Duquesne University Press

“Paradise Lost: A Poem Written in Ten Books”

Essays on the 1667 First Edition

By John T. Shawcross and Michael Lieb

Published in 2007
$60.00  paper
Short discount available
ISBN: 978-0-8207-0393-0

400 pages

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Also available:
         “Paradise Lost: A Poem Written in Ten Books” - cloth
         “Paradise Lost: A Poem Written in Ten Books" - cloth

Book Information

Appearing in tandem with the first publication of an authoritative text of the 1667 first edition of John Milton’s Paradise Lost, these insightful essays by ten Miltonists establish the significant differences in the text, context, and effect of the first edition of Paradise Lost from those of the now-standard second edition of 1674.

Although many books and articles focus on the 1674 edition of Paradise Lost and its heirs, this book represents the first and only collection of original essays on the subject of the 1667 edition of Milton’s major epic. In bringing together essays by various hands, editors Lieb and Shawcross seek to map what may be termed a new frontier in Milton studies, that which acknowledges the importance of what Milton himself considered to be the work of a lifetime when he offered Paradise Lost to the world in 1667.

Author Information

JOHN T. SHAWCROSS is professor emeritus of English at the University of Kentucky. He is the author of numerous books, including With Mortal Voice: The Creation of Paradise Lost. He is coeditor of Milton and the Grounds of Contention, and is a two-time winner of the James Holly Hanford Award for the most distinguished book on Milton.

MICHAEL LIEB is professor of English and Research Professor of Humanities at the University of Illinois at Chicago and is coeditor of The Miltonic Samson, which won the 1996 Irene Samuel Award of the Milton Society of America.

Book Reviews

“Shawcross, Lieb, and the contributors to the volume of essays deserve credit for providing further evidence of Milton’s artistry and how he continually revised Paradise Lost even after the poem started appearing in bookstalls in London and elsewhere.” — Renaissance Quarterly

“The 1667 text itself and the three essays focusing on bibliographic details will be most useful to Milton specialists, but the other seven essays, all of which break new ground, will be helpful to anyone approaching Milton’s poem, including the 1674 edition.” — Choice