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L'ALLEGRO AND IL PENSEROSO.
(London: W. Kent & Co., 1860). 280 x 190 mm. (11 x 7 1/2"). 2 p.l., 24 leaves. Fourth Edition with these Illustrations.
Publisher's tan buckram over bevelled boards, boards with blind-stamped frames, upper cover with large gilt ornament containing title at center, lower cover with ornament stamped in blind, smooth spine with blind-stamped decoration and gilt lettering, all edges gilt. With tondo portrait of Milton on title page and 29 quite attractive steel engraved vignettes with tissue guards by Myles Birket Foster. Printed in red and black on rectos only. Front free endpaper with pencilled inscription: "S. S. Hocton / From C For Oct 27th '60." Wickenheiser 361; Lowndes II, 1564; Graesse IV, 532. Minor fraying to head and tail of spine, half-inch split to bottom of rear joint, back cover with two superficial scrapes, spine evenly a shade darker than the boards, first two leaves with trivial foxing and small, faint dampstain, but still quite an attractive copy of a book normally seen in poor condition, the binding unusually clean and fresh.
This is a charming Victorian illustrated edition of two of Milton's most celebrated poems, offered here in its elaborately blindstamped and extremely well-preserved original publisher's binding, Written about 1630 when Milton was still a student at Cambridge, these two early poetical efforts have had an enduring appeal for readers and critics. Written in octosyllabic rhyming couplets, the poems show that Milton's skill in crafting verse is already highly developed in the poet's early twenties, being equally successful in conveying moods of lighthearted delight and pensive meditation. "L'Allegro" summons the spirit of joyousness and basks in the charms of sunny fields and woodlands, towns, and books, while "Il Penseroso" is serious (without being melancholy), evoking the spirit of philosophical meditation against moonlit backdrops. First issued by David Bogue in 1855, the present version of the poems includes romantic and lyrical engraved vignettes by Myles Birket Foster (1825-99). The illustrations shift from jovial, bucolic scenes to melancholy nocturnes, providing an appropriate accompaniment to the two contrasting texts. Foster first made a name for himself with his charming vignettes for Longfellow's "Evangeline" in 1850, and thereafter he was in high demand as an illustrator. Houfe calls his artistry "gentle and subtle"--adjectives that perfectly characterize the present work. (ST20783)
Price: $300.00