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Blake in the Marketplace, 1985

In my last review of sales (Blake 19 [1985], 24-38), I attempted to attract readers with an opening comment on the number of “newsworthy” sales which had occurred in 1984. That record pales in comparison to 1985. It seems very probable that more original and important Blakes changed hands in 1985 than at any time since the sale of the Graham Robertson collection some thirty-seven years ago. Many of the transfers of ownership happened because of gifts and bequests. These are not recorded in the following (and by now customary) lists, devoted exclusively to sales, and thus I will review them here by former owner.

Many of the works by Blake collected by Sir Geoffrey Keynes were removed to the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, only days after his death on 5 July 1982. Most of the estate’s complexities now seem to have been sorted out and the majority of the drawings, paintings, illuminated books, and prints have been transferred to the Museum’s ownership. Certain typographic publications, however, and manuscripts related to Blake were sold in 1982 with the bulk of Sir Geoffrey’s library to the Cambridge University Library (see G.E. Bentley, Jr., “Keynes and Blake at Cambridge,” Blake 19 [1985], 69-71). There are far too many works for listing here, but the appendix in the 1970 catalogue of the Blake collection at the Fitzwilliam, edited by David Bindman, offers a full enumeration. The only deductions from the 1970 accounting are a few duplicate impressions of separate plates and intaglio book illustrations, sold or given away by Sir Geoffrey between 1970 and 1982. Several important works which were not part of the original bequest to the Fitzwilliam, including the first state of the “Job” separate plate and the hand-colored “Chaucers Canterbury Pilgrims,” remain in the Keynes Family Trust. The unique impression of the second state of “Mirth” has been given to the British Museum, where it joins the only known impression of the first state. Scholars wishing to examine any works from the Keynes collection should contact the Fitzwilliam and/or the University Library well in advance to determine the availability of works owned by, or on deposit at, those institutions.

The death of Philip Hofer on 9 November 1984 initiated the transfer of the bulk of his collection to the Houghton Library, Harvard University, according to a long-standing bequest. Many of his Blakes have been on deposit at the Houghton for a long time, but the following works are now being accessioned by the library as additions to its own holdings:

America copy C, uncolored.

Jerusalem, proof of pl. 50, lacking considerable whiteline hatching which extends the flames around the figures in the published (and only previously recorded) state. Perhaps the impression sold from the George C. Smith collection, Parke-Bernet, 2 Nov. 1938, #41, with impressions of pls. 51 and 99 of Jerusalem ($300 to the New York dealer E. Weyhe). According to Bentley, Blake Books, p. 341, all three plates, which he lists as “untraced,” were offered separately by Weyhe in a catalogue of Dec. 1938, with pl. 50 as #121 (“sold”—to Hofer?). Photographs of this plate are not presently available.

Visions of the Daughters of Albion copy M, hand colored.

Dante engraving, proof state of pl. 7, “Wherefore dost bruise me?” Described and reproduced in Blake’s Illustrations of Dante (London: Trianon Press for the Blake Trust, 1978).

Job engravings, suite of pre-publication proofs lacking only the title-page, from the collection of George Richmond. Described in Blake’s Engravings to the Book of Job: An Essay on Their Graphic Form with a Catalogue of Their States and Printings, forthcoming from the Blake Trust.

Virgil, Pastorals of, ed. Thornton. Proofs on one sheet of cuts 2-5 pulled before the blocks were cut down for publication. Accompanying the leaf is Samuel Palmer’s letter to Mrs. George of Sept. 1864 referring to the proofs. This letter is printed, but listed as untraced, in begin page 13 | back to top The Letters of Samuel Palmer, ed. Raymond Lister (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1974), 2:707-708.

Young, Night Thoughts, group of 24 pre-publication proofs. Described and reproduced in Grant, Rose, Tolley, and Erdman, eds., William Blake’s Designs for Edward Young’s Night Thoughts (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1980).

Two important water colors, Oberon and Titania on a Lily and The Parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins (Butlin #245, 481), remain in the possession of the Hofer family.

The death of yet another great collector, Robert H. Taylor, on 5 May 1985, led to the fulfillment of his bequest to the Princeton University Library. Works from the Taylor collection now at Princeton include the following Blakes:

Songs of Innocence copy T, hand colored.

A Descriptive Catalogue copy S, from the collection of Charles Lamb.

Three of Blake’s drawings illustrating English history: The Landing of Brutus in England, A Landing in Britain, and Sketch for “Non Angli sed Angeli” (Butlin #51, 52, 56).

A Squatted Devil with Young Horns, pencil drawing (Butlin #596).

An Archer with a Large Sword, pencil drawing from the Blake-Varley Sketchbook (Butlin #692.89-90).

Turning from gifts to actual sales, we find again some significant events. Justin Schiller of New York has added Songs of Innocence and of Experience copy H to his small but choice collection of Blake’s works which includes Songs copy BB and an impression of “Little Tom the Sailor” with hand coloring very probably by Blake. Copy H is richly color printed and is one of the most beautiful illuminated books I have ever seen. Although it contains just 17 Experience plates, the volume was probably issued by Blake in that form. What may be the original paper wrapper is still retained with it. This copy—consisting of pls. 28-33, 37-38, 40-43, 46, 47, 49, 50, and 51—may have been among the first copies of Experience completed in 1794-1795, before Blake combined it with Innocence and perhaps even before he produced pls. 39, 44, 45, 48, 52, and a. That the absence of these six plates is not due to excisions after issue is supported by the fact that the Experience section of Songs F (another early copy, still bound in contemporary calf) consists of the same group of 17 plates. Thus, copies F and H lend additional credence to the theory that Blake originally conceived of Experience as a separate volume, completed a few copies before etching some (slightly later) plates, and did not transfer what were originally Innocence plates (34-36, 53-54) to Experience until after he began issuing the two together as a single work. It now seems likely that the multiple differences among copies of the Songs indicate a structure that evolved in the course of—not prior to—acts of production over a considerable period of time. The intentionality of such a structure thereby becomes equally fluid and indeterminate.

The record of drawings sold during the year includes two small but attractive works, Waking of Leonora and Sabrina’s Silvery Flood, plus two pencil sketches of subjects not previously known (see illus. 1-3 and captions thereto for details). The period from June 1985 to Jan. 1986 included sales of some notable separate plates, the least of which was the fourth recorded impression of “Revd. Robert Hawker” (illus. 7). Except for “Chaucers Canterbury Pilgrims” and “George Cumberland’s Card,” the separate plates both designed and executed by Blake are extremely rare. Thus, it is remarkable that three such works should come on the market within a few weeks of each other: the unique impression of “Deaths Door” in white line (illus. 5); one of the four known impressions of the “Enoch” lithograph (illus. 6), which set an auction record for a print by Blake; and one of only two known impressions of the “Laocoön.” It is unlikely that we will ever see again this number of important separate plates in the marketplace.

As in 1984, an auction catalogue provided the most entertaining misrepresentation of a bit of Blakeana. In its catalogue of 23 July, Sotheby’s offered as lot 550 a copy of the first prospectus for Cromek’s edition of The Grave with Blake’s designs (illus. 8). This was trumpeted as “unique” and as “previously only known through a mention by Blake himself (in a letter to Hayley) and by a reference in Gilchrist’s biography.” When it was pointed out to Sotheby’s that another copy of the prospectus was at Princeton, and had been well known to Blake scholars since Bentley’s 1974 articles on it in the Princeton University Library Chronicle and Modern Philology, the auction house decided to make a brief announcement correcting its catalogue statements when the lot came before the block. I’m told, however, that the purchaser was bidding on the telephone, and thus may not have heard Sotheby’s demur. The bidding soared well beyond the £3000-3500 estimate (which seemed astronomical enough) and the two-leaf prospectus was knocked down for a bid of £5000 from someone listed as “Majestic” in the official price list. Who would pay such a price for a prospectus, even one with Cromek’s inscriptions? I have not been able to confirm the rumor that “Majestic” is a code-name for Charles Bronson.

