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Estimate: $ 1,500 - $ 2,500
MILTON, JOHN. The Paradise Lost. 24 rich, full-plate mezzotints by John Martin. Large folio, 370x270 mm; 14 1/2x10 3/4 inches, sheets. 19th century full black morocco covers with gilt borders and turn-ins, rebacked in matching 20th century gilt-lettered and ruled spine; all edges trimmed and gilt, scattered, usual mostly marginal foxing; custom plain cloth slipcase. London: Charles Whittingham, 1846
'The apocalyptic romanticism of [Martin's] conceptions had many sources: the monumental buildings of London, the engravings of Piranesi, the many recently published volumes of eastern views, even incandescent gas, coalpit accidents, and Brunel's new Thames Tunnel"--Ray, England, pages 44-45. 'Mezzotint is a medium peculiarly suited to Manichaean fantasies: the black void of the prepared plate, blackness scraped away to create forms and highlights. Paradise Lost . . . was ideal material for Martin, who echoed Milton's solemnity while opening out his cadences in the imagery of groves and chases bathed in silvery light and an underworld where fires tongue the darkness and bridges span nothingness and Satan's armies infest the gloom. In mezzotint, Martin's vision thrived'--Feaver, William, ODNB.
