MILTON, JOHN

A POEM IN TWELVE BOOKS, PRINTED BY MILES FLESHER, FOR RICHARD BENTLEY, AT THE POST-OFFICE IN RUSSELL-STREET, AND JACOB TONSON AT THE JUDGE’S-HEAD IN CHANCERY-LANE NEAR FLEET-STREET, 1688.

Unidentified at auction since the post mortem auction of Charles Killigrew’s library in 1725, this copy of Paradise Lost was purchased at auction thanks to the generous donations of several members of the Inner Temple. Despite being almost entirely disbound and lacking any of the ‘sculptures’ that made this edition so successful, this copy is unique in several ways.

Featuring the ownership signature of Charles Killigrew, the King’s Master of Revels and Patentee of the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in the late 17th century and early 18th century, it is suggested that this volume features Killigrew’s note for presenting a staged performance, perhaps at the Inner Temple.

The first flyleaf of this volume lists twenty-five names, many of whom are Inner Temple barristers of the day. One name to note is ‘Steph. Clay’, presumed to be Stephen Clay the Inner Temple’s own Master of Revels appointed in 1710. Were these suggested players or supporters?

There is clearly still a lot of research to be done, but first, the volume is in desperate need of conservation and consolidation. Part of this process would involve scanning each page to make it more widely accessible to the scholarly community.

Conservation assessments indicate that the cost, mostly comprised of conservator hours rather that materials, will be in the region of £6,000. We are appealing to our members to help fund the conservation, preservation, and scanning of this unique item uniquely connected to the Inner Temple and important to the history of English drama.

Any surplus funds will be put towards other Library conservation projects.

The History Society Lecture Paradise Lost and Found is taking place on Wednesday 29 October at the Inner Temple.