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ABBREVIATIONS

BBA Bloomsbury Book Auctions, London
cat. catalogue or sales list issued by a dealer (usually followed by a number or letter designation) or auction house (followed by the day and month of sale)
CL Christie, Manson & Woods, Ltd., London
CNY Christie, Manson & Woods, New York
illus. the item or part thereof is reproduced in the catalogue
pl(s). plate(s)
SL Sotheby’s London
SNY Sotheby’s New York
st. state of an engraving, etching, or lithograph
Swann Swann Galleries, Inc., auctioneers, New York
# auction lot or catalogue item number

The year of all sales and catalogues is 1985 unless noted otherwise. Except for Swann, the auction houses listed above add their purchaser’s surcharge to the hammer price (i.e., the winning bid at auction) in their price lists. These net amounts are given here, following the official price lists in all cases. Plate numbers and copy designations for the illuminated books follow G.E. Bentley, Jr., Blake Books (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1977). “Butlin #—” refers by entry number to Martin Butlin, The Paintings and Drawings of William Blake (New Haven & London: Yale Univ. Press, 1981), 2 vols.

I am grateful to Martin Butlin, Eleanor Garvey, Donald Heald, Thomas Lange, David Vander Meulen, Patrick Noon, and Justin Schiller for their help in compiling this review.

ILLUMINATED BOOKS

Songs of Innocence, copy X, hand colored. Offered for sale by Shaunagh Fitzgerald Ltd., advertisement in Apollo, June issue, p. 120, “Infant Joy” illus. color (not priced). Bentley, Blake Books, records this copy as having 12 pls. on 6 leaves, but this advertisement records 14 pls. on 7 leaves. According to information supplied by Fitzgerald, the volume contains the following pls. in the following order, printed recto/verso: 35/36, 18/25, 16/17, 13/14, 24/27, 19/54, 23/53. The last leaf is not recorded in the list of pls. in copy X in Blake Books, p. 377.

Songs of Innocence and of Experience, copy H. 17 pls. on 17 leaves, color printed. Sold March from the collection of the Earl of Crawford and Balcarres to Justin Schiller, New York. See discussion, above.

DRAWINGS

The Death of Hector. Pencil drawing, 42.5 × 54.3 cm., c. 1821-1827. Sketch of alternative figure on verso. Butlin #451 (based on a mis-description of the subject in a sale catalogue of 1923). CL, 19 March, #104, sold “the Property of a Nobleman,” recto and verso illus. (D. Heald for R. Essick, £7560). See illus. 1 and 2.

Head of Jonathan. Pencil, 9¾ × 6⅞ in., spotted and with surface damage. Not previously recorded. CL, 9 July, #110 (Colnaghi [for a private customer?], £4428 on an estimate of £300-400). See illus. 3.

Laocoön, for Rees’s Cyclopaedia. Pencil copy, approx. 19 × 15 cm., of the classical sculpture. Butlin #679. Acquired June from the collection of Dr. and Mrs. Frederick Zimann by the Yale Center for British Art, New Haven. See illus. 4.

Sabrina’s Silvery Flood. Pencil, pen, and wash preliminary drawing for Blake’s 8th wood engraving for Thornton’s ed. of Virgil’s Pastorals, 1821. 3.3 × 9.4 cm., c. 1820. Butlin #769.8. Passed by inheritance (with Waking of Leonora—see below) in 1985 from the collection of Mr. and Mrs. Anton G. Hardy to their son, Peter Hardy, of Hingham, Mass. Purchased Sept. by Aileen Stamas of Cottage Treasures antique shop, Hingham, Mass., who offered the pair of drawings, plus a copy of vol. 1 only of Thornton’s ed. of Virgil (1821), for $25,000. Both drawings sold Sept. to Goodspeed’s Bookshop, Boston, which in the same month sold Sabrina’s Silvery Flood to the Houghton Library, Harvard University, and Waking of Leonora to Arthur Vershbow, Boston.

Waking of Leonora. Design for the tailpiece of Bürger’s Leonora. Water color, 6.7 × 12.7 cm., c. 1796. Butlin #338. Now in the collection of Arthur Vershbow, Boston; for recent history, see Sabrina’s Silvery Flood, above.

MANUSCRIPTS BY OR ABOUT BLAKE

Blake. Illuminated manuscript poem of 24 lines of rhymed couplets on the recto of a single leaf of wove paper, 22.7 × 15.4 cm., entitled “The Phoenix/ To Mrs Butts,” signed lower right “William Blake.” Acquired July 1985 by The British Library, Dept. of Western Manuscripts, Add. MS. 63583. No photo presently available. For text, attribution, and commentary, see Geoffrey Keynes, “An Unpublished Poem by William Blake,” TLS (14 Sept. 1984), 1021. Some authorities have questioned the authenticity of this work; I find the physical object itself most convincing. The illuminations in blue, red, and olive green water colors include tendrils in both margins, a soaring figure upper right seen from the back, and a flying bird further to the right. The general mood and style recall the illustrations to The Book of Thel, particularly pl. 3. The text in blue ink is written in a formal “copperplate” hand; many letters are colored over in red, orange, and olive—rather like the text coloring in The Marriage of Heaven and Hell copy H.

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1. Blake.   The Death of Hector. Pencil drawing on sheet 42.5 × 54.3 cm., c. 1821-27. Essick collection. Untraced between its mis-description as Jephthah Met by His Daughter by the London bookdealer James Tregaskis in 1923 (cat. 870) and its sale at Christie’s, 19 March 1985. Butlin #451 (entry based on the Tregaskis description), where the provenance is traced to John Flaxman.
2. Blake.   Verso of illus. 1, showing an alternative sketch for the kneeling figure lower-center in the recto design. Pencil, approx. 15.5 × 24 cm. Inscribed in pencil, not by Blake, “Jephah [sic] met by his Daughter” and “by Wm Blake” (lower left), “By Blake” (lower right). The lettering in reverse, top left, would seem to be written on the underside of the thin rice paper used to back the drawing and is not related to it.[e]
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3. Blake.   Head of Jonathan. Pencil, 24.8 × 17.5 cm. Apparently one of the “Visionary Heads” of c. 1819-1825, inscribed top left in pencil (by Varley or Linnell?), “[Jona]than the / [trimmed off] of David.” Not known until its appearance at Christie’s, 9 July 1985; not previously reproduced. Photo courtesy of Christie, Manson & Woods.
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4. Blake.   Laocoön, for Rees’s Cyclopaedia. Pencil sketch on sheet 32 × 22.8 cm., 1815, with pencil annotation by Frederick Tatham. Yale Center for British Art.
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DEATHS
              DOOR
5. Blake.   Deaths Door. White-line etching with gray (India ink?) wash, 18.6 × 11.7 cm., 1805. Essick collection. It is very difficult to represent adequately this print in a reproduction. I hope that the present attempt will prove more successful than its predecessors by indicating something of the ink texture and washes applied by hand.
[View this object in the William Blake Archive]
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Blake. Receipt signed, “of Mr. Butts six pounds six shillings for Drawings, Songs of Innocence [and of Experience copy E?], &c.,” dated 9 Sept. 1806. CL, 27 March, #146A, illus. (Rendall, £5184). The Rendalls previously acquired this receipt at SNY, 23 May 1979, #1 ($2500), and offered it in their cat. 152 of Oct. 1980, #3 ($25,000). What’s going on here?

