Paradise lost : Book I : manuscript, ca. 1665.

This is the only surviving fragment of the manuscript used to print Paradise Lost, Milton's epic poem of the Edenic fall. It is difficult to overstate the influence of Milton's poem on subsequent writers and artists, particularly in his vivid portrayal of Satan, whose seductive logic and rhetorical virtuosity have captivated readers for generations. Driven to achieve "things unattempted yet in prose or rhyme," Milton adopted innovative thematic and formal approaches for Paradise Lost, sourcing his characters from the Bible (rather than British history) and composing his lines in blank verse instead of heroic couplets, which were more fashionable at the time.
Milton wrote the ten books of Paradise Lost between 1658 and 1663. He had first planned the work as early as 1640, intending to write a tragedy titled Adam Unparadised. By 1652 he had become completely blind, probably due to glaucoma. The final words on the manuscript's first page of text--"what in me is darke / [Illumine]"--refer not only to the speaker's moral and intellectual uncertainties but also allude to the physical darkness that engulfed the poet. Blindness forced Milton to compose orally, rendering him entirely reliant upon amanuenses (casual copyists among his friends and family circle) to whom he gave dictation. He composed the poem mostly at night or in the early morning, committing his composition to memory until someone was available to write down his words. He revised as his text was read back to him, so that a day's work amounted to twenty lines of verse. This fair copy of the poem's first book was transcribed by a scribe or literary secretary and bears further annotations by the printer (Samuel Simmons) and the compositors working for him.