[Literature] Milton, John. Paradise Lost, A Poem in Twelve Books. SIGNED by Pierce Butler, Signer of the U.S. Constitution, his copy. 12mo. (1), 318 pp. Contemporary calf. With the signature of Pierce Butler in three places (top of pastedown upper cover, on the free end leaf now separate and laid in, and on the title page). Pierce Butler, one of the largest slaveholders in the United States, he frequently defended American slavery for both political and personal motives, even though he had private misgivings about the institution and particularly about the Atlantic slave trade. His was responsible for introducing the Fugitive Slave Clause (Article 4, Section 2), which established protection for slavery in the Constitution and gave a federal guarantee to the property rights of slaveholders. Extensive worn and rubbing. Boards detached, spine lacking leather. Toning and scattered foxing.

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