JOHN MILTON (1608-1674)

For twenty years between the publication of Lycidas in 1637 and the composition of Paradise Lost John Milton wrote little poetry. He was involved in political activity and issued many pamphlets in defense of religious, civil and domestic liberties. John Baskerville (1706-75), who printed this edition of Milton's epic poem, transformed English and continental typography and printing at the end of the eighteenth century. Trained as a stonecutter, Baskerville made a fortune as a manufacturer of japanned ware before he turned to printing. He designed his own typeface, which shows his stonecutting training and interest in calligraphy, and set up a press where he trained workmen in his methods. These included "leading" or white spaces between lines; wide margins; making his own intense black ink; and hot-pressing or "calendaring" paper after printing. Together these methods created an open and elegant page appropriate to the grand scale and high purpose of Milton's poetry.

Gift of the University of Delaware Library Associates