Asimov's Annotated Paradise Lost with text by John Milton and notes by Isaac Asimov. Doubleday & Company, Inc. New York. 1974. First Edition stated with no subsequent printings listed. 761 pages. ISBN-10: 0385079923. Hard cover with dust jacket. DUST JACKET: Some edgew wear and bumping. A bit sun-faded on the spine. Light wear on the edges of the spine. No major pieces missing. Not price-clipped. Now protected in mylar dust jacket cover. BOOK: A bit of dust on the top edge of the page block. I find one page with a tiny tip fold. Otherwise pages are clean with no previous owner markings that I find, and without tears, folds or creases. Binding is tight with no looseness to pages and appears to have never been fully opened, let alone read. Not ex-library, not remaindered, not a facsimile reprint. More photos available on request. For sale by Jon Wobber, bookseller since 1978. CF18a
" Paradise Lost has always been difficult reading. It is packed with allusions to the Bible, classical mythology, and history - allusions that are, for the most part, lost on the twentieth-century reading.
In this latest edition of the Asimov "Guides," the author comes to the reader's aid. Relying on his vast store of knowledge, Asimov explains all the references to astronomy, alchemy,astrology. He tells the reader, inclear language, the origin and meaning of god, demons, names, and place tha t are mentioned in the poem; fo instance: "'Pandemonium,' a word coined by Milton, means 'all demons' and is an appropriate name for the capital of Hell"" from the blurb on the dust jacket.