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Tag Archives: John Milton

Banned! — Letters Concerning the English Nation

26 Wednesday Sep 2018

Posted by rarebooks in Uncategorized

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Alexander Pope, Amsterdam, Bastille, British, Drake Stillman, England, English, Enlightenment, France, Francis Bacon, French, French Parliament, Galileo, Isaac Newton, Italian, John Locke, John Lockman, John Milton, Jonathan Swift, letters, London, Pennsylvania, Quakers, rare books, Roman Catholic Church, tail pieces, University of Toronto, vignettes, Voltaire, William Bowyer, William Penn, William Shakespeare


“The great Freedom with which Mr. de Voltaire delivers himself in his various Observations, cannot give him any Apprehensions of their being less favourably receiv’d upon that Account, by a judicious People who abhor flattery. The English are pleas’d to have their Faults pointed out to them, because this shews at the same Time, that the Writer is able to distinguish their merit.”

Letters Concerning the English Nation…
Voltaire (1694-1778)
London: Printed for C. Davis…and A. Lyon…, 1733
First edition
PQ2086 L4 E5 1733

Voltaire (nee François-Marie Arouet) fled to England after arguing with powerful French political figures. During his exile, from 1726 to 1728, he learned English, reading the works of William Shakespeare, John Milton, Isaac Newton, and Francis Bacon; and met other British authors such as Alexander Pope and Jonathan Swift. The British embraced Voltaire as a victim of France’s political discrimination.

In Letters, Voltaire, with the works of John Locke and Enlightenment authors as his basis, wrote a slur against the French government and the French Roman Catholic Church, calling for political and religious reform. Letters was translated from French into English by John Lockman from a manuscript prepared by Voltaire.

Voltaire wrote about Isaac Newton and his theories in four of the letters. He told the story of the falling apple as the impetus for Newton’s theorem of the law of gravity, the first time this anecdote was told in print.


“…as he was walking one Day in his Garden, and saw some Fruits fall from a Tree, he fell into a profound Meditation on that Gravity, the Cause of which has so long been sought, but in vain, by all the Philosophers, whilst the Vulgar think there is nothing mysterious in it. He said to himself, that from what height soever, in our Hemisphre, those Bodies might descend…Why may not this Power which causes heavy Bodies to descend, and is the same without any sensible Diminution at the remostest Distance from the Center of the Earth, or on the Summits of the highest Mountains; Why, said Sir Isaac, may not this power extend as high as the Moon?”

Voltaire also wrote about William Penn and the founding of Pennsylvania as a haven for Quakers.


About this time arose the illustrious William Pen, who establish’d the power of the Quakers in America, and would have made them appear venerable in the eyes of the Europeans, were it possible for mankind to respect virtue, when reveal’d in a ridiculous light…Pen set sail for his new dominions with two ships freighted with Quakers, who follow’d his fortune. The country was then call’d Pensilvania from William Pen, who there founded Philadelphia, now the most flourishing city in that country.”

Letters was published in French in Amsterdam in 1734. It was immediately condemned by the French Parliament. Copies that made it into France were confiscated and burned. A warrant was issued for Voltaire’s arrest. The printer was imprisoned in the Bastille. At the same time, it was a bestseller in England, going through several more editions during the eighteenth century.

It is likely that this English edition was printed by William Bowyer (1699-1777), as the ornaments (the title vignette and tail-pieces) are those used in other of his imprints.

Rare Books copy has the bookplate of Drake Stillman (1910-1993), an emeritus professor of the history of science at the University of Toronto. He published many translations of the works of Galileo and other sixteenth century Italian scientists.

Recommended reading:
Galileo at Work: His Scientific Biography
Stillman Drake
Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1978
QB36 G2 D69, L1

Telescopes, Tides, and Tactics: A Galilean Dialogue about The Starry Messenger and Systems of the World
Stillman Drake
Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1983
QB41 G178 D7 1983, L1

Galileo: Pioneer Scientist
Stillman Drake
Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1990
QB36 G23 D67 1990, L1

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Book of the Week — A Discourse upon the Pharisee and the Publicane

09 Monday Oct 2017

Posted by rarebooks in Book of the Week

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Anglican Church, Bedford, books, Church of England, England, engraved frontispiece, jail, John Bunyan, John Milton, nonconformists, penal laws, pharisee, portrait, publican, The Pilgrim's Progress, tyranny

BT378-P5-B85-1685-Portrait
“See how ye Pharisee in the Temple stands
And justifies himself with lifted hands
Whilst ye poor publican with downcast eyes
Conscious of guilt to God for mercy cries.”

A Discourse upon the Pharisee and the Publicane…
John Bunyan (1628-1688)
London: Printed for Jo. Harris, at the Harrow, over against the Church in the Poultry, 1685
First edition
BT378 P5 B85 1685

John Bunyan was born about a mile from Bedford, England in 1628. He was arrested on November 12, 1660 for preaching without the approval of the Anglican Church. He was jailed for nearly thirteen years. His best known work, The Pilgrim’s Progress, was written while in the Bedford jail. During his lifetime, about one hundred thousand copies of the work were distributed throughout the British Isles and the British American colonies. It has been continuously in print since its first printing. In spite of the popularity of his work, Bunyan was nearly penniless, a traveling tinker like his father before him. While in prison, he made shoelaces to support his family.

