[Milton-L] Kerrigan, Rumrich, Fallon edn.

[Feisal Mohamed]

Dear Milton-L,

Because this is a time of year when people are likely thinking of fall book orders, it might be timely to mention the strengths of the new Kerrigan, Rumrich, and Fallon Modern Library Milton (ISBN 978-0-679-64253-4; US $ 55).  I’ve adopted it this term for a course where I needed access to both poetry and prose and been very pleased: the texts have proven to be reliable (as far as I have seen at this point), and the apparatus provides helpful (and not obtrusive) guidance with headnotes economically introducing the works and pointing to current scholarship.  Both spelling and punctuation have been thoroughly modernized throughout, which constitutes a significant improvement over Hughes—though some will prefer the original spelling of the ongoing Blackwell Milton, which will become an interesting rival when complete (my personal view is that a modern-spelling edition is preferable for undergraduates, original spelling for graduate students).  A couple of nice additions are selections from Aubrey’s notes on his life of Milton and ten familiar letters.

My one complaint—one always has a complaint, after all—is that some prose works are excerpted where one would like to see them offered in their entirety.  Where Hughes provides _The Reason of Church Government_ in full, here one has only the autobiographical preface to the second book.  _The Tenure_ is also excerpted.  The selections from _The Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce_ and from _De doctrina_ are, however, much more robust than those available in Hughes, and added are selections from _Tetrachordon_.

Another point on which one might grumble is that the publisher, as far as I know, is not offering gratis examination copies.  But I don’t think that those who take the plunge in placing an order will be disappointed.

It appears to me that the Hughes edition may now enjoy a richly earned retirement—has there ever been a course text in any discipline so widely adopted for half a century?

Looking forward to others’ thoughts,
Feisal Mohamed
University of Illinois


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