period dominated by a very different literary taste... Tonson approached the 1688 edition with great care: he was careful about the text itself, consulting the three previous printings as well as Milton's manuscript, and making some important emendations. The book was printed, by subscription, in a large folio, with careful and attractive typography. Tonson also paid for illustrations by John Baptist Medina, which, together with the sumptuous look of the book, made a possibly daunting poem more immediately interesting and approachable. As a frontispiece, Tonson printed an engraving of Milton, with six lines by Dryden below it, designed to claim Milton as the great English poet, transcending his puritan times and deserving celebration by the new aesthetic and political regime" (ODNB). This edition of Paradise Lost is also one of the earliest examples of publishing by subscription. The subscribers list, over 500 names long, includes such luminaries as the poets John Dryden and Edmund Waller, the actor Thomas Betterton, and the book collector Narcissus Luttrell. Paradise Regain'd was previously published in 1671 and 1680. It was issued together with Samson Agonistes, which is not present here. Two works bound in one, folio (375 x 234 mm), pp. [iv], 343, [7]; pp. [ii], 66. Paradise Lost: Copper-engraved portrait frontispiece by R. White after William Faithorne, 12 engraved plates, most after John Baptist Medina, some signed by M. Burghers and Peter Paul Bouche, 3 leaves of subscribers' names at end. Contemporary speckled calf, rebacked spine preserving original dark green label, red speckled edges. "M4" pencilled to front pastedown; discreet ownership stamp of Francis Ferrand Foljambe MP (1749-1814) on Paradise Lost title page. Wear to corners, inner hinges cracked but sound, sporadic stains, light foxing to last leaf and occasionally elsewhere, closed tear to two leaves (sigs X1 and 2L3), text unaffected. A very good copy. Coleridge 93b (one of three variant imprints, no precedence) & 170; ESTC R15589 & R2091; Pforzheimer 720; Wing M2147 & M2177. Edward Hodnett, Five Centuries of English Book Illustration, 1988; Marcia R. Pointon, Milton & English Art, 1974.