Paradise Lost

Paradise Lost by John Milton

                After reading the articles assigned I found hard time understanding the term “social nature” through which a book undergo to appear in the last form the reader is holding.  Therefore, it was hard form my to find a contemporary book that had experienced a variety of printing mechanisms or change in the apparatus of editing and bibliography. Then I thought of narrowing my search to something old that it was written in manuscript and new that it was printed. After struggle with what to choose I picked up Paradise Lost which after looking at different versions was the typical example that would satisfy or speak to the “social nature” of a manuscript or a book. The great feature about the book I choose is that it brings the discourse of what happened to variety of versions that were published and what kind of errors the copy text has. The name of the book is “Paradise Lost: A Poem Written in Ten Books” An Authoritative Text of the 1667 First Edition which was Transcribed and edited with commentary by John T. Shawcross and Michael Lieb. The transcription of the book is from a copy owned by the Newberry Library which was checked against facsimiles (XVI). The first addition had a number of issues when it comes to changes or the lack of them. For instance, line numbers are given on the right side of the text rather than on the alternative right left sides of the page (377). Harris F. Fletcher’s facsimile edition of Paradise lost is a copy of the 1669 rather than 1667 version, but it shows the reissues and changes made through the various versions occurring between these two dates. The work has as part of new machinery an electronic edition of the 1667 edition as a facsimile. Moreover, in the second edition of the work Milton adds a total of 15 lines which changes the order of the books. The changes that take a place during that period of time is not limited to the changes that Milton himself does, but also to changes that readers might or might not know its source. The first edition, for example, was issued six times during three years in which the title page changes in ever issuance (392). Another example of what social nature could do to a book is the added preliminary material ,1668-69 such as statement from the printer which changed over time as well(419). To summaries the resetting and the second printing of the preliminary materials in 1669 resulted in a variety of alterations (in spacing, linage and non-significant type of font). These alterations proves that the compositor of the second addition is different from the first and was reflecting his style.

Here is an Electronic Version of  Paradise Lost:

http://iii.library.unt.edu/record=b5529661~S12

Milton, John, John T. Shawcross, and Michael Lieb. Paradise Lost: A Poem Written in Ten Books. Pittsburgh, Pa:       Duquesne University Press, 2007. Print.