33. Paradi?e loft. " A " Poem " Written in " Ten Books " By John Milton. " Licen?ed and Entred according " to Order. " London " Printed, and are to be ?old by Peter Parker " under Creed Church neer Aldgate; And by " Robert Boulter at the Turks Head in Bi?hop?gate-?treet; " And Matthias Walker, under St. Dun?tons Church " in Fleet-?treet, 1667.

Milton began his great epic in 1658, and is said to have finished it in 1663. It was licensed after some delay, occasioned by the hesitation of the deputy of the Archbishop of Canterbury over the lines:

He may, as Professor Masson has pointed out, have had difficulty in finding a publisher able and willing to venture upon the printing of a work by one "whose attacks on the Church and defenses of the execution of Charles I. were still fresh in the memory of all, and some of whose pamphlets had been publicly burnt by the hangman after the Restoration." Few probably of those whose shops had centered around Paul's Churchyard, the very heart of the book-trade, could have done so, for they were, if not ruined, certainly inconvenienced by the loss of their stock and shops in the Great Fire of the year before. It is small wonder that Simmons, to whom, through some agency or other, the poet did come, drove a hard bargain when the agreement for the copyright was entered into, April 27, 1667. The original of this agreement came into the possession of the Tonsons, the proprietors of the copyright, and was finally presented to the British Museum by Samuel Rogers, who acquired it from Pickering the publisher. "Milton was to receive 5 l. down, and 5 l. more upon the sale of each of the first three editions. The editions were to be accounted as ended when thirteen hundred copies of each were sold 'to particular reading customers,' and were not to exceed fifteen hundred copies apiece. Milton received the second 5 l. in April, 1669, that is 15 l. in all. His widow in 1680 settled all claims upon Simmons for 8 l. and Simmons became proprietor of the copyright, then understood to be perpetuated."

The book made its appearance at an unfortunate time. London had barely recovered from the Plague of 1665 (during which eighty printers had died, wherein is seen another reason for the difficulty in finding a publisher), and the great district devastated by the Fire was still only partly rebuilt. It was not surprising that the 1200 copies which are thought to have made the first edition did not have a brisk sale; these were not exhausted for at least eighteen months, and a second impression was not put out for four years.

The copies of the first printing may be divided into several classes, according to the title-pages they bear. These all differ from one another in several more or less important particulars, but the text of the work is identical in all cases, except for a few typographical errors. Two titles, supposed to be the earliest, were Licen?ed and Entred according " to Order, and have the imprint:

London " Printed, and are to be ?old by Peter Parker " under Creed Church neer Aldgate; And by " Robert Boulter at the Turks Head in Bi?hop?gate-?treet; " And Matthias Walker, under St. Dun?tons Church " in Fleet-?treet, 1667.

On these the poem is seen to be by "John Milton," and the only difference between them lies in the type used for Milton's name, one being of a smaller size than the other. A third title-page, having a similar imprint but dated 1668, has "The Author J. M." A fourth has "The Author John Milton," the license has given place to a group of fleurs-de-lis, and the imprint reads:

London, " Printed by S. Simmons, and to be ?old by S. Thom?on at " the Bi?hop?-Head in Duck-lane, H. Mortlack, at the " White Hart in We?tmin?ter Hall, M. Walker under " St. Dun?tans Church in Fleet-?treet, and R. Boulter at " the Turks-Head in Bi?hop?gate ?treet, 1668.

Two new title-pages were used in 1669, differing only in the type. The imprint reads:

London, " Printed by S. Simmons, and are to be ?old by " T. Helder at the Angel in Little Brittain. " 1669.

Beside these there are others. Early bibliographers claimed that eight or even nine variations existed, but later investigation has failed to verify more than six.

The chief point of interest in all these variations lies in the fact that Peter Parker, not Simmons, issued the first volumes. As we have pointed out above, the theory has been advanced that the owner of the copyright was timid about avowing his connection with the poet. A more natural reason would seem to be that he was unable to print the book at first, through losses, in the Fire perhaps, of presses and types. Such a theory would seem to derive weight from the fact that the issues of 1668 and 1669 which bear his name do not give an address, and it is not until the second edition of 1674 that we find him "next door to the Golden Lion in Aldersgate-?treet."

The original selling price of the volume was three shillings. The prices now vary according to the sequence of the title-pages. A copy of the first issue sold in New York in 1901 for eight hundred and thirty dollars.

The volume has no introductory matter, but begins at once with the lines "Of Mans Fir?t Di?obedience"; Simmons added the following note to the second edition: "There was no Argument at fir?t intended to the Book, but for the ?atisfaction of many that have de?ired it, is procured." The printer adopted a very useful custom in numbering the lines of the poem. He set the figures down by tens in the margin, within the double lines that frame the text.

The first edition with the first title-page.

Collation: Two leaves without signatures; A-Z, and Aa-Vv2, in fours. Without pagination.