Paradise Regain'd: A Poem. In four books. To which is added Samson Agonistes; and Poems upon several occasions. With a tractate of education

London: Printed for J. Tonson, at Shakespear's Head, over-against Catherine-Street in the Strand; and for Richard, James, and Bethel Wellington, 1730. Good. The seventh edition, corrected. Single volume. 12mo (17 x 10.5cm), [vi], 352 + etched frontis and illustrated with various head- and tail-pieces throughout. Bound in new half brown leatherette, single blind ruled, with original red morocco label re-pasted to spine, marbled paper boards. New head- and tailbands and marbled endpapers. Edges stained red (uneven fading). Original ffep � with POI in sepia ink � pasted to frontis, forming its recto, frontis cropped, with POI note in sepia ink pasted to leading edge, POI repeated on title page, which similarly appears to have been pasted to another (free) leaf, occasional clarifications to section titles in the same hand. Creasing to prelims, some browning, staining (water and ink) and grubbiness, a little bleeding from edge stain. A robust, sophisticated copy of a later Tolson edition, featuring a (pleasing) motley selection of head- and tail-pieces. Fairly well represented in British research libraries. Good. Jacob Tonson (the Elder, c.1655-1736) was a bookseller and prestigious publisher of Dryden, Aphra Benn, the Earl of Rochester, and Shakespeare, alongside Milton. Indeed, Tonson was "instrumental in creating and nurturing an audience and an appreciation for the poem [Paradise Lost] and for Milton, keeping the poet's reputation alive in a period dominated by a very different literary taste." (ODNB). A canny businessman and shaper of literary taste, he was one of the first booksellers to advertise in newspapers, "created the modern anthology as a genre," as well as co-founding the Kit-Cat Club (ODNB): a bookseller of talent and many legacies.