John Milton rare books

2 vols.; 8vo (22.5 x 15 cm); half-titles, errata slip tipped-in to vol. II; gilt red morocco for Brentano's, panels richly tooled in an Art Nouveau design, gilt spine, top edge gilt, others untrimmed or uncut; internally crips and clean, very minor wear to extremities with some slight restoration to spine ends, otherwise a near fine set; xlii, 375, [1]; lxiv, 371, [1]pp.

Eighth Newton edition, 2 vols; 8vo (21.5 x 14 cm); 14 engraved plates including portrait frontispieces, ownership inscription in pen to title header of each vol., including Thomas Newton's 'The Life of Milton' and an extensive index, minor spotting; contemporary sprinkled calf, gilt spine, contrasting red and green title-pieces, edges stained yellow, minor wear to extremities; [24], lxxxvi, [26], 510; 463, [183]pp.

Limited edition, number 529 of 550 copies, signed by the illustrator; 4to; 24 tipped in colour plates by Arthur Rackham, including frontispiece, captioned tissue guards, headpieces, tailpieces and full-page black and white illustrations also by Rackham throughout, text clean and bright; publisher's quarter vellum, gilt lettering to spine and upper cover, gilt device to upper cover, light spotting to boards, top edge gilt, others uncut or unopened, blue pictorial endpapers, housed in a custom buff solander box; overall a very good example.

Limited edition, number 1008 of 1450 copies; 2 vols, large 8vo; 53 collotype plates after William Blake; publisher's vellum-backed patterned paper boards, top edge unopened, others uncut, some offsetting to endpapers, light rubbing to extremities.

First edition; small 4to (18.7 x 14 cm); cancel title a variant of the fifth state (Lowndes' and Grolier's seventh) with 'Angel' in the imprint in Roman type (this copy with commas after 'Helder' and 'Angel', and 'Little Brittain' hyphenated), A2r with 'The Printer to the Reader' text with 3-line variant, title and text within ruled border, woodcut headpieces and initials opening each book, occasional neat repairs to margins, light wear to lower edge of Ff2, some minor soiling to margins, partly washed; later full brown morocco, gilt lettering to spine, inner dentelles gilt, all edges gilt, overall a very good copy; collation: A4 (without blank A1 after cancel title), a4, Aa-Tt4, Vv2.

First edition thus, trade issue, presentation copy inscribed by the editor; 4to; some light spotting throughout as usual; publisher's cream buckram backed decorated paper boards, top edge gilt others uncut, with the glassine jacket and printed outer dust jacket. A near-fine copy in the scuffed and rather frayed dust jacket, tanned and with a snag to the rear panel with loss.