Gerard Manley Hopkins. 3 pp. autograph letter signed to R. W. Dixon, 22 Dec. 1887. W. Thomas Taylor, May cat. 38, #34 ($4250). According to the cat., the letter includes the following comment: “I have Blake’s poems by me . . . The best are of an exquisite freshness and lyrical inspiration, but there is mingled with the good work a great deal of rubbish, want of sense, and some touches of ribaldry and wickedness. . . .”

Edward Garrard Marsh. Series of 64 autograph letters to William Hayley, 1801-1814, with references to Blake. SL, 22 July, #74 (not sold; estimate £4000-5000).

6. Blake.   Enoch. Modified lithograph, 21.7 × 31 cm., printed on light-brown paper c. 1806-1807. Photo courtesy of Sotheby’s, London.

Previously offered SL, 6 Dec. 1984, #87 (also not sold). Acquired privately, shortly after the 22 July auction, by D. Heald for R. Essick.

John Middleton Murry. Holograph manuscript of his William Blake, first published 1933. Wilder Books, May cat. 15, #455, “with extensive revision throughout. . . . Over 400 pp. . . . with a . . . contract dated Dec. 21, 1938 from the publisher Jonathan Cape concerning the publication in Life and Letter series, a signed letter from the publisher, an A. L. s. from Bonamy Dobree and a 1964 printing of the book” ($1000). The book was reissued by Cape in the Life and Letters series in 1936 and thus the contract and perhaps the revisions in the manuscript may have been made for a second edition never published. The 1964 printing by McGraw-Hill is a photo-reprint of the 1933 edition.

William Michael Rossetti. 3 pp. autograph letter signed, 14 Sept. (no year), to “Dear Sirs” about some prospective begin page 20 | back to top Blake facsimiles sent to him for his appraisal. Edward Nudelman, March cat. 8, #223 ($285).

Charles Townley. Archives of, comprising his correspondence, amounting to several thousand letters, and the papers relating to his celebrated collection of classical antiquities. SL, 23 July, #560, 13 illus. (Newman, £187,000). The archive includes letters by and references to many of Blake’s contemporaries, including Flaxman, Cosway, the book binder Thomas Edwards, Thomas Hope, C.H. Tatham, and Hayley. I have not been able to confirm rumors that the archive was acquired by the Getty Museum.

SEPARATE PLATES & PLATES IN SERIES, INCLUDING PLATES EXTRACTED FROM PRINTED BOOKS

“Christ Trampling on Satan.” SL, 7 March, #202, inscribed “To Mr. B. G. Martin with regards from E. J. S[haw],” heavy wove paper, water stained (£220).

Dante, illus. to. SL, 7 March, #200, complete on India laid on Whatman paper, probably the 1838 printing, 2 pls. slightly discolored, minor foxing, pls. 2, 3, 6 illus. (£23, 100—probably a world record).

“Deaths Door,” white-line etching with gray wash. Sold Jan. 1986 by Mrs. Lucile Johnson Rosenbloom to R. Essick. See illus. 5.

“Enoch,” modified lithograph. SL, 11 Dec., #299, on light-brown paper, from the collection of Raymond Lister, illus. black and white and in color on cover (£28,600 to “an American collector bidding on the telephone,” according to D. Heald). Apparently an auction record for a single print by Blake. See illus. 6.

Gay, Fables, pl. 6 only. Ben Abraham Books, fall cat., #38 ($30).

“Hawker, Revd. Robert.” SL, 27 June, #162, illus. (D. Heald for R. Essick, £748). See illus. 7.

Job engravings. Weston Gallery, Jan. cat. 1, #68, 1874 printing complete, pls. 6, 13, 19, 21 illus. ($9600). N.G. Stogdon, April cat. 1, #52, 1826 issue with “Proof” removed, Whatman paper, original wrappers with label, A.E. Newton’s set with his bookplate, pl. 14 illus. (not priced). Dreweatt, Waston & Barton, May(?) auction, complete “Proof” set (on French paper?), reported to have been sold for £9000 in Antiquarian Book Monthly Review, June 1985, p. 243. Weston Gallery, Nov. cat. 11, #2, 1874 printing complete, pl. 13 illus. ($11,000); #3-20, pls. 1-5, 7-12, 14-20 offered individually, all first issue “Proof” impressions, pls. 8 and 19 on laid India, the remainder on wove “French” paper, all illus. ($1190 for pl. 1, all others $1225 each).

“Laocoön, engraving. Sold Jan. 1986 by Mrs. Lucile Johnson Rosenbloom to R. Essick. After removal from the backing mat, the wove paper revealed a J. WHATMAN/ 1826 watermark.

Lavater, Essays on Physiognomy, pl. 1 only. Ben Abraham Books, fall cat., #36 ($25).

“Lavater, Rev. John Caspar,” 3rd (final) st. SL, 27 June, #160B, paper scraped, soiled, sold with 1 Blake pl. from Lavater’s Essays on Physiognomy, 3 from Hayley’s Life of Cowper, 2 from Blair’s Grave (not sold; estimate £300-400). Probably the same impression of the portrait offered SL, 14 June 1984, #198, illus. (bought-in at £250).

Stedman, Narrative, Blake’s pls. from. CL, 18 July, #267, 4 pls., some stained (not sold). Ben Abraham Books, fall cat., #39, pl. 6 only, illus. ($85).

BOOKS WITH ENGRAVINGS BY & AFTER BLAKE

Blair, Grave. Bow Windows Bookshop, Jan. cat. 100, #10, 1808 quarto, original boards with cover label, some foxing (£1200); #11, 1870 folio, rebacked (£175). Jeffrey Stern, March cat. 1, #532, 1813 “large quarto, original blind decorated gilt lettered cloth” (and thus the 1870 folio?), little spotting (£425); #533, 1813 quarto, slight wear (£140). Swann, 25 April, #134, 1808 quarto, title imprint partly trimmed ($325). Traylen, July cat. 97, #82, 1808 quarto slightly foxed (£330). Heritage Bookshop, Sept. cat. 150, #149, 1808 quarto, lacking “Last Judgment” pl., title shaved at foot, worn ($600—rather brave for a defective copy).

Blair, Grave, prospectus for, Nov. 1805, with Blake named as engraver of the designs, 3 pp. of text, the 1st with annotations by Cromek. SL, 23 July, #550, p. 1 illus. (“Majestic,” £5500). See illus. 8 and discussion above.

Boydell, Graphic Illustrations . . . of Shakspeare. SL, 16 July, #12, spotted, worn (Knill, £528).

Bryant, New System, or, an Analysis of Ancient Mythology. Daniel McDowell, June cat. 1, #570, 2nd ed. of vols. 1-2, fancy binding (£240).

