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BLAKE COSTS!
Robert N. Essick reports that the sale of works by Blake from the Doheny Library at Christie’s New York, 21 February 1989, established new records for an illuminated book and a water color. Songs of Innocence copy N sold for $330,000 (including 10% buyer’s premium) to the London dealer Libby Howie acting for an American private collector. The Infant Jesus Saying His Prayers, a water color of c. 1805 (Butlin #473), fetched the remarkable sum of $352,000 from a bidder on the telephone. Blake’s letter of 2 July 1826 to John Linnell sold for $22,000 to another anonymous purchaser. Details and reproductions will appear in Essick’s review of 1989 sales (summer 1990 issue).