MILTON, John. Paradise Lost. Translation by Chateaubriand. P - Lot 162

MILTON, John. Paradise Lost. Translation by Chateaubriand. Preceded by reflections on the life and writings of Milton by Lamartine and enriched with twenty-five magnificent original burin-engraved steel engravings. Paris, Amable Rigaud, 1863. In-folio, cherry half-chagrin, spine-ribs outlined in gilt stippling and cold-framed, gilt filleting and corner irons to entrenerfs, gilt lettering, combed edges. XXVIII, 157 pp. and 1 f. (arguments), 1 frontispiece and 24 original burin-engraved steel engravings, all under off-text serpents. Beautifully engraved bands, lettering and endpapers decorate the text. Spine browned, gilding slightly faded, bindings and corners rubbed, 2 bindings partially split (one consolidated by a piece of leather), foxing, mainly in the margins, wetness in the lower margin of the last pages. French edition of John Milton's masterpiece, in Chateaubriand's translation, adorned with 25 magnificent original burin engravings on steel, including 3 portraits (Chateaubriand, Lamartine and Milton) and 22 engravings after Flatters, Mélin, Lemercier and Richomme, depicting the key moments of the epic (fall of the angels, Eve picking the apple, Satan plunging into the Styx, Adam and Eve driven from Paradise). Headbands, endpapers and lettering are decorated with dragons, vipers, plant motifs and a few coats of arms. An elegant copy of this masterfully illustrated edition.