Cumberland, Attempt to Describe Hafod. Lawson, June cat. 223, #88, small paper, uncut in original boards (£250). The first copy I have seen on the market in 18 years of collecting. Bentley, Blake Books, p. 541, questions the attribution to Blake of the engraved map in this book on the basis of the left-pointing serif on “g” (see Erdman, “Dating Blake’s Script: The ‘g’ Hypothesis,” Blake Newsletter, 3 [1969], 8-13). As Bentley writes, “since pl. 2-3, 5-11, 22 signed with some variant of ‘Engraved by G: C:’ in Cumberland’s Thoughts on Outline (1796) exhibit this eccentric, sinister ‘g,’ it seems likely that Cumberland too used this ‘g.’ (Otherwise, we must begin page 21 | back to top assume that Blake lettered the plates signed ‘Engraved by G: C:’.).” Bentley’s parenthetical suggestion seems a good one to me. In a letter of 1784, Cumberland noted that his “new mode of Printing” resulted in texts which “can only be read with the help of a looking Gla[ss] as the letters are reversed” (The Cumberland Letters, ed. Clementina Black [London: Secker, 1912], p. 317). In his “Hints on Various Modes of Printing from Autographs,” Cumberland complimented Blake on his ability to write backwards on copper, calling him one “who alone excels in that art” (Journal of Natural Philosophy, Chemistry, and the Arts, 28 [1811], 56). These comments suggest that Cumberland did not himself know how to etch or engrave letters in reverse—hardly a shocking deficiency in someone who was not a trained copy engraver. Thus, it seems likely that he would have asked Blake to add the lettering to plates in the Thoughts on Outline on which Cumberland had engraved the pictorial images. The forms of the scratched (probably drypoint) letters on these plates, as well as the map in the Hafod volume, are very similar to Blake’s hand on “Edward & Elenor” (1793), “Our End is come” (1st st. of “The Accusers of Theft Adultery Murder,” 1793), and “Albion rose” (2nd st., c. 1804 or later). The initial “A” in this last plate, with its odd arch to the right, is almost identical to the “A” in “A Map . . .” on the Hafod plate. The capital “G” throughout the imprints in Thoughts on Outline, formed with a descender similar to a lower case “g,” also appears in the “Albion rose” inscription. All letters on these plates are of course not exactly identical in shape, but all have the same number of strokes apparently drawn in the same directions.

Darwin, Botanic Garden. Sims, Reed & Fogg, Jan. cat. 70, #20, 3rd ed. of Part I (£285); same copy, Oct. cat. 80, #20 (£285). BBA, 17 Jan. #33, 1st ed., some browning, covers detached (Wells, £110). William Duck, March cat. 45, 4th ed. (1st octavo), 1799 (£165). Blackwell’s, April cat. A78, #259, 2nd ed. of Part I, a few tears (£225). BBA, 25 April, #262, Part I only, 3rd ed., stained and worn (not sold). Jeffrey Stern, June cat. 2, #1262, 3rd ed. of both Parts, 1795, fancy binding (£425). BBA, 10 Oct., #209, Part I only, 1st ed., rubbed and spotted (Kunkler, £66).

Flaxman, Hesiod illustrations. C.J. Sawyer, May cat. 317, inside front cover, 1818 ed., with Iliad 1805, Odyssey 1805, and Aeschylus 1831, in 4 vols. with Charles Dickens’s bookplate in the Iliad vol. and his library label in each (£1575).

Flaxman, Iliad illustrations, 1805. Philadelphia Rare Books & Manuscripts, March cat. 853, #11, with 1805 Odyssey, spotted, minor water stains ($300). Plandome Book Auctions, 21 Nov., #106, with 1805 Odyssey in 1 vol., worn, some foxing (estimate $125-175).

Gay, Fables. Bow Windows Bookshop, Jan. cat. 100, #49, some browning (£145). Quaritch, Feb. cat. 25, #65, 1st ed. ($675). Jeffrey Stern, March cat. 1, #531, “large paper,” 2 vols. bound in 1 (£285). Howes, March cat. 227, #227, 1st ed., fancy binding, uncut (£325). Book Block, April cat. 12, #98, 1st ed., original boards uncut ($1650); same copy(?), Quaritch, July cat. 31, #42a ($3000—a record?).

Hayley, Life . . . of Cowper. Howes, March cat. 227, #198, 1st ed., with supplementary vol. (£220). John Andrew, March cat. 6, #40, 2nd ed. (£275).

Hayley, Life of Romney. Heritage Bookshop, Sept. cat. 150, #239 ($400).

Hayley, Triumphs of Temper, 1803. Beeleigh Abbey Books, March cat. 39, #134, apparently small paper issue (£160). G. Stuart, April cat. 3, #112, “large copy” (i.e., large paper?), minor foxing ($395). Ximenes, June cat. 71, #27, large paper lacking half-title, contemporary binding signed Edmund Lloyd ($750). Lawson, Sept. cat. 224, #170, lacking half-title, apparently small paper (£165).

Hunter, Historical Journal, 1793 quarto. SL, 3 May, #554, title-page imprint shaved, binding repaired (Bonham, £1870); 28 July, #207, imprint shaved, Blake’s pl. illus. (Traylen, £2200—an auction record?); apparently same copy, Traylen, Dec. cat. 99, #345 (£3300). BBA, 13 Nov., #472, some spotting, rubbed (Demetzy, £1210).

Lavater, Aphorisms, 1788. Grinke & Burmester, June Cat. 2, #170, uncut (£60).

Lavater, Essays on Physiognomy. CL, 27 March, #370, 1789-98 ed. (Joseph, £432). Swann, 25 April, #365, 1789-98 ed. ($850). Jeffrey Stern, June cat. 2, #1261, 1789-98 ed. (£450). SL, 30 July, #809, worn, 1789-98 ed. (Shapero, £165). Swann, 7 Nov., #80, 1789-98 ed. ($275).

Nicholson, Introduction to Natural Philosophy, 1782. Pickering & Chatto, April cat. 657, #144 ($650).

Olivier, Fencing Familiarized. James Cummins, July private offer, uncut, lacking frontispiece ($225).

Ritson, Select Collection of English Songs. James Burmester, Nov. cat. 4, #416, fancy binding (£450).

Scott, Poetical Works. John Andrew, March cat. 6, #78, 1786 ed., lacking 1 Blake pl., binding worn (£35). Jeffrey Stern, June cat. 2, #1260, 1782 ed., fancy binding (£390). Plandome Book Auctions, 12 Sept., #320, 1795 ed., lacking 1 Blake pl. ($44).

Shakespeare, Plays, 1805. Jeffrey Stern, March cat. 1, #188, the 1805 pls. after Fuseli bound in a copy of begin page 22 | back to top Shakespeare, Plays, 1765, ed. Johnson (£425); #189, 10 vol. issue, fancy binding worn, 7 leaves in vol. 9 from another ed. (£100).

Stedman, Narrative. BBA, 28 Feb., #144, 1796 ed., pls. stained, some leaves torn and misbound, binding repaired (Ayres, £275). SL, 28 June, #364, 1796 ed. (Laggett, £550). Sims, Reed & Fogg, Oct. cat. 80,

7. Blake after John Ponsford, “Revd. Robert Hawker.”   Intaglio etching/engraving, only known state with “Proof” lower right, 1820. Image 35.1 × 27.7 cm. on wove sheet 46.7 × 34.2 cm. Essick collection. This impression was not known until its sale by an anonymous owner at Sotheby’s, 27 June 1985.
#21, 1813 ed., “Flagellation of a . . . Slave” illus. (£750). SNY, 21 Nov., #91, 1813 ed., hand colored, few tears and browning, 1 pl. (not by Blake) illus. (not sold). Traylen, Dec. cat. 99, #200, 1796 ed., rebacked (£750); #201, 1796 ed., rebacked (£695).

Varley, Zodiacal Physiognomy. W. & V. Dailey, March private offer, pls. stained, 2 pls. shaved with slight loss begin page 23 | back to top of parts of inscriptions (approx. $1500); same copy, Quaritch, July cat. 31, #9 ($3000). Only the 3rd copy I’ve seen on the market in the last 18 years. Quaritch also reported in Aug. that it had yet another copy, stitched, uncut ($3000).

Virgil, Eclogues, ed. Thornton. Weston Gallery, Nov. cat. 11, #1, vol. 1 only, presentation inscription from Harrison, one of the publishers, to Mary Stovell Falkener, 1828, 12 cuts illus. ($4760). See also Sabrina’s Silvery Flood under DRAWINGS, above.

