ARTICLES
Blake in the Marketplace, 2008
A STEADY STREAM of significant works by Blake and his circle continued to flow through the marketplace in 2008. A clipping of the design only from the second plate of “Spring” (Songs of Innocence pl. 23) changed hands twice. A tempera painting, The Flight into Egypt (illus. 4), three drawings, and Blake’s rare “Enoch” lithograph made their way through the auction rooms. Two watercolors, a pencil sketch (one of the auctioned drawings), a monochrome wash drawing, and a manuscript were offered by dealers. Only the lithograph attracted much interest, as described below. The poor condition of The Flight into Egypt, typical of Blake’s early temperas, and multiple layers of restoration undermined its chances at auction. John Windle, acting on my behalf, was probably the only bidder. The painting, with an estimate of £100,000-200,000, achieved £95,000 (£115,250 with the buyer’s premium), presumably against the reserve. To put this price in proper perspective, the lot immediately preceding, Jean-Antoine Watteau’s La Surprise, a painting about the same size as Blake’s, fetched £12,361,250 on an estimate of £3-5 million.
Libby Howie, the London art dealer who in 2002 acquired nineteen of Blake’s watercolors illustrating Robert Blair’s The Grave on behalf of Marburg Ltd., told Windle on 1 May that The Gambols of Ghosts According with Their Affections Previous to the Final Judgment, one of the designs that had failed to sell at auction in New York on 2 May 2006, was “no longer available.”1↤ 1. In “Blake in the Marketplace, 2005,” Blake 39.4 (spring 2006): 154, I reported that Howie had sold the Grave watercolors to “Marburg BVI, a Swiss corporation,” in February 2005. I now think it probable that Marburg was Howie’s financial backer, and the legal owner of the designs, since their sale in 2002. The private investor(s) represented by Marburg remain unknown to me. For the 2 May 2006 auction at SNY, see E. B. Bentley, “Grave Indignities: Greed, Hucksterism, and Oblivion: Blake’s Watercolors for Blair’s Grave,” Blake 40.2 (fall 2006): 66-71; and Blake 40.4 (spring 2007): 116-17, 120-26. I assume that this means it has been sold, probably to a private collector. I acquired another of the Grave watercolors from the unsold group, The Death of the Good Old Man, in June (illus. 1-2). Marburg, headquartered in Tortola, British Virgin Islands, retains legal title to three of the Grave watercolors: Whilst Surfeited upon Thy Damask Cheek, The Descent of Man into the Vale of Death, and The Counseller, King, Warrior, Mother and Child, in the Tomb. These remain in London with Howie under “bond”—meaning that they are physically in Britain but have not been officially imported into the country after their attempted sale in New York. This means that an external purchaser does not need to go through the UK’s fine-arts export procedure, with its potential for a temporary hold and a matching offer from a British resident or institution. Color reproductions of the Grave watercolors are available in the William Blake Archive <http://www.blakearchive.org>.
Windle, in association with Henry Sotheran Ltd., offered a selling exhibition of Blake materials at Sotheran’s handsome bookshop on Sackville Street, London, in June. The opening on 3 June included a presentation by the novelist Tracy Chevalier. The catalogue, William Blake: An Exhibition of Prints, Books and Facsimiles, appeared online and in letterpress, with all entries illustrated (at least in part) in color in both versions. Some of the items on offer had appeared in Windle’s earlier catalogues, but all the original works are listed below under the designation “Windle/Sotheran” for the sake of completeness. Highlights included a pencil sketch, Paolo and Francesca, and the impression of the design from the second plate of “Spring.”
Larkhall Fine Art of Bath held a selling exhibition from 11 July to 13 September entitled Samuel Palmer: His Friends and His Influence. No catalogue was issued; only a bare-bones list of prints without prices appeared on Larkhall’s web site <http://www.larkhall.com>. The works on display are briefly noted in the lists below.
In mid-October Windle acquired for stock the Blake reference library assembled by Roger and Kay Easson that at one time belonged to the American Blake Foundation. The most important work, now in the Victoria University Library, was a copy of Bray’s Life of Stothard extra-illustrated and extended to ten volumes quarto. A small group of Blake’s commercial book illustrations, removed from their bibliographic contexts, came from the same source. Windle intends to issue a sale catalogue of the collection in 2009.
