Paradise Lost

First edition thus. 8vo. Pp. [vi], 374. Publisher's black cloth, lettered in gilt to spine; red endpapers. Text printed in red and black. 12 b/w illus. by Michael Burghers and P. P. Bouche, reproduced from the first illustrated edition of Paradise Lost, published in 1688. Smyth sewn binding, with bound-in red ribbon page-marker. In illustrated dustjacket, printed in red and white and priced at £16.99 to front flap.

With a ten-page introduction by Philip Pullman, whose 'Dark Materials' trilogy can be read in part as an inverted re-telling of this – Milton's epic poem of the Fall of Man – with Pullman commending humanity for what Milton saw as its most tragic failing; original sin. Signed by Pullman to title-page. "Pullman sagely advises the uninitiated to put sound before sense, allowing the power of Milton's music to work its magic." –Wall Street Journal