Whitaker, Seraph, 1st ed. Edward Nudelman, March cat. 8, #279, vol. 2 only ($150). Bentley, Blake Books, p. 632, records an inscription below the imprint reading “Ent. Sta. Hall. Price

L S D
I. II. 6
each Vol.” I have seen 4 impressions of this 1st st. of the engraved title-page; all read “Ent. Sta. Hall.” below the imprint and to the left, and “Price.
L S D
1. 1. O
in Boards.” below and to the right. In the 2nd st., the latter inscription is removed.

Wollstonecraft, Original Stories, 1791. Johnson Rare Books, March private offer, Stopford Brooke’s copy with the pls. in 2 sts. (£750). Marlborough Rare Books, May cat. 111, #157 (“sold”). SL, 21 June, #538, 1 pl. illus. (Taylor, £770).

Young, Night Thoughts, uncolored. Phillip Pirages, April cat. 9, #133, lacking Explanation leaf, top edge gilt, others uncut, 41 × 32.5 cm., title to Night the Third illus. ($3500). Heritage Bookshop, Sept. cat. 150, #148, lacking Explanation leaf, but with “all the imprints, . . . paper browned and brittle with a few tears” ($3500).

BLAKE’S CIRCLE & FOLLOWERS

Works are listed under artists’ names in the following order: untitled paintings and drawings sold in groups, single paintings and drawings, letters and manuscripts, separate plates, books with plates by or after the artist.

BARRY, JAMES

“King Lear,” lithograph. SL, 7 March, #244, with original aquatint border, illus. (£5940 to a private collector; very probably a record—the estimate was only £500-800); 27 June, #159, with original aquatint border, illus. (Heald, £2750); 11 Dec., #294, without border, minor creasing (£1100).

BASIRE, JAMES

“Le Champ de Drap d’Or,” after F. Edwards, and “The Embarkation of King Henry VIII at Dover,” after S.H. Grimm. Etchings/engravings, each 66.5 × 123 cm. CL, 18 July, #107, both slightly stained, “Le Champ” illus. (£594).

CALVERT, EDWARD

Girl with a Staff, probably a Shepherdess. Oil, 7 × 3⅛ in. CL, 19 Nov., #5, illus. (£594).

Greek Brigantine at Anchor. Oil, 20 × 21.5 cm. SL, 30 Jan., #92, illus. (not sold).

Iasius the Old Arcadian. Oil, 15 × 24 cm. SL, 21 Nov., #71, illus. (£3960).

“Bride,” engraving. Weston Gallery, Nov. cat. 11, #41, from the Memoir, illus. ($1680).

“Brook,” wood engraving. Weston Gallery, Nov. cat. 11, #43, from the Memoir, illus. ($875).

“Cyder Feast,” wood engraving. Weston Gallery, Nov. cat. 11, #40, from the Memoir, illus. ($1400).

“Lady with the Rooks,” wood engraving. Weston Gallery, Nov. cat. 11, #44, from the Memoir, illus. ($875).

“Ploughman,” wood engraving. Weston Gallery, Nov. cat. 11, #39, from the Memoir, illus. ($1400).

“Return Home,” wood engraving. Weston Gallery, Nov. cat. 11, #45, impression on pale cream wove paper before the Memoir printing and with traces of the inscription below the image, illus. ($1225); #46, from the Memoir ($875).

“Sheep of His Pasture,” engraving. Weston Gallery, Nov. cat. 11, #42, from the Memoir, illus. ($1190).

FLAXMAN, JOHN

Augustus William Hare, aged 22 Months, with his Nurse Maria. Pencil and brown wash, 12¾ × 9⅝ in., inscribed and dated “Sepr. 1794” on mount. CL, 9 July, #111 (£1080).

Francis George Hare as a Boy. Pencil, 13 × 10⅛ in., inscribed and dated “July 1792” on mount. CL, 9 July, #112 (£378).

Scholar, Cleric, and Soldier: Three Boys Inscribing a Monument. Pencil, pen, brown wash, 6¼ × 4⅞ in. CL, 19 Nov., #30, illus. (£1404).

Youthful Orestes Taken from his Native Country. Pencil, pen, gray wash illus. to Sophocles’ Electra, 5 × 3⅜ in. CL, 19 Nov., #31 (£345).

George IV wine-cooler in silver by Philip Rundell after a design possibly by Flaxman, 1820, 52 cm. high. CL, auction of “Important Gold and Silver and Objects of Vertu,” 27 March, #124, illus. (£135,000).

Denham family collection, including 4 letters from Flaxman, 1 with references to Fuseli, and 2 pen and ink figures attributed to Flaxman. Bow Windows Bookshop, April cat. 102, p. 1 (£750).

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Aeschylus illustrations, 1831. Sims, Reed & Fogg, Oct. cat. 80, #97, binding rubbed (£45).

Anatomical Studies, 1833. Daniel McDowell, June cat. 1, #169, spotted, original cloth with label, rebacked (£58).

Dante illustrations, 1807. Plandome Book Auctions, 21 Nov., #105, worn, marginal staining (estimate $125-175).

Flaxman, Lectures on Sculpture, 2nd ed., 1838. R. Clark, March cat. 2, #59 (£65). Michael Bennett, March cat. 48, #140 (£38). Sanders, Aug. cat. 109, #46 (£90). Marlborough Rare Books, Oct. cat. 113, #247 (£100).

Odyssey illustrations, 1805. Swann, 6 June, #110, foxed ($70).

FUSELI, HENRY

Cleopatra Receiving the Asp. Pencil, pen, gray wash, 21.5 × 30.5 cm., c. 1805-10. SL, 11 July, #103, illus. (not sold).

Creation of Eve. Oil, 126.9 × 101.6 cm., c. 1795. CL, 22 Nov., #75, illus. color (£75,600; estimate £30,000-50,000).

Head of a Woman (recto); Abduction (verso). Pencil, gray wash on recto, 24.8 × 19.9 cm. CNY, 24 May, #345, both illus. ($3300).

Head of a Woman, possibly Lavinia de Irujo. Pencil, 20.5 × 14 cm. SL, 14 March, #60, illus. (£2640).

Lady’s Maids Discovered (recto), Woman Astride a Man (verso). Pencil, pen, washes, 10½ × 7 in. CL, 19 Nov., #32, both illus., recto in color (£20,520; estimate only £8000-12,000).

Odysseus Addressing the Shadow of Ajax in Tartarus. Oil, 90.2 × 69.8 cm. CL, 22 Nov., #74, illus. color (£70,200).

Orestes Following the Murder of Clytemnestra and Aegisthus. Black and white chalk, 36.8 × 45.8 cm. Richard Feigen & Co., advertisement in Burlington Magazine, Sept. 1985, p. iv (not priced).

Portrait of a Woman, probably Mrs. Fuseli. Black chalk heightened with white, 31.8 × 30.7 cm. CL, 9 July, #99, illus. color (£113,400). See illus. 9.

Portrait of the Artist’s Wife. Oil, oval, 74 × 63 cm. SL, 20 Nov., #59, illus. color (not sold).

Study of Mrs. Fuseli, Wearing an Elaborate Head Dress. Pencil, pen, gray wash; anatomical pencil sketch on verso, 21.5 × 13.5 cm., c. 1792. SL, 11 July, #102, illus. (not sold).

Venus and Cupid, Inspired by Cambiaso. Pencil, pen, 8¼ × 9 in., inscribed and dated “Septr 99.” CL, 19 Nov., #33, illus. (£8100; estimate £4000-6000).

Woman in Chains and Another Figure. Recto and verso, pencil, pen, 19¼ × 11½ in. CL, 19 Nov., #32A, recto illus. (£16,200; an extraordinary price for a rough sketch estimated at only £3000-5000).

Young Woman. Recto and verso, pencil, 31.7 × 19 cm., watermark 1812. CNY, 24 May, #344, recto and verso illus. ($8800).

