Type: Exhibition caption
Name: Pindar, Pindari Olympia, Pythia, Nemea, Isthmia (Saumur, 1620)
Detail: 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.