John Milton (1608–1674) Paradise lost. A poem written in ten books. First Edition (London: [S. Simmons], 1667). Paste-in before front fly-leaf.

The note at the front of this copy of the first edition of Paradise Lost records its donation, along with several other notable items of Miltoniana, by the eighteenth-century Republican, Thomas Hollis (1720-1774). All six of the first editions of Paradise Lost in the Christ’s College collection stem from this single benefaction. Each copy contains individual handwritten paste-ins by Hollis celebrating Milton’s revolutionary politics: Hollis valued Milton’s republican principles even above his poetry. Milton was among his favourite political poets and philosophers, who also included Andrew Marvell and John Locke.