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John Milton. ["Lycidas" in:] Justa Edouardo King naufrago, ab Amicis moerentibus (second title on F1r: Obsequies to th...
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Description
Very rare first appearance of Milton's "Lycidas"
John Milton. ["Lycidas" in:] Justa Edouardo King
naufrago, ab Amicis moerentibus (second title on F1r:
Obsequies to the memorie of Mr Edward King, Anno Dom. 1638).
Cambridge: Printed by Thomas Buck and Roger Daniel, printers to the
University, 1638.Two parts in one volume, 4to (177 x 129 mm) The first part in Greek and Latin, the second in English (including "Lycidas"), the second title within a mourning border. Early 20th-century crimson morocco, panelled in gilt, edges gilt; cloth folding case.
FIRST EDITION, including the first printing of Milton's "Lycidas," signed with his initials, his second published work. Milton reprinted this poem in his Poems of 1645, adding a note explaining that "in this Monody the Author bewails a learned Friend, unfortunately drown'd in his Passage from Chester on the Irish Seas, 1637. And by occasion foretells the ruine of our corrupted Clergy then in their height." There are a few textual differences between the 1638 and 1645 versions of the poem, of which the most notable is the "humming tide" of 1638 by the "whelming tide" of 1645 and all subsequent versions.
VERY RARE: in his Milton, a Biography (Oxford, 1968), W. R. Parker traced thirty-three copies of the Justa, all but two of them in institutional libraries; making the Strutz copy one of the few remaining in private hands.
William Grant, Lord Prestongrange (1701-1764) was an elected procurator for the Church of Scotland, Lord Advocate and Member of Parliament. In 1754 he took the title Lord Prestongrange after being appointed as an ordinary Lord of Session and Lord of Justiciary in the Scottish courts; he was a popular character in Edinburgh society and he even makes a brief appearance in Robert Louis Stevenson's Catriona.
Condition: First title with gutter margin restored; A2-B2 in first part remargined at gutter; final leaf I2 with lower corner repaired; some minor soiling or pale spotting.
References: Grolier, Wither to Prior 555; Hayward 70; Parker 814; Pforzheimer 712; STC 14964.
Provenance: William Grant, Lord Prestongrange (engraved armorial bookplate). From the William A. Strutz Library.
View all of [The William A. Strutz Library ]
Auction Info
2024 June 27 Important English and American Literature: The William A. Strutz Library, Part I, Rare Books Signature® Auction #6295 (go to Auction Home page)
Auction Dates
June, 2024
27th
Thursday
Bids + Registered Phone Bidders: 5
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