2014 Paradise Lost

Sorry if this isn't an appropriate place to ask this, but the 2014 Paradise Lost is among the highest of my Folio Society wants, however I think I have only one time seen it available on the secondary market. Is there a particular reason for this, and if there is anyone who knows or has a copy for sale, please PM me. Thanks!

Also, check out Easton Press Paradise Lost limited 2 vol. edition with classic illustrations and bound in leather.

It’s stunning and one of my favourite Folio purchases of the last few years. I expect people don’t let go of their copies lightly...

>1 davelin:
It was expensive and probably only a small print run. People tend to hang on to books like this, particularly as it is only 6 years since production. Many FS books that appear on the market are from deceased estates, so older books appear far more often.
Put up "want" on ABE or a "saved search" on Ebay, do a Google search every week, and be patient.

>2 fancythings: Thank you for very much for the recommendation! I also see that there Easton Press made a single volume edition with illustrations from Dore. It looks like the book is meant to accompany their Dore illustrated Divine Comedy. Any thoughts on this particular volume?

>4 wcarter: Thanks, have already put those searches in place and was hoping that someone on here knew of an available copy =)

One of my biggest regrets was skipping out on this. It was even going for half the price as I recall.

>5 davelin:

Apologies if it augments your frustration, but the edition was offered at half price in 2018's New Year sale. I'm surprised it seems so scarce in the secondary market, the more so in view of its sale appearance which usually seems to prompt certain wheeler-dealers to buy copies in search of a fast buck. Then, as has been said, away from such activity books do generally take a while to become common as second-hand offerings: and the print run may indeed have been quite small, given Folio's diminished market and the two previous fine editions of the poem as recently as 1991 and 2003.

>7 terebinth: That's good to know, unfortunately I only become a Faddict in the last year so missed out on the sale. I think that gives me a little bit more optimism knowing that unread copies may be somewhere out there for people who purchased hoping for a future flip. Thanks!

As it happens, there's a copy on eBay just now. But it's certainly not cheap.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Paradise-Lost-John-Milton-John-Martin-2-Volume-Set-Fo...

>8 davelin:

Are the John Martin mezzotints, or the Alastair Fowler commentary volume, most drawing you to the 2014 version? I wasn't at all keen on the form of the edition, just because making use of the commentary involves having two pretty large volumes open at once and at the time I hadn't a readily accessible desk of the required dimensions: and I'd already acquired the Blake and Ian Pollock Folio books. The sale price persuaded me to bite, and moving home has solved the problem with reading space.

In case you've not considered the '91 Paradise Lost, it's a magnificent volume superbly presented, the largest in format of the three versions, in a buckram-bound slipcase. Though I love them all it's possibly my favourite of the three, but I'm sure many find Pollock's illustrations hard to embrace or to relate to the poem. Aesthetically it must still rank among Folio's boldest ever ventures.

>10 terebinth: Unfortunately I cannot say that the Pollock illustrations are to my tastes.

>7 terebinth: Buying it in the 2018 sale was one of my first Folio purchases, and I was shocked how big it was when it arrived.

It's a very good edition, and I don't see myself ever buying another. However, that eBay post above is selling it at a crazy price - I think anything much higher than the original 150 pounds is pretty unreasonable.

This thread suggests some interesting alternatives https://www.librarything.com/topic/218324

>10 terebinth:

I also own all three, and think I would rank them as follows:

1. John Martin
2. William Blake
3. Ian Pollock

If you add in non-FS illustrators, of the ones I own:

1. John Martin
2. Gustave Dore (Cassell): https://www.meisterdrucke.uk/fine-art-prints/Gustave-Dore/651074/Illustration-by...
3. William Blake
4. Carlotta Petrina (LEC): https://georgemacyimagery.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/dsc_0130.jpg
5. Ian Pollock

Anyone else have a different ranking or illustrators I've not represented above?

Just to clarify, I didn't mean to suggest above that Ian Pollock is my favourite Folio illustrator of Paradise Lost, only that to me the 1991 volume is the most harmonious and satisfyingly composed book. I would be as reluctant to venture a personal ranking of the illustrators as to put apples, oranges and Brussels sprouts in order of preference: I relish them all but in different moods and situations.

>14 terebinth:

I'm kind of a High Fidelity, guy: love ranked lists.

1. Oranges
2. Brussel sprouts
3. Apples

>15 EclecticIndulgence:

Then, employing my admittedly less than Sherlockian powers of deduction, I take it you've not bought the Herefordshire Pomona ;)

I'll at least rank the Folio editions of Paradise Lost in terms of book design:
1.1991. Achieved.
2.2003. Hangs together.
3.2014. Doesn't, to me, cohere. I look at the closed book and John Martin's illustrations are the last thing it suggests.

Then of course there is the enormous advantage of the Fowler commentary: at least for anyone with a large desk or table at which they're happy to read Paradise Lost. On release I was wishing that the commentary had included the text of the poem, to allow a self-contained alternative reading experience as do the Oxford volumes accompanying the Letterpress Shakespeare.

Thanks everyone for their feedback and opinions. When I look at the different Folio illustrations (online, not in person) I would agree with >13 EclecticIndulgence: on the ranking of Martin, Blake then Pollock.

Easton Press seems also a viable alternative, does anyone have an opinion on these from personal experience?

>17 davelin:

Easton Press books are highly controversial amongst book collectors - you either love them or hate them. For my part, I do not own any Easton Press of Franklin books in my collection.