“Beatrice, Hero, and Ursula,” mezzotint by J. Jones, 1791. CL, 5 Nov., #28, 1st st., stained, illus. (not sold).

“Woman Sitting by a Window” (“O Evening thou Bringest All”), lithograph. Weston Gallery, Jan. cat. 1, #30, 1st st., illus. ($1440). SL, 7 March, #242, 2nd st. with original aquatint border, slight foxing, illus. (£5610; probably a record—the estimate was £500-800).

Bible, Macklin’s ed., 1800. Howes, Oct. cat. 229, #59, 6 vols., fine contemporary binding (£480).

Bonnycastle, Introduction to Astronomy, 5th ed., 1807. Daniel McDowell, June cat. 1, #145 (£60).

Boothby, Sorrows Sacred to . . . Penelope, 1796. Marlborough Rare Books, Oct. cat. 113, #36, fancy binding (£1500).

Boydell, Collection of Prints . . . for . . . Shakspeare. CL, 5 Nov., #59, 91 pls., some damage (£756).

Gray, Poems, 1800. Blackwell’s, April cat. A77, #93, lacking half-title, fancy binding (£75).

Milton, Poetical Works, 1852. Grinke & Burmester, June cat. 2, #202, original cloth (£40).

Pope, Poetical Works, 1804. Howes, March cat. 227, #314, 6 vols. in 3, large paper, fine contemporary binding (£200).

Pope, Rape of the Lock, 1798. Marlborough Rare Books, April cat. 110, #54 (£125).

Theophilus Swift, Temple of Folly, London, J. Johnson, 1787. Stuart Bennett, Nov. cat. 10, #159, modern binding, frontis. illus. (£185 to Monash Univ., Australia). The volume contains as a frontispiece Fuseli’s etching of “Fortuna” (see Schiff #844), previously known only as separate impressions in the British Museum and the Yale Center for British Art.

Thomson, The Seasons, 1802. Howes, March cat. 227, #361, pls. foxed (£65).

Winckelmann, Reflections on Painting . . . of the Greeks, trans. Fuseli, 1765. Marlborough Rare Books, Oct. cat. 113, #135 (£175).

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8. First prospectus of November 1805 for R. H. Cromek’s edition of Robert Blair’s The Grave.   First page of the three page prospectus, with presentation inscription by Cromek. “AND TO BE ENGRAVED” struck through by Cromek, who has added “and to be engraved by L. Schiavonetti.” According to Donald Heald, who inspected the prospectus prior to its sale on 23 July 1985, it contains no further annotations. Photo courtesy of Sotheby’s, London.
begin page 26 | back to top

Young, Catalogue of Pictures by British Artists in the Possession of Sir John Fleming Leicester, 1821. Fine Art Catalogues, Oct. cat. 51, #27 (£45).

Young, Catalogue of the . . . Collection of . . . John Julius Angerstein, 1823. Fine Art Catalogues, Oct. cat. 51, #1 (£60).

LINNELL, JOHN

Bayswater: Corn Harvest. Water color, signed and dated “1811 or 1814,” 4 × 5¾ in. CL, 19 Nov., #81, illus. color (£5940; estimate only £800-1200).

Death of Absolom. Oil sketch, signed and dated 1815, 24.1 × 38.1 cm. CL, 18 Oct., #216, illus. (not sold).

Gleaners’ Return. Oil, signed and dated 1855-7, 33 × 45.5 cm. SL, 13 March, #99, illus. color (withdrawn before the sale).

Gravel Pits. Water color, signed and dated [18]16, 4⅛ × 5⅝ in. CL, 19 Nov., #86 (£1728).

Herdsman and other Figures with Cattle in a Landscape. Water color, signed “J Linnell 1861,” 16.5 × 26.5 cm. SL, 14 March, #221, illus. (£935).

Hoppers—Evening. Oil, signed and dated 1849, 39 × 52 cm. SL, 17 July, #597, illus. (not sold).

Hyde Park. Water color, signed and dated 1814, 4⅛ × 5⅝ in. CL, 19 Nov., #85, illus. (£3456; estimate only £400-600).

Lane by Alpha Cottages. Water color, signed and dated 1814, 5¾ × 4⅛ in. CL, 19 Nov., #82, illus. (£2808).

Old Lady Gathering Faggots. Oil, signed and dated 1828, 19.7 × 24.8 cm. CL, 18 Oct., #67, illus. (£648).

On the Thames, Looking East from beneath Old Battersea Bridge. Water color, 11½ × 8¾ in., signed. Andrew Wyld, May cat. (not priced).

Opening the Gate. Oil, signed and dated 1849, 69 × 90 cm. SL, 13 March, #100, illus. color (withdrawn before the sale).

Portrait of a Gentleman, Thought to be Charles Aders. Oil, signed and dated 1833, 36.9 × 29.3 cm. CL, 26 April, #105, illus. color (£1296). See illus. 10.

Portrait of James Cooper, attributed to Linnell. Oil, 25.4 × 19.7 cm. CL, 26 April, #104, illus. color (not sold); 18 Oct., #158, illus. (£810).

Portrait of Thomas Cadby. Oil, signed and dated 1820, 28 × 22.2 cm. CL, 26 April, #103, illus. color (£2808).

Regent’s Park. Water color, signed and dated 1814, 4⅛ × 5¾ in. CL, 19 Nov., #84, illus. (£5616; estimate only £500-700).

Study of Woodland. Pencil and white on blue paper, signed, 13 × 17.5 cm. SL, 11 July, #110 (not sold).

Sunset over a Line of Trees. Water color, signed and dated 1812, 3⅞ × 5⅝ in., with a small sky study. CL, 19 Nov., #88 (£864).

Tatham’s Garden, Alpha Road, at Evening. Water color, signed and dated 1812, 3⅞ × 4¾ in. CL, 19 Nov., #83, illus. (£1188).

Windsor Forest. Oil, signed and dated 1827, 50.8 × 76.2 cm. CNY, 24 May, #263, illus. color ($27,500—an auction record for a work by Linnell?).

Winkfield Plain at Sunset. Water color, signed and dated 1815, 5 × 7⅜ in. CL, 19 Nov., #87, illus. (£4104; estimate only £500-700).

Young Harvester. Oil, 19 × 14.6 cm., signed. CL, 3 May, #31, illus. (£3240).

MORTIMER, JOHN HAMILTON

Folio of 6 figure drawings, pen, various sizes. SL, 21 Nov., #8, illus. (not sold).

Philosopher. Pen, 28 × 22 cm. SL, 21 Nov., #9, illus. (£1650).

Rustick Dance, after Mortimer. Oil, 38 × 43 cm. SL, 30 Jan., #93, illus. (£330).

War Instigated by the Demon of Discord and Restrained by the Virtues. Gray wash, red chalk; oval, 24.5 × 21.5 cm. SL, 11 July, #106, illus. (not sold).

“Musical Monster,” etching. Weston Gallery, Jan. 85 cat. 1, #20, illus. ($150).

“Pilgrims” and “Banditti,” pair of etchings by Haynes. Weston Gallery, Jan. 85 cat. 1, #22, illus. ($120).

“Sailing Ferry in a Storm,” etching by Blyth. Weston Gallery, Jan 85 cat. 1, #21, illus. ($78).

“Tragedy,” etching. Weston Gallery, Jan. 85 cat. 1, #19, illus. ($120).

PALMER, HANNA

Job Offering up Sacrifices for his Children, by Palmer and John Linnell. Oil, 56.5 × 76.2 cm. CL, 26 July, #290, illus. (not sold). The image bears no compositional similarity to Blake’s Job designs.

