Making Milton : Print, Authorship, Afterlives

This volume consists of fourteen original essays that showcase the latest thinking about John Milton's emergence as a popular and canonical author. Contributors consider how Milton positioned himself in relation to the book trade, contemporaneous thinkers, and intellectual movements, as well as how his works have been positioned since their first publication.

The individual chapters assess Milton's reception by exploring how his authorial persona was shaped by the modes of writing in which he chose to express himself, the material forms in which his works circulated, and the ways in which his texts were re-appropriated by later writers. The Milton that emerges is one who actively fashioned his reputation by carefully selecting his modes of writing, his language of composition, and the stationers with whom he collaborated. Throughout the volume, contributors also demonstrate the profound impact Milton and his works have had on the careers of a variety of agents, from publishers, booksellers, and fellow writers to colonizers in Mexico and South America.

Emma Depledge, Assistant Professor of English Literature, 1500-1790, Université de Neuchâtel,John S. Garrison, Professor of English, Grinnell College,Marissa Nicosia, Assistant Professor of Renaissance Literature, The Pennsylvania State University

Emma Depledge is Assistant Professor of English Literature, 1500-1790 at the Université de Neuchâtel. She is the author of Shakespeare's Rise to Cultural Prominence: Print, Politics and Alteration, 1642-1700 (CUP, 2018) and co-editor of Canonising Shakespeare: Stationers and the Book Trade, 1640-1740 (CUP, 2017). She writes the annual review of texts and editions for Shakespeare Survey and is an associate editor for English Studies.


John S. Garrison is Professor of English at Grinnell College, where he teaches courses on early modern literature and culture. His recent books include Shakespeare at Peace (with Kyle Pivetti, Routledge, 2018) and Shakespeare and the Afterlife (Oxford University Press, 2019).


Marissa Nicosia is Assistant Professor of Renaissance Literature at The Pennsylvania State University--Abington College. She is co-editor of Renaissance Futures, a special volume of Explorations in Renaissance Culture (2019), and she has published articles on early modern literature in journals such as Modern Philology, Milton Studies, and The Papers of the Bibliographical Society of America. She is a member of the executive council of the Milton Society of America.