On 15 October Windle received a letter from Richard Lloyd, head of the print department at Christie’s London. Lloyd stated that he would offer at auction “a rare Blake” on 2 December, invited Windle to view this treasure on display in New York in late October, and did not identify the object further. Windle called Christie’s on 16 October and learned from Lloyd that his letter was referring to the impression of the “Enoch” lithograph in Raymond Lister’s collection from 1972 to 1985. Interest in this print extends beyond the small band of major Blake collectors because it is among the rarest “incunabula” in the history of lithography. Condition problems with the impression on offer may have been the reason that no lithography specialists ventured beyond the low estimate of £40,000. Subsequent bidding was a contest between Windle, acting on my behalf, and the Chicago husband and wife who begin page 117 | ↑ back to top have assembled the finest private collection of Blake’s illuminated books. “Enoch” was knocked down to Windle at a hammer bid of £80,000 (£97,250 with the buyer’s premium). I suspect that this is a record for a British lithograph. In the same auction of Old Master prints, an exceptionally fine impression of Rembrandt’s engraving and drypoint, “Christ Crucified between Two Thieves,” sold for £421,250.
The Blake market has yet to register the full effects of the rolling financial crises that began in September 2008. History suggests that the art and book market is a trailing indicator in such circumstances, with a lag time of six to twelve months. As prices fall and lots fail at auction, the supply of materials begins to dry up as potential sellers wait for better times and better prices. There may be fewer important works on offer in 2009 than in 2008—unless forced onto the market by what auctioneers call “the three Ds” (death, divorce, debt).
I have subscribed to all relevant auction catalogues issued by Bloomsbury, Christie’s, Sotheby’s, and Swann for many years. These printed catalogues have become increasingly expensive; at the same time, the searchable online versions have become timely, detailed, and thoroughly illustrated. In summer 2008 I began to end my subscriptions and to rely on the online versions. The 2009 sales review will be based on internet catalogues for all auctions.
The year of all sales and catalogues in the following lists is 2008 unless indicated otherwise. Dates for online dealers’ catalogues are the dates accessed, not the dates of publication. Works offered online and previously listed in either of the last two sales reviews are not repeated here. All listings on EB are illustrated in color unless noted otherwise. Most of the auction houses add their purchaser’s surcharge to the hammer price in their price lists. These net amounts are given here, following the official price lists. The value-added tax levied against the buyer’s surcharge in Britain is not included. Late 2008 sales will be covered in the 2009 review. I am grateful for help in compiling this review to G. E. Bentley, Jr., David Bindman, Martin Butlin, Harriet Drummond, Jessica Gormley, Robin Hamlyn, Alan Jutzi, Jenijoy La Belle, Richard Lloyd, Nicholas Lott, Christopher Mendez, Morton Paley, Anthony Payne, John Sutherland, Robert Tear, David Weinglass, and John Windle. My special thanks go to Alexander Gourlay for his generosity in keeping me abreast of internet auctions. Once again, Sarah Jones’s editorial expertise and John Sullivan’s electronic imaging have been invaluable.
