THE SHORTER [MINOR] POEMS OF JOHN MILTON ILLUSTRATED BY SAMUEL PALMER

London: Seeley & Company, 1889. No. 67 OF 135 LARGE PAPER COPIES. 382 x 271 mm. (15 x 10 3/4"). xx, 124 pp.
Publisher's stiff vellum, upper cover with gilt lettering and figure of a shepherd, smooth spine with gilt lettering, edges untrimmed. WITH 12 PHOTOGRAVURE PLATES AFTER DRAWINGS BY SAMUEL PALMER. Ray, "England" 223. ◆Head of spine lightly bumped, paper separating along part of the front hinge, light foxing to flyleaves and to margins of plates, other trivial imperfections, but a fine copy in every other way--bright and fresh internally with vast margins, in a well-preserved binding remarkably free of the soiling and splaying that plague vellum bindings.

Normally found in a soiled and splayed binding and with considerable foxing, this is a remarkably clean and pleasing copy of the limited Large Paper edition of a posthumously published volume containing 12 beautiful reproductions of some of Samuel Palmer's best drawings, set to the words of his favorite poet. Palmer (1805-81) was a poetical landscape painter in the tradition of the ideal school represented in England by Wilson and Turner, and he was very much influenced by Blake, among whose mystical circle of "ancients" at Shoreham Palmer was counted in 1824. That Palmer had a strong affection for Milton is demonstrated by the fact that for 20 years he carried in his pocket a copy of Milton's minor poems, given to him by his nurse maid, Mary Ward, with whom he shared a very close connection. As DNB explains, the present series of drawings occupied a good part of Palmer's final years, and the artist labored over them with great care: "Brilliant, rich, and powerful in colour, they are finished to a degree seldom attained, and yet, despite their elaboration, contain no touch unfelt or useless." Ray concurs, calling the present work "a stately volume" and noting that the drawings here "rank with his best work." The artist's son, A. H. Palmer, prepared the photogravures for this publication himself, utilizing a technique that retains all of the rich tonal qualities of the originals. It is a beautiful work by an artist deserving of greater attention, and this is an especially attractive copy..