#paradise regain'd

[uwmspeccoll]

It’s Fine Press Friday! 

John Milton’s Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained is here illustrated by American artist, illustrator, and printmaker, Carlotta Petrina (1901-1997) and  printed in 1939 for the members of the Limited Editions Club (LEC) by California fine printer John Henry Nash (1871-1947) in San Francisco in an edition of 1500 copies signed by the artist.. 

Paradise Lost is an epic poem written in blank verse, first printed in 1667 by Samuel Simmons, London. Its sequel, Paradise Regained, was first printed in 1671 by John Martyn. The sixteen drawings by Carlotta Petrina for this LEC edition serve as the opening pages for each book of the poem. The drawings are reproduced in photogravure which captures the richness of the original drawing with its velvety blacks and subtle tones. They appear as though the artist drew directly on the page, erasures and all. The Eve figure is based on Petrina herself, and the male figure was based on her late husband. This personal touch creates a greater level of intimacy and emotion in the images. 

The type is eighteen-point Cloister Light. The paper was made by Strathmore. The binding is quarter Irish linen with covers wrapped in a paper brilliantly decorated in batik. Gift of Loryn Romadka from the collection of Austin Fredric Lutter. 

View more Limited Edition Club posts.

View more Fine Press Friday posts.

– Teddy, Special Collections Graduate Intern

[gnatswatting]

• But what more oft in Nations grown corrupt, / And by thir vices brought to servitude, / Then to love Bondage more then Liberty, / Bondage with ease then strenuous liberty; —John Milton

PARADISE REGAIN'D. A POEM. In IV BOOKS. To which is added SAMSON AGONISTES. PARADISE REGAIN'D. A POEM. In IV BOOKS. To which is added SAMSON AGONISTES. (at Internet Archive)

[svenson777]

"I who e're while the happy Garden sung,

By one mans disobedience lost, now sing

Recover'd Paradise to all mankind,

By one mans firm obedience fully tri'd

Through all temptation, and the Tempter foil'd [ 5 ]

In all his wiles, defeated and repuls't,

And Eden rais'd in the wast Wilderness.

Thou Spirit, who ledst this glorious Eremite

Into the Desert, his Victorious Field

Against the Spiritual Foe, and broughtst him thence [ 10 ]

By proof th' undoubted Son of God, inspire,

As thou art wont, my prompted Song else mute,

And bear through highth or depth of natures bounds,

With prosperous wing full summ'd to tell of deeds

Above Heroic, though in secret done, [ 15 ]

And unrecorded left through many an Age,

Worthy t' have not remain'd so long unsung."

~

First lines from John Milton's epic poem "Paradise Regain'd"

The First Book (l. 1-17)

First published in 1671

[polyanthea]

The end of learning is to repair the ruins of our first parents by regaining to know God aright, and out of that knowledge to love him, to imitate him, to be like him, as we may the neerest by possessing our souls of true vertue, which being united to the heavenly grace of faith makes up the highest perfection.

-Milton, Of Education

[earlymodernerotica]

[polyanthea]

Alas how simple, to these Cates compar'd,

Was that crude Apple that diverted Eve!

-Milton, Paradise Regain'd