This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 2/26/2022
MILTON, John (1608–1674). The Poetical Works of...with a Life of the Author by William Hayley. London: W. Bulmer and Co. for John and Josiah Boydell, 1794–97. 3 volumes, large folio (425 x 318 mm). 3 engraved portraits of Milton by W.N. Gardner after Cornelius Jansen and after Vertue, engraved portrait of Milton and his daughters by Benjamin Smith after George Romney, and 28 copper–engraved plates after R. Westall. EXTRA–ILLUSTRATED WITH PROOFS BEFORE ALL LETTERS OF ALL OF HENRI FUSELI’S ENGRAVINGS OF PARADISE LOST in a super–large format almost twice as large as any located by Weinglass (see Weinglass, Prints and Engraved Illustrations By and After Henry Fuseli 165–170). FURTHER EXTRA–ILLUSTRATED BY 13 EXTREMELY RARE ENGRAVINGS AFTER STOTHARD BY BARTOLOZZI. (Some marginal foxing or browning, occasional offsetting from plates to text). Contemporary full straight–grain red morocco gilt, 6 compartments with double raised bands, gilt tooling and lettering in compartments, all edges gilt, gilt dentelles, marbled endpapers, bound by Riley (binder’s ticket). (Rebacked preserving original spine and endpapers, few minor scuffs to covers or edges, else fine). Provenance: Francis Frederick Fox (1833–1915), bookplate of a bibliophile and notable benefactor of Yate, England. FIRST BOYDELL EDITION of Milton’s Poetical Works in large folio format, of what Dibdin referred to as being “the ne plus ultra of magnificent printing” and what Blumenthal called “undeniably opulent […] These superb books must have occupied proud places in the stately libraries of 18th–century manor houses” (Blumenthal 31). This was the first publication of William Bulmer’s London press for Boydell and is thought by many to be its finest production. The collection of 13 engravings by Stothard were executed for an ambitious edition intended to be published in parts by John Jeffryes but never completed and are now considered very rare. Only books 1–4 (of 12) were ever issued, appearing in 1792–5; a fifth part was announced as “in forwardness” in August 1796 but never appeared. Jeffryes is not recorded after 1804 but some of the plates were evidently retained and used for the elephant folio edition published circa 1811 that retailed at the high price of five guineas (not in OCLC; the only copy being held in Sir John Soane’s Museum). PROBABLY THE GRANDEST AND RAREST EXTRA–ILLUSTRATED COPY OF MILTON EVER ASSEMBLED. Lowndes IV, p. 1556. From the private library of a distinguished Chicago book collector.