PALMER, SAMUEL

Abinger, Surrey. Water color, 3⅛ × 7⅛ in. CL, 19 Nov., #265, illus. color (not sold).

Crossing the Brook. Water color, 14¾ × 19¾ in., exhibited 1877. Martyn Gregory, Feb. cat. 39, #105, begin page 27 | back to top illus. color (price “on request”).

Farm near Princes Risborough, Buckinghamshire. Water color, 14 × 18 in., c. 1845. Advertised by Spink & Son, Country Life, 25 April 1985, p. 54, illus. color.

Piper, Shepherd Boy and Cattle at Sunset. Water color and body color, 51.5 × 72.5 cm., c. 1860-64. SL, 11 July, #165, illus. color (£44,000).

Road Past a House and Trees and Landscape with Trees Against the Setting Sun. 2 water colors in 1 frame, 2¾ × 5 in. and smaller. CL, 19 Nov., #207, both illus. (£3240).

Sunset: A Labourer and Cattle Fording a Stream, a Ruined Castle on a Hill Beyond. Water color, signed, 19 × 27 in. CL, 19 Nov., #97, illus. color (£10,800; rather disappointing, given an estimate of £12,000-16,000).

Sunset over the Sea Seen from a Shoreline with Trees. Water color, 5 × 7¼ in. CL, 19 Nov., #263, illus. color (£4860).

Treeline. Water color, 2⅞ × 6½ in. CL, 19 Nov., #264, illus. (not sold).

“Bellman,” etching. Weston Gallery, Nov. cat. 11, #32, A. H. Palmer printing of 6th st., illus. ($5600). SL, 11 Dec., #304, 7th st., 1926 printing, illus. (£1100).

“Christmas,” etching. Weston Gallery, Nov. cat. 11, #26, 4th st., proof printing, illus. ($1190); #27, 4th st., publication printing ($700).

“Cypress Grove,” etching. Weston Gallery, Nov. cat. 11, #36, 2nd st., illus. ($250).

“Early Ploughman,” etching. SL, 7 March, #215, 6th st., “Etched by Samuel Palmer” inscribed in pencil (not sold). Weston Gallery, Nov. cat. 11, #29, 5th st., illus. ($1190). CL, 5 Nov., #104, 4th st., pencil signature (£324).

“Herdsman’s Cottage,” etching. Sims, Reed & Fogg, Jan. cat. 70, #91, bound in P.G. Hamerton, Etchings & Etchers, 1880 (£400). SL, 7 March, #212, 2nd st., slight foxing (£143). Craddock & Barnard, summer cat. 150, #226, 2nd st. (£190). Weston Gallery, Nov. cat. 11, #24, proof before st. 1, illus. ($2100); #25, 2nd st. ($420). CNY, 12 Sept., #469, 2nd st., with “Sleeping Shepherd,” 4th st. ($440).

“Homeward Star,” etching. Weston Gallery, Nov. cat. 11, #35, 2nd st., illus. ($350).

“Lonely Tower,” etching. SL, 11 Dec., #305, 6th st. (£2145).

“Moeris & Galatea,” etching. Craddock & Barnard, summer cat. 150, #231, 2nd st. (£140). Weston Gallery, Nov. cat. 11, #38, 2nd st., illus. ($170).

“Morning of Life,” etching. Weston Gallery, Nov. cat. 11, #31, 7th st., illus. ($420).

“Opening the Fold,” etching. SL, 7 March, #216, with “Homeward Star,” “Cypress Grove,” “Sepulchre,” and “Moeris & Galatea,” all from 2nd ed. of Eclogues of Virgil, 1884 (£308). CL, 25 April, #696, 10th st., 1926 printing, minor spotting (£140). Craddock & Barnard, summer cat. 150, #228, 10th st., 1926 printing (£420); #229, 6th st. (£170). Weston Gallery, Nov. cat. 11, #33, 5th st., pencil signature, illus. ($1400); #34, 8th st. ($630).

“Rising Moon,” etching. SL, 11 Dec., #302, 2 impressions, between 6th and 7th sts. and published st. (£990).

“Sepulchre,” etching. Craddock & Barnard, summer cat. 150, #230, 2nd st. (£110). Weston Gallery, Nov. cat. 11, #37, 2nd st., illus. ($250).

“Skylark,” etching. Weston Gallery, Nov. cat. 11, #22, proof before st. 7, illus. ($2100); #23, 7th st. ($700).

“Sleeping Shepherd,” etching. CL, 5 Nov., #103, 3rd st., minor staining (£302).

“Vine,” etching. Weston Gallery, Nov. cat. 11, #30, 4th st., large paper issue, illus. ($280).

“Weary Ploughman,” etching. SL, 7 March, #213, 8th st., slight foxing (not sold); #214, 8th st., slight staining (£308). Craddock & Barnard, summer cat. 150, 8th st. on laid India (£375). Weston Gallery, Nov. cat. 11, #28, 8th st. on laid India, illus. ($560). CL, 5 Nov., #105, 2nd st., inscribed in pencil “first proving July 3d 1858,” slight foxing, illus. (£3780).

“Willow,” etching. Craddock & Barnard, summer cat. 150, #225, 2nd st. (£220). Weston Gallery, Nov. cat. 11, #21, 2nd st., illus. ($490).

Dickens, Pictures from Italy, 1846. Claude Cox, Nov. cat. 51, #126, rebound (£50).

Palmer, A. H., Life and Letters of S. Palmer, 1892. SL, 20 June, #363, large paper issue, blue half morocco (Swales, £132). Blackwell’s, Nov. cat., #54, rubbed (£220).

Virgil, English Version of the Ecloques, 1883. SL, 20 June, #362, large paper, original vellum (Blackwell’s, £121).

PARKER, JAMES

“The Pulse,” engraving after Northcote illustrating Sterne’s Sentimental Journey, 1785. Colnaghi’s, June cat. of “Master Prints,” #127, printed in sepia, illus. ($375).

RICHMOND, GEORGE (excluding later portraits)

7 drawings, 1 colored, including “Three Fisherwomen,” “Moses,” “Beelzebub,” “Woman Gathering Firewood.” begin page 28 | back to top

9. John Henry Fuseli.   Portrait of a Woman, probably Mrs. Fuseli. Black chalk heightened with white, 31.8 × 30.7 cm. According to Christie’s International Magazine (Aug.-Sept. 1985), 26, the price of £113,400 fetched by this drawing on 9 July 1985 is a “record auction price for an English Drawing.” The gradual metamorphosis of Fuseli’s images of his wife from pretty young girl to domineering virago offers an interesting analogue to the range of female types in Blake’s poetry. Photo courtesy of Christie, Manson & Woods.
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10. John Linnell.   Portrait of a Gentleman, Thought to be Charles Aders. Oil, 36.9 × 29.3 cm., dated 1833. Mr. and Mrs. Aders befriended Linnell and Blake in the last few years of the latter’s life. Both artists attended the Aders’s dinner parties in the company of luminaries such as Sir Thomas Lawrence, Flaxman, Coleridge, and Henry Crabb Robinson. Late in 1825, Mrs. Aders acquired from Blake the splendidly hand-colored copy AA of Songs of Innocence and of Experience. Photo courtesy of Christie, Manson & Woods.
begin page 30 | back to top 10⅞ × 7½ in. & smaller. CL, 9 July, #14 (£302).

Isaac Meditating in the Fields. Oil, 51 × 30.5 cm. SL, 30 Jan., #94, illus. (£1430).

Pilgrim. Tempera, 35.5 × 21.5 cm., dated 1854-5 on verso. SL, 30 Jan., #96 (£220).

Rape of Proserpine. Oil, 66.5 × 98 cm. SL, 30 Jan., #97, illus. (£1430).

