Areopagitica: A Speech of Mr John Milton for the Liberty of Unlicensed Printing to the Parliament of England
Cambridge: The Rampant Lions Press, 1973. Folio, measuring 13 x 9.5 inches: xvi, 50, [2]. Original full black buckram, tan leather spine label lettered in gilt, plum endpapers, top edge gilt, other edges uncut. Half-title and title page printed in red and black, red initials throughout text, text printed in two columns. Tiny smudge to head of spine, corners lightly rubbed.
Modern fine press edition of John Milton's 1644 essay on the freedom of the press, number 36 of 400 copies bound in buckram, out of a total print run of 500 copies, with an introductory essay by Isabel Rivers. Subtitled “A Speech of Mr. John Milton for the Liberty of Unlicensed Printing to the Parliament of England,” Areopagitica is Milton's forceful protest against Parliament's re-establishment of press censorship during the English Civil War. “Truth and understanding are not such wares as to be monopolized and traded in by tickets and statutes and standards. We must not think to make a staple commodity of all the knowledge in the land, to mark and license it like our broadcloth and our woolpacks.” The most celebrated line of Areopagitica is chiseled over the entrance of the New York Public Library's Main Reading Room: “A good book is the precious life-blood of a master spirit, embalmed and treasured up on purpose to a life beyond life.” Printed on handmade paper by Sebastian and Will Carter, and bound by John P. Gray and Son. A striking edition, in very nearly fine condition.
Price: $250.00