Collecting Pandemonium: John Milton in the Alexander Turnbull Library
The precious life-blood of a master spirit
John Milton, 'Comus: A Mask', 1901, London: E Arnold, Special Printed Collections, Alexander Turnbull Library, Reference: RPr ESSEX MILT 1901
The precious life-blood of a master spirit
Turnbull's schoolboy attempts to illustrate Milton's poems were later outstripped by his ability to collect lavishly illustrated fine-print editions of these poems.
This edition of 'Comus' with its decorative illuminated letter was published by the Gregynog Press in London in 1901. Artist Reginald Savage produced the woodblock frontispiece.
Milton's work has shone like a beacon to book artists and publishers through the centuries. A collector like Alexander Turnbull must have responded on similar terms to Milton's celebration of the book, as expressed in Areopagitica:
'A good book is the precious life-blood of a master spirit, embalmed and treasured up on purpose to a life beyond life ... he who destroys a good book kills reason itself, kills the image of God, as it were in the eye.'
Permission of the National Library of New Zealand Te Puna Mātauranga O Aotearoa, must be obtained before any reuse of this image