Samson Carrying the Gates of Gaza (recto); Male Nude (verso). Pencil, pen, the recto squared for copying and/or engraving. Dated Jan. 1827, 6½ × 4¾ in. CL, 19 March, #35, illus. (£302).

Seated Figure of Bathsheba. Pen, gray wash, 11¾ × 7⅞ in. CL, 9 July, #15 (not sold).

Seated Male Nude (recto); Fisherman (verso). Pencil, pen, water color on verso, 5⅜ × 6⅜ in., c. 1828. CL, 19 March, #37 (not sold).

Standing Male Figure (recto); Female Figure (verso). Pencil, pen, 6¼ × 4⅝ in. CL, 19 March, #36 (not sold).

St. John on the Isle of Patmos. Oil. 47.5 × 99 cm. SL, 30 Jan., #95, illus. (£1760).

“Shepherd,” engraving. SL, 7 March, #218, 2nd st. on laid India, some foxing, illus. (£2310).

ROMNEY, GEORGE (excluding portrait paintings)

Folio of 8 sheets of figure studies, pencil and pen, 24 × 14 cm., including studies for Howard Visiting a Lazaretto and Fall of the Rebel Angels. SL, 11 July, #6, 1 p. illus. (not sold).

2 folios of figure studies, 6 and 8 pp., pencil and pen, 15 × 20 cm. & 19.5 × 16 cm. SL, 14 March, #7 & 8, 1 p. in latter illus. (neither sold).

Apollo Sending the Plague. Pencil, pen, wash, 14½ × 8 in. CL, 19 Nov., #235 (£1188).

Charon Ferrying Psyche across the Styx. Pencil, pen, 11⅞ × 10¼ in. CL, 19 Nov., #233, illus. (£3780; estimate only £700-1000).

Fall of the Rebel Angels. Pencil, pen, gray wash, 14⅜ × 12⅜ in., c. 1794. CL, 19 Nov., #100, illus. (£1728).

Il Penseroso, or Melancholy, a personification of. Oil, 236.1 × 143.5 cm. CL, 19 July, #96, illus. color (not sold; estimate £30,000-40,000). The pendant, L’Allegro or Mirth, was sold CL, 13 July 1984, #122.

Study of the Infant Shakespeare. Pencil, pen, 4⅜ × 7¼ in. CL, 19 Nov., #234 (£486).

Woman Reclining in a Landscape. Pencil and gray and black wash, 14⅜ × 19 in. CL, 9 July, #108, illus. (£2052).

SHERMAN, WELBY

“Bacchante,” wood engraving after Calvert. Weston Gallery, Nov. cat. 11, #47, from the Carfax portfolio, illus. ($280).

STOTHARD, THOMAS

Birth of Venus. Oil, 30.5 × 37 cm. SL, 17 July, #574, illus. (£352).

Chinese Figures. 3 in 1 mount, each signed, water color, each approx. 22 × 16 cm. SL, 11 July, #244, 1 illus. (£396).

Gathering in the Vintage. Oil, 21.5 × 15 cm., similar to one of Stothard’s illus. to Rogers’s Pleasures of Memory. SL, 22 May, #226 (£55).

Love’s Labour [sic] Lost, Act V, Scene 2. Oil, oval, 26.2 × 31.8 cm. CL, 1 March, #154, illus. (£518).

Portrait of a Boy. Oil, 142.2 × 114.3 cm. CL, 22 Nov., #114A, illus. color (£6480; estimate only £2000-3000).

Portrait of Lawrence Sterne: Design for a Title-Page. Water color, 6⅜ × 4¼ in. CL, 19 Nov., #113 (£183).

Soldier’s Farewell. Oil, 12.7 × 9.5 cm. CL, 3 May, #85, illus. (£378).

Twelfth Night, Act II, Scene 3. Oil, oval, 26.2 × 31.8 cm. CL, 1 March, #155, illus. (£594).

“Chaucer’s Canterbury Pilgrims,” engraved by Schiavonetti and Heath, 34.3 × 96.6 cm. CL, 5 March, #101, “open letter proof before alteration to title and addition of the coat of arms and key” (£410).

“Lost Apple,” lithograph. Weston Gallery, Jan. cat. 1, #36, proof before title and some shading, illus. ($960). SL, 11 Dec., #303, 3rd st., some staining (not sold).

Bijou, 1828. Thorp, Sept. cat. 453, #63 (£22).

Bonnycastle, Introduction to Mensuration, 1812. Claude Cox, Nov. cat. 51, #33 (£20).

Bray, Life of Stothard, extra-illus. copies only. Thorp, June cat. 452, #405, with 147 added pls., 2 water colors, 8 sketches (£420).

Burns, Works, 1820 (with 1814 pls. by Cromek). Sanders, Aug. cat. 109, #136, with Reliques of Burns, ed. Cromek, 1817 (£60).

Defoe, Robinson Crusoe, 1804. Thorp, April cat. 451, #102, large paper, fancy binding (£350).

Gessner, Death of Abel, 1799. Claude Cox, Jan. cat. 46, #178, original boards rebacked (£35); another copy, July cat. 49, #173, pls. spotted (£30).

Hayley, Triumphs of Temper. Swann, 14 Feb., #92, 1801 begin page 31 | back to top ed., with a fore-edge painting ($225). Deighton Bell, Sept. cat. 232, #219, 1799 ed. (£35).

Johnson, Rasselas, 1796. Howes, March cat. 227, #264 (£35).

Milton, Comus, L’Allegro, and Il Penseroso, 1799. Blackwell’s, April cat. A77, #129, original boards (£30).

Rogers, Italy. Bow Windows Bookshop, Jan. cat. 100, #103, 1838 ed. (£95). Beeleigh Abbey Books, March cat. 39, #270, 1838 ed., some foxing (£50). R. & L. Wilbur, April cat. 160, #101, 1835 ed., binding damaged ($40). Phillip Pirages, April cat. 9, #300, 1830 ed., with Rogers, Poems, 1834, both in fancy bindings ($190). Blackwell’s, April cat. A77, #249, 1838 ed., large paper, with Rogers, Poems, 1838, large paper, both with slight foxing (£195). Claude Cox, May cat. 48, #188, with Rogers, Poems, both 1839 eds. (£30). These 1839 vols. are Moxon reprints with the Clennell wood engravings rather than the steel engravings used in other Moxon eds. SL, 18 April, #550, 1830 ed. with Poems, 1834, fancy bindings (Thorp, £93). W.P. Wreden, Nov. cat. 67, #122, 1830 ed., worn ($75). Robert Clark, Dec. cat. 4, #257, 1830 ed. (£24).

Rogers, Pleasures of Memory, 1810. Marlborough Rare Books, Oct. cat. 113, #50, fancy binding (£300; perhaps a record).

Rogers, Poems. Howes, March cat. 227, #906, 1852 ed., inscribed by the author to Mary Rogers, fancy binding (£50). W.P. Wreden, Nov. cat. 67, #123, 1834 ed., worn ($75). Claude Cox, Nov. cat. 51, #98, 1822 ed. (£12). Ximenes, Dec. cat. 73, #593, 1812 ed. uncut ($30).

Rogers, Poetical Works, 1869. Howes, March cat. 227, #908, fancy binding (£75).

Sterne, Sentimental Journey, 1792. Swann, 11 April, #317, large paper ($40).

Walton, Complete Angler. Thorp, April cat. 451, #407, 1836 Pickering ed., 2 vols., large paper, fancy bindings (£300).

Young, Night Thoughts, 1798. Claude Cox, July cat. 49, #194, pls. browned in margins (£35).

Young, Works, 1813. Howes, March cat. 227, #390, some foxing (£48).

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