Abbreviations
| BB | G. E. Bentley, Jr., Blake Books (Oxford: Clarendon P, 1977). Plate numbers and copy designations for Blake’s illuminated books follow BB. |
| BBS | G. E. Bentley, Jr., Blake Books Supplement (Oxford: Clarendon P, 1995) |
| BH | Bonhams, auctioneers, London |
| BL | Bloomsbury Auctions, London |
| BNY | Bloomsbury Auctions, New York |
| BR(2) | G. E. Bentley, Jr., Blake Records, 2nd ed. (New Haven: Yale UP, 2004) |
| Butlin | Martin Butlin, The Paintings and Drawings of William Blake, 2 vols. (New Haven: Yale UP, 1981) |
| cat. | catalogue or sales list issued by a dealer (usually followed by a number or letter designation) |
| CB | Robert N. Essick, William Blake’s Commercial Book Illustrations (Oxford: Clarendon P, 1991) |
| CL | Christie’s, London |
| CNY | Christie’s, New York |
| CSK | Christie’s, South Kensington |
| E | The Complete Poetry and Prose of William Blake, ed. David V. Erdman, newly rev. ed. (New York: Anchor-Random House, 1988) |
| EB | eBay online auctions |
| GL | Gorringes, auctioneers, Lewes, Sussex |
| illus. | the item or part thereof is reproduced in the catalogue |
| PBA | Pacific Book Auction Galleries, San Francisco |
| pl(s). | plate(s) |
| SL | Sotheby’s, London |
| SNY | Sotheby’s, New York |
| SP | Robert N. Essick, The Separate Plates of William Blake: A Catalogue (Princeton: Princeton UP, 1983) |
| st(s). | state(s) of an engraving, etching, or lithograph |
| Swann | Swann, auctioneers, New York |
| # | auction lot or catalogue item number |
Illuminated Books
“Spring,” 2nd pl. (pl. 23 from Songs of Innocence), trimmed to the design below the text, 2.8 × 7.5 cm. Color printed with hand coloring. Windle/Sotheran, June cat., #54, on consignment from Roger and Kay Easson (£60,500). Acquired from the Eassons by Windle in Sept. for stock and sold in Oct. to the Victoria University Library, Toronto. Previously offered by Windle in his Nov. 2006 cat. 42, #76, on consignment, illus. color (price on request). For illus. and comments, see Blake 40.4 (spring 2007): 119.
Drawings and Paintings
Cumea, a copy, attributed to Blake, of Michelangelo’s fresco of the Cumean Sibyl in the Sistine Chapel. Watercolor, 17.0 × 12.0 cm., study of 1 of Michelangelo’s ignudi on the verso. Arader Galleries, May online cat., dating the work to “1773,” recto illus. color ($90,000). Not discovered until 2002 and thus not in Butlin. Previously offered SL, 28 Nov. 2002, #236, dated to “circa 1773,” recto illus. color (£14,340). For illus. and discussion, see Blake 36.4 (spring 2003): front cover, 116-17, 119, 120.
begin page 118 | ↑ back to topThe Death of the Good Old Man. Pen and ink and watercolor over traces of pencil, 20.1 × 25.8 cm. Datable to 1805. Acquired June by Essick from Marburg Ltd., Libby Howie (for Marburg) and John Windle (for Essick) acting as agents. Previously offered SNY, 2 May 2006, #14 (bought in at $420,000; estimate $550,000-700,000). Not discovered until 2001 and thus not in Butlin. See comments on the Grave watercolors in the prefatory essay, above, and illus. 1-3.
The Flight into Egypt. Tempera on canvas, 27.2 × 38.3 cm., inscribed “inv / WB 179[9?]” lower right. Butlin #404. CL, 8 July, #22, from the collection of the late George Goyder, illus. color (£115,250 to John Windle acting for Essick). See comments in the prefatory essay, above, and illus. 4.
The Gambols of Ghosts According with Their Affections Previous to the Final Judgment. Watercolor, 26.9 × 20.7 cm. Apparently sold no later than April by Marburg Ltd., probably to a private collector. Previously offered SNY, 2 May 2006, #12 (bought in at $520,000; estimate $700,000-1,000,000). Not discovered until 2001 and thus not in Butlin. See comments on the Grave watercolors in the prefatory essay, above; for illus., see Blake 35.3 (winter 2001-02): 69.
[View this object in the William Blake Archive]
Paolo and Francesca(?). Pencil, approx. 19.0 × 11.0 cm. on leaf 21.3 × 37.4 cm. Butlin #816, dating the drawing to c. 1824-27. BH, 11 March, #26, illus. color (£8880 to John Windle for stock; estimate £6000-9000). Windle/Sotheran, June cat., #55 (£38,000). Sold Sept. by Windle to Maurice Sendak, Connecticut. For illus. and comments, see Blake 41.4 (spring 2008): front cover, 140, 147, 148.
begin page 119 | ↑ back to top
A comparison of illus. 1 and 2 demonstrates how digital imaging can assist in making decisions about the cleaning or conservation of a work of art. The drawing appears to be stable, with little if any accretion of problems emerging from the backing mat. Thus, the major considerations are aesthetic. Would the watercolor look better if successfully cleaned? Certainly it would, but would the improvement be worth the effort? There are always risks involved in cleaning a delicate watercolor. The drawing could not be treated without removal from the backing mat; the safest way to do this would be to peel away the mat, layer by layer. The original mat and its framing lines are, however, significant historical documents that should be preserved. Thus, the drawing and its mat would require immersion in water to float them apart. All things considered, I decided not to take any action at this point. To my eyes, illus. 2 does not show sufficient visual improvement to justify an attempt to clean the original. Other collectors or curators might come to a different conclusion.
