The Poetical Works of John Milton. With a memoir, and critical remarks on his genius and writings.

London:: Tilt and Bogue, 1843., 1843. 2 volumes. 8vo. [ii], lii, 378; viii, 341, [1] pp. Many engraved figures. Original full crimson red morocco, elaborately gilt-stamped with gilt rules, florets, raised bands, all edges gilt; some rubbing. Very good. [C330/044] With a fore-edge painting applied to the fanned edges of each volume: on volume I: Milton's Cottage at Chalfont. On volume II: St. Giles's, Cripplegate. Chalfont St. Giles is a village in Buckinghamshire and there stands the only surviving residences of Milton, a picturesque cottage that is now a museum. Milton died there and was buried in the church of St. Giles Cripplegate (now surrounded (truncated) by London). / The fore-edge painting work of this unnamed artist, whom I have dubbed either the "Dover" painter (a scene frequently painted by this artist) or – more properly – the painter for Marks & Company, is really a terrific fore-edge miniature artist. This person produced well over 1000 fore-edge paintings and most likely painted in the 1920s up until the Great Depression. The oeuvre of this artist was purchased by at least two American distributors: William Robinson Company, a large modern retailer who also sold some leather-bound gift books, and Dawson's Book Shop of Los Angeles. In the early 1930s some of these volumes were purchased by Estelle Doheny and became – by far and away – the largest portion of the great Doheny collection of fore-edge paintings (at the time the largest such collection in the world). The Doheny collection was to become singularly important due to the fine early specimens of fore-edge paintings and all kinds of other beautiful books (including half the Gutenberg Bible). / Edited by Montgomery and copiously illustrated with engravings after drawings by William Harvey (1796-1866), a pupil of Thomas Bewick. REFERENCES: Weber, Jeff, Annotated Dictionary of Fore-edge Painting Artists & Binders, 2010, pp. 98-103. (Inventory #: FF2543)