Eikonoklast s [in Greek] in Answer To a Book Intitl'd Eik n basilik [in Greek]. The Portrature of his Sacred Majesty in his Solitudes and Sufferings. Published by Authority; [bound with] Pro populo Anglicano defensio contra Claudii Anonymi, alias Salmasii, Desensionem Regiam.

MILTON, John.

Edité par London: Printed by Matthew Simmons / Du Gardianis, 1649 & 1651

A propos de cet article

First editions, Pro Populo in third issue, of two of Milton's major polemical works, both explicitly marked for destruction in a royal proclamation of 1660. The execution of Charles I sent shockwaves throughout Europe and threatened the Commonwealth's trade prospects on the Continent. In 1649, Cromwell's Council of State commissioned Milton to write the official response to Eikon Basilike, the popular hagiography of the king. In 1651, Milton further published Defensio pro Populo Anglicano in response to Defensio regia pro Carolo I, a scholarly defence of Charles's rule. The two tracts contain some of Milton's most forceful and complex political writing. At the Restoration in May 1660, Milton went into hiding in London, where he was soon targeted by the new regime. An arrest order was drawn up in June, while August saw the issue of a proclamation which called for these two works "to be publickly burnt by the hand of the common hangman". On 27 August, copies of Milton's books were burnt by the hangman at the Old Bailey. The poet was imprisoned in the Tower of London under serious threat of execution, until pardoned in December. Eikonoklast s saw a single reprint in the Commonwealth period, in 1650, and was not reprinted after that until 1690. Shawcross cites three issues of the first edition of Pro Populo, distinguished by the state of gathering A. This third issue is identified by printing the title page on the initial leaf and the errata on the second. This copy was owned by Prince Augustus Frederick, Duke of Sussex (1773-1843), the sixth son of George III; it later passed into the library of Christ's College, Cambridge, Milton's alma mater. Prince Frederick was renowned for his progressive Whiggism, which often set him at odds with the royal establishment. An avid bibliophile, he built a library of some 50,000 volumes at Kensington Palace, each individually acquired in line with his personal interests and bound in a wide range of bindings. The rear endpapers are watermarked 1807. The duke's engraved armorial bookplate is on the front pastedown. After his death in 1843, his library was sold at auction: this volume was item 1157 in the Evans auction catalogue, probably sold to Francis Charles Massingberd (1800-1872), whose 19th-century inscription is on the front free endpaper. Massingberd was chancellor of Lincoln Cathedral and a private scholar of religious history - several other books by Milton have been identified with signatures of his family. This volume later passed into the library of Christ's College, Cambridge, and has their 20th-century blind stamp to the flyleaves and title. Evans, Bibliotheca Sussexiana 1157. Eikonoklast s: Almack, A Bibliography of The King's Book or Eikon Basilike, p. 72; Coleridge, Descriptive Catalogue of the Milton Collection in the Alexander Turnbull Library 18; ESTC R202156; Madan, New Bibliography of the Eikon Basilike 159; Pforzheimer 709; Shawcross 78; Thomason E.578 (5); Wing M2112. Pro Populo: Coleridge, Descriptive Catalogue of the Milton Collection in the Alexander Turnbull Library 44 (c); ESTC R32430; Shawcross 100; Wing M2166. Not in Almack, Madan, or Thomason. Two works bound in one vol., small quarto (181 x 132 mm), pp. [xiv], 242; pp. xxii, 205, [1]. Wood-engraved headpieces and initial, title page lettered in red and black (Eikonoklast s), title page with wood-engraved arms (Pro populo). Early 19th-century calf, spine ruled in gilt and with black calf label lettered in gilt, covers with foliate border in blind, edges sprinkled brown. Complete with the scarce initial blank to Eikonoklastes. Extremities neatly refurbished. Upper margin of title page (Eikonoklastes) shaved, not affecting text. Minor browning and foxing, toning to terminal leaves of Eikonoklastes, small hole to upper outer margin of sig. Bb2 affecting text, and small hole to upper outer corner of sig. Bb4 (Eikonoklastes): very good copies.

N° de réf. du vendeur 174667

Détails bibliographiques

• Titre: Eikonoklast s [in Greek] in Answer To a Book Intitl'd Eik n basilik [in Greek]. The Portrature of his Sacred Majesty in his Solitudes and Sufferings. Published by Authority; [bound with] Pro populo Anglicano defensio contra Claudii Anonymi, alias Salmasii, Desensionem Regiam.
• Éditeur: London: Printed by Matthew Simmons / Du Gardianis, 1649 & 1651
• Édition: Edition originale