Available Copies from Independent Booksellers
Milton John. The Works Of Mr. John Milton. [London], 1697.
Price: US$1450.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: Folio, contemporary black morocco, spine rubbed and joints chafed, corners worn, lettering label on spine gone, small piece snipped from upper blank edge of title to remove a name, a tall and clean copy. This makes readily available for the first time many of the rare early prose tracts as well as the major prose works such as Areopagitica. wing M 2086; Parker 82; Coleridge 72; Kohler 518. The first collected edition of the English prose works.
Seller: G. W. Stuart, Jr., ABAA(emeritus), Yuma, AZ, U.S.A.
Milton, John. THE WORKS OF MR. JOHN MILTON. [S.n.], [London], 1697.
Price: US$2000.00 + shipping
Description: Folio, [10], 568, [2] pages. In Very Good condition. Bound by Jon Robbins in modern period-style calf. Spine lightly tanned. Minor shelfwear and scratching to boards. Cracking to hinges. Some shelfwear, chipping, and small closed tears to margins of first three and last three leaves. Last three leaves partially detached. Small closed tear to lower margin of leaf 2T1, open tear to lower corner of leaf 2T3, closed tear to lower margin of 3M3, small open tear to lower corner of 3R4. Light damp staining to top and bottom margins throughout. Ownership inscription reading "Arch'd Kennedy" on title page. Final blank endleaf present. Includes 18 separate items, some with separate dated title page with imprint "Printed in the year MDCXCVII". Pagination and register are continuous. JR Consignment. Shelved Room G. Oversized item(s). Will require additional postage for expedited/international orders. Economy international shipping unavailable due to size/weight restriction(s). Contact seller for additional information. ESTC R16873; Wing M2086; Coleridge 72; Shawcross 393; Pforzheimer, 728. An edition of most of Milton's English prose.; 1345595. Special Collections.
Seller: Second Story Books, ABAA, Rockville, MD, U.S.A.
Milton, John. The Works Of Mr. John Milton. c. 1697, London, 1697.
Price: US$3750.00 + shipping
Description: Edition : First collected edition of the English prose works, . Expertly rebacked, contemporary full speckled calf, decorated elaborately with blind rulings, dentelles and floral ornaments in corners. Five raised bands with gilt title on red label on two and compartments with central ornaments. All edges red colour., The owner was either the direct descendant of Baronet Pym and MP for the county of Bedford or the same individual., Size : 4to., Ex libri of Francis Pym, Esq, on upper pasted endpaper, References : Wing M 2086; Parker 82; Coleridge 72; Kohler 518. Handsome example in fine condition bound in full decorative contemporary calf. Text is clean and crisp.
Seller: Alexandre Antique Prints, Maps & Books, Toronto, ON, Canada
Price: US$20000.00 + shipping
Condition: Fine
Description: An exceptional, and exceptionally large, "large paper" copy. This copy is complete with the engraved frontispiece, the extra plate depicting Vergil reading the Aeneid to Augustus, and all 101 of the magnificent engraved plates by W. Hollar called for in this edition: ten in the Bucolics, twenty in the Georgics, and seventy-one in the Aeneid. Bound in 17th-century paneled calf, very nicely rebacked in the 18th-century. The spine is separated into eight compartments, ruled and tooled in gold, by raised bands. There are two spine labels, one in red and one in green morocco, tooled in gold. The boards are framed by a single gold fillet. Internally, this copy is in superb condition with very little of the browning associated with this edition. The great majority of leaves are crisp, lily-white and wide margined. In fact, this is the largest, and cleanest copy that we have had the pleasure to handle. There are a few incidental marginal tears, only one of which -now mended- enters an engraving (opposite p. 261.) The final leaf is ink-stained. "Dryden's 'translation of Vergil'" says Pope, (whose own translation of Homer was inspired by Dryden's work) "is the most noble and spirited translation I know in any language." (Thomas) "The book was published by subscription, a system of joint-stock patronage now coming into vogue. [.] Dryden's correspondence with [his publisher] Tonson showed a good many bickerings during the publication. One cause of quarrel was Tonson's desire that the book should be dedicated to William III. Dryden honourably refused; but Tonson had the engravings adapted for the purpose by giving to Aeneas the hooked nose of William (Dryden, Letter to his son, 3 Sept. 1697)." (DNB) "Shakespeare probably knew at least the earlier books of the 'Aeneid' in Latin, while Milton's 'Paradise Lost' attempts to provide an English equivalent not only for Vergil's epic themes but even for his syntax, diction, and as far as possible, meter. But in Britain he was also particularly well-served by translations. In the seventeenth-century the epic was translated by Dryden." (Gian Biagio Conte's "Latin Literature, A History").
Seller: Liber Antiquus Early Books & Manuscripts, Chevy Chase, MD, U.S.A.