Lot 122•
MILTON - BINDINGS MILTON (JOHN) Paradise Lost, 2 vol., one engraved portrait frontispieces (the second called for portrait bound as frontispiece to volume 2 of "The Works"), 12 engraved plates after F. Hayman, light marginal stains to fore-margin of second volume, 1749; Paradise Regain'd, 2 engraved portraits, 1752, large 4to (300 x 225mm.) (5)
Ending from 19 November 2025, 12:00 GMT
Online, London, Knightsbridge£2,000 - £3,000
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MILTON - BINDINGS
MILTON (JOHN) Paradise Lost, 2 vol., one engraved portrait frontispieces (the second called for portrait bound as frontispiece to volume 2 of "The Works"), 12 engraved plates after F. Hayman, light marginal stains to fore-margin of second volume, 1749; Paradise Regain'd, 2 engraved portraits, 1752, edited by Thomas Newton, J. and R. Tonson and S. Draper; The Works, 2 vol., 2 engraved portraits (one not called for, from "Paradise Lost"), A. Millar [-W. Innys, etc.], 1753, together 5 vol., UNIFORMLY BOUND IN RED MOROCCO GILT, ATTRIBUTABLE TO RICHARD WIER, ruled in purple throughout, sides with wide borders of floral and floriate tools including acanthus leaves within a 2-line wide gilt fillet and broken cable roll, the spines in six compartments, 2 with gilt morocco lettering labels with letting in italic capitals, the others with a flower motif within a lozenge made up of very small tools and thistle corner-pieces, g.e., marbled endpapers, joints of one volume neatly repaired, large 4to (300 x 225mm.) (5)
Footnotes
A FINE SET BOUND BY RICHARD WIER.
Literature: Charles Ramsden, 'Richard Wier and Count MacCarthy Reagh', in the Book Collector, Winter, 1953; Charles Ramsden, London Book Binders 1780-1840,1956, note on p.150, and plate 25 for a Wier binding with same tools on sides as the Milton.
Provenance: MacCarthy Reagh sale catalogue, Paris, 1816, lot 3219, described as a "Très bel Exemplaire"; The Holford Collection, formed by Robert Steynor Holford (1808-1892); sold by his son at Sotheby's, 16 March 1928, lot 660; purchased by the vendor from Maggs (whose catalogue "1212, Part II. Bookbindings in the British Isles" includes several Wier bindings, nos. 142-147).