>17 davelin: Yes. I bought mine last month for 150 Pounds Sterling. They pop up occasionally, but patience is advised.

Do not settle for anything less than the 2014 version, forget about Easton Press. :)

>13 EclecticIndulgence:

I certainly share the order of preference for the FS editions of Paradise Lost as posted by EclecticIndulgence. The 2004/2005 2-volume set with reproductions of the early 19th-Century John Martin illustrations is the one to own. The Ian Pollock illustrations in the FS 1991 edition are (to my eye) ugly and garish, a bit like looking at Peter Max illustrations from the 1970's.

Amongst all fine & private press editions of Paradise Lost, the GCP edition with Anna Groom illustrations is incomparable - and incomparably expensive, if you can even find one (see link).

http://www.librarything.com/topic/316140

>20 dlphcoracl: Beautiful and stunning. I would suspect that I will never be able to own this fine edition in my lifetime! Books from the Golden Cockerel Press is fine press that I would very much like to own, at the risk of taking this thread slightly off tangent, any recommendations for titles that are underrated and thus within the reach of mere mortals?

>21 davelin:

I will send you a PM in this regard.

>18 dlphcoracl:

Hate may be a strong word. I think EP and Franklin are fine. I own several. They are a good budget
option as many of their books plummet in value on the second hand market. Especially Franklin Press. I've gotten these for less than mass market paperbacks sometimes.

My biggest gripe with EP is that they often do reprints without (or barely) acknowledging the original publisher. LEC comes to mind...

I have the 2-volume edition. The illustrations are outstanding, the production is excellent, but the volumes are ridiculously big and unwieldy. I currently retain it, but once I can find a suitable replacement, it will probably go.

>23 MobyRichard: My biggest gripe with Easton Press is the shoddy nature of their printing of illustrations - absolute junk.

I waited and managed to get the 2015 at the final sale price (£75?) and I really love it. The John Martin Mezzotints are superb and overall it's a lovely production. Yes it's big and not something for bedtime reading.

I was able to pick up the Folio 2003 Edition, with Blake illustrations, quarter bound in leather and a slip case for a nice price of $20 at a recent book sale. I was able to get the matching Faust wih the Delacroix illustrations for the same price. That made my day.

>23 MobyRichard:

"Hate may be a strong word".

Frankly, it really isn't - many collectors will not touch these books at any price and with rare exceptions find that they do not represent The Arts of the Book in any way, shape, or form.

My opinion of the Easton Press and Franklin Press books is yin-yang. On the one hand, they are extremely inexpensive in the secondary market (note: I would never purchase one first-hand at their offering prices) and they serve a definite purpose in the marketplace, giving folks with limited budgets for book collecting a viable option to the trade books from mass chains such as Barnes & Noble or Borders. On the other hand I do not find them aesthetically pleasing and, more important, I can almost always find a better fine press alternative at nearly any price point.

>27 dlphcoracl: I like and have many FL and EP books, but I agree with your assessment in general. I buy them to have nice copies of books I love, but would almost always opt for a Folio. I definitely don’t see them as examples of the art of bookmaking.

While I agree that Franklin Library and Easton Press are only worth buying on the secondary market (not that Franklin Library is still publishing), I think if you buy the right ones, they’re perfectly nice books - good reading copies that look good on the shelf. And they also have a much wider array of titles (particularly for modern books) available than FS, LEC, or other fine presses, so if you want nice copies of newer titles, or subject areas fine press doesn’t cover (e.g., I think we’re unlikely to see an FS version of Roger Kahn’s The Boys of Summer anytime soon, but I just got one from Easton), they’re a good alternative to a regular hardback.

Some (not all) of the EP deluxe limited editions are quite nice, but their standard editions are well below FS standard. EP is also xenophobic and almost impossible to deal with outside the US.

I remember press advertisements promoting Franklin Library books, but judging from the few I've seen I don't think they met with much success in the UK market, and Easton Press, probably wisely, have never bothered to try selling here. I haven't owned anything of either and probably wouldn't, unless, which doesn't seem likely, there was a serious lack of affordable alternative editions for some particular text: the house styles just don't appeal. Then, there are a few Folio books from the past decade or so whose to me over-loud spines put an immediate end to any possible wish to see them on my shelves.

>31 terebinth: every time I see the words Franklin Press I immediately think of Franklin Mint

Puts me in mind of those “priceless” ‘80s Sunday Times colour supplement ads for Prince Andrew and Fergie commemorative marriage plates.... *shudder*

Back to the OP, I only own the 2014 Paradise Lost and therefore have no baseline with which to compare...

It is one of my favourite FS releases and is a treasured possession. I bought it as an afterthought in the New Year sale 2 years ago and count myself very lucky

>32 plasticjock:

Yes, same operation, same advertising style, largely the same market I expect, though it must be possible to like the books without being enthusiastic about the other, erm, collectables...

The quality of the leather used in and the binding of FL books (those that were bound in full genuine leather) is definitely superior to EP books. I have some FL books and like them.

>22 dlphcoracl: I would greatly appreciate your sending me something similar when you have the time.

>36 Powderfinger69: My recent affordable (less than $300) GCP purchase was The Bright Island, one of 200 copies published in 1924 printed in two colors on Kelmscott hand-made paper and bound in limp vellum. I wasn't expecting much from the play but it turned out to be a delightful political farce that is still relevant today.