[Erotic Fore-Edge Painting in:] THE POETICAL WORKS OF JOHN MILTON . . . THE "ALBION" EDITION de Milton, John - 1896

London and New York: Frederick Warne and Co., 1896. Hardcover. Near fine. 607,[1] pp. Contemporary goat, ruled in blind, spine stamped in gold, raised bands, a.e.g., fore-edge painting. Front free endpaper verso inscribed, "Oliffe Richard from his tutor July 30 - 96. 2nd in school work." 20th-century bookplate of O. L. Richmond. Light wear to edges and joints, else fine.

A turn-of-the-century Milton anthology given to a British student by his tutor and (presumably later) painted with an explicit sexual scene hidden in the fore-edge. The original owner appears to have been a 14-year-old Oliffe Leigh Richmond (1881-1977), who would grow to become a poet and classical scholar.