The early editions of Paradise Lost

This is an examination of the early publishing history of Paradise Lost. It describes the extant manuscript (of Book One) and analyses its relationship to the first edition. It gives an account of Milton’s familiarity with the Simmons printshop and of the operation of the contract between himself and Samuel Simmons. It considers the complexities in the distribution of the first edition, marked by the multiple retailers and the phased sale of copies. The second edition is addressed in terms of its relationship to the first, and the paper concludes with a brief account of the first few posthumous editions from Simmons’s third edition, then Jacob’s Tonson’s first illustrated edition and the first publication of scholarly annotations, and finally the cheap editions of the early eighteenth century. All welcome but please register. There will be drinks and discussion after the talk.