Milton's Library
Milton's personal letters show that his access to books came in part from libraries and borrowed books, but also from his own substantial collection, which he had amassed from books acquired at shops in London and Europe. Regrettably, unlike contemporaries whose libraries are still intact or whose collections can be reconstructed with shelf lists or signed books, few of Milton's actual books can be identified with certainty: there are extant only seven books from Milton's own library. This is probably because he stopped signing books quite early in his career. Yet, like many early modern writers and readers, Milton kept a reading notebook or a Commonplace Book, which was a structured repository for reading notes. From this manuscript, in conjunction with references in his written work, we are able to piece together a detailed record of what Milton read and what he took away from his reading. This manuscript is presently housed in the British Library.
The Holy Bible: Conteyning the Old Testament, and the New: newly translated out of the originall tongues (London: By Robert Barker, Printer to the Kings most Excellent Maiestie, anno 1611)
One of the seven extant books from Milton's library is the King James Bible of 1611, now in the British Library (part of the manuscript collection, MS Additional 32310). This was Milton's "family Bible," in which records of family history were recorded in the back. The "authorized" King James Version of the Bible was designed to replace the so-called Geneva Bible, the most popular Bible in England, whose notes nonetheless had a Puritan bias that the King thought "very partiall, untrue, seditious, and savouring too much, of dangerous, and traitorous conceits." Milton's copy contains many manuscript annotations and corrections.
Sir Thomas Smith, The Common-wealth of England (London: Printed by William Stansby for John Smethwicke, 1621)
Thomas Smith (1513-1577) was an Elizabethan political theorist who wrote in strong support of Parliamentary sovereignty. "The most high and absolute power of the Realme of England consisteth in the Parliament," he wrote. "The Parliament abrogateth old Lawes, maketh new, giveth order for things past, and for things hereafter to be followed, changeth rights and possessions of private men,...establisheth formes of Religion, [and] giveth forme of succession to the Crown." The war between the crown and the parliament revolved largely around questions of parliamentary versus royal sovereignty. Milton refers to this influential book several times in his reading notes and in his printed polemic.
Pindar, Pindari Olympia, Pythia, Nemea, Isthmia (Saumur, 1620)
A great deal of Milton's reading was not in English, but in Latin, Greek, Italian, and other languages. Books in languages other than English were printed in London, but many were European imports. The proportion of foreign imprints in Milton's reading notes is 73 percent. Foreign books could be obtained in London bookshops, and Milton also shipped books home from Europe, and had friends send him books from abroad. In comparison with other personal libraries for which we have shelf-lists, the surprisingly low percentage of British imprints in Milton's notes is quite normal, and it may well represent the proportions in Milton's own library. Milton cites Pindar in his writing, probably drawing from this edition. A copy of this same imprint long thought to have been Milton's, with annotations included in the Columbia edition of Milton's works, is housed at Harvard University. Whether the copy now at Harvard actually belonged to Milton is now debated.
Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queen; The Shepherds Calendar: Together with the Other Works of England's Arch-poët (London: Printed by H.L. for Mathew Lownes, 1617)
In addition to Shakespeare, Milton was profoundly influenced by the English epic poet Edmund Spenser. Frequently cited in Milton's prose, Milton refers to Spenser as "our Poet Spenser" -- a figure of unquestionable national importance. Milton had long planned to write a national epic like that of Spenser. As he wrote in 1639 he was "resolved to tell the story of the Trojan ships" that came to the British Isles, a national epic in the Virgilian mode that reaffirmed the foundation myth of a nation. When he finally turned to write Paradise Lost, however, the geography was biblical rather than national; and instead of writing about founding a place, he wrote about leaving a place.