Printed one year after the appearance of the authentic second part of The Pilgrim’s Progress and in the same year that the Bedford magistrates ordered penal laws against Nonconformists to be enforced, Bunyan’s Discourse is a critique of the tyranny of the Church of England and of those among his readers who, like the Pharisee in the parable, prided themselves in what he considered superficial religiosity.

John Bunyan wrote during a time of phenomenal political, religious and social upheaval in England. It was also a time of remarkable literary output. Bunyan’s works kept company with those of George Herbert, Thomas Browne, Thomas Hobbes, Richard Allestree, Andrew Marvell, and others.

Illustrated with an engraved frontispiece depicting the Pharisee and the publican in the temple, within a cross-vaulted arcade. Below this is a portrait of Bunyan at age 57.

BT378-P5-B85-1685-DiscourseBT378-P5-B85-1685-Reader

 

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Book of the week — Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral…

16 Monday Jan 2017

Posted by rarebooks in Book of the Week

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abolitionists, Africa, African-American, Alexander Pope, America, Benjamin Franklin, Benjamin Rush, Boston, Boston Slave Market, Cape Verde, copperplate engraving, England, frontispiece, Fula, Gambia, John Hancock, John Milton, John Wheatley, London, Massachusetts, Muslim, Nathaniel Wheatley, Phillis Wheatley, poems, poetry, poets, Scipio Moorhead, Senegal, slave, Susannah Wheatley, Thomas Hutchinson

PS866-W5-1773-Frontis

“Still, wond’rous youth! each noble path pursue,
On deathless glories fix thine ardent view:
Still may the painter’s and the poet’s fire
To aid thy pencil, and thy verse conspire!”
— from “To S. M. A Young African Painter, On Seeing His Works”

POEMS ON VARIOUS SUBJECTS, RELIGIOUS AND MORAL…
Phillis Wheatley (1753-1784)
London: Printed for A. Bell…and sold by Messrs. Cox and Berry, Boston, 1773
First edition
PS866 W5 1773

Phillis Wheatley, aged about seven, was bought by John Wheatley of Boston for his wife, Susannah, as a domestic slave, at the Boston Slave Market in 1761. She was probably born in Senegal/Gambia, near Cape Verde, of a Muslim people known as the Fula. She was transported from Africa to Boston on the slave ship, Phillis. The Wheatley family taught her to read and write. She read John Milton and was especially taken with the poetry of Alexander Pope.

Poems on Various Subjects was the first book of poems published by an African American. It gained international fame, and was particularly lauded in England. On a trip to London with Nathaniel Wheatley, she met Benjamin Franklin. Many at the time did not believe that Wheatley, a Negro, could have written this verse. However, Boston intellectuals, including Thomas Hutchinson, governor of Massachusetts; John Hancock; and Benjamin Rush came to her defense and attested to her authorship. Abolitionists used Wheatley as an example of the artistic and intellectual capabilities of black people.

Susannah Wheatley died a year after this book was published, and John Wheatley freed Phillis, possibly under pressure from others. Although Wheatley became one of the most published American poets of her day,  she died with her sick baby by her side, at the age of thirty, in poverty, and deserted by her husband.

The copperplate engraving frontispiece portrait of Phillis Wheatley is the only known work by enslaved artist, Scipio Moorhead (b. ca. 1750).

Only about one hundred copies of this book are known to exist today.

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Book of the Week — Paradise Lost

16 Monday Nov 2015

Posted by rarebooks in Book of the Week

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Bernard Lens, Christian, engravings, God, Henry Aldrich, Index Librorum Prohibitorum, John Baptista de Medina, John Dryden, John Milton, Miles Flesher, Oliver Cromwell, pagan, Paradise Lost, Paradise Regain'd, Richard Bentley, Robert White, Roman Catholic Church, Satan, The University of Utah


PARADISE LOST. A POEM IN TWELVE BOOKS…
John Milton (1608-1674)
Printed by Miles Flesher, for Richard Bentley, at the Post-Office in Russell-street, 1688
First illustrated edition
PR3560 1688

John Milton’s Paradise Lost was first printed in 1667, in part, perhaps as a reaction to the defeat of Oliver Cromwell’s revolution and the restoration of the monarchy. Milton attempted to reconcile elements of pagan and Christian tradition, portraying Satan as an unlikable but sympathetic character who defied a tyrannical God and waged unsuccessful war against him. In spite of this, the Roman Catholic Church did not place the work on the Index Librorum Prohibitorum until 1758. This a copy from the first illustrated edition of Paradise Lost. It is also the first edition of the work in folio. University of Utah copy bound with Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV. Books. To which is added Samson Agonistes…(1688). An engraved portrait of Milton by Robert White is bound in opposite to the title page. The portrait includes an epitaph for Milton by John Dryden. Twelve full-paged engravings accompany the text, one at the beginning of each of the twelve books. All of the engravings are tipped in. The illustrations for books III, V, VI, VII, IX, X, XI are by John Baptista de Medina, engraved by M. Burghers. Book IV was illustrated by Bernard Lens, engraved by P.P. Bouche. Book XII was illustrated by Henry Aldrich, engraved by Burghers. The illustrations for Books I and II are engraved by Burghers. The illustrator for these is uncertain.

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