Baskerville's Milton

Milton, John PARADISE LOST; PARADISE REGAIN'D; A POEM IN TWELVE BOOKS; A POEM IN FOUR BOOKS. TO WHICH IS ADDED SAMSON AGONISTES: AND POEMS UPON SEVERAL OCCASIONS Birmingham: Printed by John Baskerville for J. and R. Tonson in London, 1758. First edition thus. Hardcover. 2 vol. 8vo. [33], 416, [2]; [3], ii-lxix, [4], 6-390, [4] pp. Later full diced calf (ca. 1795), neatly rebacked with leather spines laid down (appears to have been rebacked during the 19th century). Front and rear boards decorated with gilt rules and fillets, spines lettered and stamped in gold with four raised bands; endpapers, pastedowns, and textblocks marbled. Light blue silk ribbon bookmark in each volume. Gaskell 4 and 5. Oxford DNB, James Mosley, "Baskerville, John". The first Baskerville edition of Milton's works, printed in 1758. Paradise Lost with the cancellans as per Gaskell; shows one of the three errors to the printer's marks described in entry number 4. Milton's works were the most successful of Baskerville's publications, with an oversubscribed list and the greatest number of sales. Benjamin Franklin himself was on the subscriber list. Franklin and Gaskell were correspondents, and Franklin visited the press. A beautiful set of Milton's works, one of Baskerville's greatest achievements. Very Good. Item #00008984 A Very Good set with a hint or two of rubbing to the extremities and a bit of spotting to the leaves, bookmark ribbon in volume two laid in; overall a clean and wonderful set.