| AdminHistory | The collection has been built around a nucleus of about 160 volumes of editions of Milton's works and Miltonian criticism which were received in 1882 when the Library was being re-built after the almost totally destructive fire of 1879. This gift was made by Frank Wright (1853-1922), a Liberal politician and, at the time, a member of the Free Library Building Sub-Committee. Frank Wright was the son of John Skirrow Wright (1822-1880) who came to Birmingham in 1838 and entered the firm of Smith and Kemp, manufacturers of buttons and tin-plate. In 1850 or 1857 he became a partner in the firm which became known as Smith & Wright. He was an ardent non-conformist and a zealous Liberal throughout his life. His son Frank followed the paternal path and his interest in Milton almost certainly stemmed from the family Liberal and non-conformist leanings. The special status of Frank Wright's gift was recognised almost immediately, for in the first published catalogue of the stock of the Reference Library covering acquisitions between 1883 and 1890 the entries under the name of the poet are superscribed by the heading The Milton collection; the name of the donor is also carefully recorded. By 1890 a mere hundred volumes had been added to the original donation and further additions were rather tardy until the Language and Literature Department came into existence in 1970. At present the stock comprises some 1258 volumes.
The collection extends from collected editions and selections to editions of individual works. It includes some scarce pamphlets which were issued during the Civil War and Commonwealth periods such as Areopagitica: a speech for the liberty of unlicensed printing, 1644; The doctrine and discipline of divorce, 1645; and Pro populo Anglicano defensio, 1651. First and early editions of his other prose works, including the papers written by him as Latin Secretary to the Council of State, are also well represented. It is, however, for his poetical works and in particular for Paradise Lost that Milton is best remembered.
It is fortunate that among the books deposited by Viscount Cobham at the Reference Library there are first editions of Milton's Poems, 1645, Paradise Lost, 1667, Paradise Regained and Samson 3 Agonistes, 1671. It is estimated that the first edition of Paradise Lost consisted of only 1300 to 1500 copies. Perhaps because of Milton's republican sympathies the book did not sell very well initially and the publisher issued it with six variant title pages between 1667 and 1669. Besides Viscount Cobham's copy the Library has an example of the fourth issue of the first edition, 1668. |