Davideis; The Life of David King of Israel: a Sacred Poem. In Five Books

Book Description

Wilmington [Delaware]: Printed by Johnson & Preston, [1797]. 159pp., 12mo. Title inadequately inked at foot, affecting only the last line of imprint and the date, some minor staining and edge-wear, but a pleasant copy in the original unlettered roan. The last of at least ten eighteenth-century American editions of a poem more popular in America than in England. Its text was profoundly influenced by Milton: Ellwood became one of Milton's closest associates, as well as his secretary, in the last years of the blind poet's life. Ellwood found Milton his Buckinghamshire retreat, and immortalised himself when, upon receiving from Milton the complete manuscript of Paradise Lost, remarked “Thou hast said much here of 'Paradise Lost,' but what hast thou to say of Paradise Found?” Davideis is Ellwood's chief work, some of which was probably composed during Milton's lifetime. Evans 32079.

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