A PREFACE TO PARADISE LOST | By C. S. Lewis

A Preface to Paradise Lost (PL)

A Preface to Paradise Lost had its genesis in Lewis’s Ballard Matthews Lectures which he delivered at the University College of North Wales in 1941. Two settings of the work currently exist.

SETTING 1

O1a

Oxford University Press (1942)
Printing: Humphrey Milford, Publisher to the University

Dark green fabric hardback with gold author/title on spine
Jacket: White title on green field over green author on white field
139 pages

Printing History:
1. 1942 for 7s6d (Back of Jacket lists works of John Milton)
2. 1942 for 7s6d (back of Jacket lists other works by Lewis)
3. 1943
4. 1944
5. 1946
6. 1949 (O1c [10th printing] lists 1948; but this appears to be a misprint.)

PL1-O1a-4-44-Jacket Front

PL1-O1a-1-42-Cover

O1b

Oxford University Press (cir. 1948)
Printing: Geoffrey Cumberlege, Publisher to the University

Dark green fabric hardback with gold author/title on spine (Identical to O1a)
Jacket: Green author on white field over white title on green field
139 pages

Printing History:
[continued from O1a]
7. 1951 [jacket unknown]
8. 1954 [jacket unknown]
9. 1956 for 10s.6d.

PL1-O1b-9-56-Jacket Front

PL1-O1a-1-42-Cover

O1c

Oxford University Press (cir. 1948)
Printing: Great Britain

Dark green fabric hardback with gold author/title on spine (Identical to O1a)
Jacket: White author on white field over white title on red field
139 pages

Printing History:
[continued from O1b]
10. 1959

PL1-O1c-10-59-Jacket Front

PL1-O1a-1-42-Cover

SETTING 2

O2a

Oxford Paperbacks (1960) [1]
Printing: Oxford University Press

Paperback by Michael Ayrton: White title/author on black field on yellow cover, featuring falling Satan.
143 pages

[1] Later O2b printings list the year as 1961.

Printing History:
1. Sept 1960
2. Dec 1960 for 5s.

PL2-O2a-2-60-Cover

O2b

Oxford Paperbacks of Oxford University Press (cir. 1967)
Printing: Oxford University Press

Paperback: Identical to O2a but reduced in size
143 pages

Printing History:
5. 1967 for 5s.
1969
1970

PL2-O2b-5-67-Cover

O2c

Oxford University Press (c. 1967)
Printing: USA

Paperback by Emil Antonucci: Black author over white title over black charcoal image of falling angel on teal cover
ISBN: 0-19-500345-4
143 pages

Printing History:
1967 for $1.25 [No ISBN, no bar code on back]
5. Sold for $1.75 (57p)
At least 27 printings

PL2-O2c-27-x-Cover.