[View this object in the William Blake Archive]
Roger E. Fry describes this tempera as follows:
The Flight into Egypt will at once recall Giotto’s treatment of the subject in the Arena chapel at Padua; but the likeness is, in a sense, deceptive, for Giotto was working away from Byzantinism as fast as Blake was working towards it, and the two pass one another on the road. For there is here but little of Giotto’s tender human feeling, less still of his robust rationalism; what they have in common, what Blake rediscovered and Giotto inherited, is the sentiment of supernatural dignity, the hieratic solemnity and superhuman purposefulness of the gestures. Even more than in Giotto’s version, the Virgin here sits on the ass as though enthroned in monumental state, her limbs fixed in the rigid symmetry which oriental art has used to express complete withdrawal from the world of sense. No less perfect in its expressiveness of the strange and exalted mood is the movement, repeated with such impressive monotony, in the figures of Joseph and the archangel. It is absurd, we think, to deny to the man who discovered the lines of these figures the power of draughtsmanship. Since Giotto’s day scarcely any one has drawn thus—simplification has been possible only as the last effort of consummate science refining away the superfluous; but here the simplification of the forms is the result of an instinctive passionate reaching out for the direct symbol of the idea. . . . Of this language of symbolic form in which the spirit communicates its most secret and indefinable impulses Blake was an eloquent and persuasive master. He could use it, too, to the most diverse ends; and though the sublimity which is based upon dread came most readily to his mind, he could express, as we have seen in the Flight into Egypt, the sublimity of divine introspection. (“Three Pictures in Tempera by William Blake,” Burlington Magazine 4 [1904]: supplement 205-06, reprinted in Fry, Vision and Design [London: Chatto & Windus, 1920] 142-43)Few art historians today would deploy rhetoric like Fry’s; his comments, however, successfully place the painting’s style in a grand historical context to highlight important dimensions of the sensibility Blake expresses through his biblical paintings and drawings.
The tempera was restored between 1863 and 1880 and again between 1904, when W. Graham Robertson acquired it, and 1907. Stanley William Littlejohn of the British Museum probably undertook this second restoration. The painting was restored for a third time by Johann Hell c. 1950 after George Goyder acquired it at the auction of Robertson’s collection on 22 July 1949. The illustration accompanying Fry’s essay in Burlington Magazine and several later reproductions show a large crack, above and to the right of the Virgin’s head, now no longer visible. In spite of these efforts, The Flight into Egypt retains many of the condition problems, including cracking and “cupping” (depressions in the paint with surrounding ridges), common to Blake’s temperas of 1799-1800. Further conservation may be necessary; the paint surface lower right is unstable.
[View this object in the William Blake Archive]
The Resurrection or The Last Trumpet (recto), with studies of eyes, the head of an eagle, a human face, and a lion (verso). Recto datable to c. 1780-85; some of the verso sketches related to Blake’s 1802 Designs to a Series of Ballads by William Hayley. Pen and gray ink, gray wash over pencil (recto), pencil (verso), recto image and sheet 20.5 × 21.2 cm. Butlin #617 (listed as untraced since 1922). W/S Fine Art, July cat., British Works on Paper, #10, illus. color (£220,000). Previously sold SL, 4 July 2002, #183 (£144,150 to Agnew’s); offered several times since by Agnew’s and W/S Fine Art. For illus. and comments, see Martin Butlin, “A Blake Drawing Rediscovered and Redated,” Blake 34.1 (summer 2000): cover and 22-24; and Blake 36.4 (spring 2003): 121 (misidentified as Butlin #610). For a preliminary study, see The Resurrection of the Dead, next entry below.
The Resurrection of the Dead. Pencil, 17.5 × 24.0 cm., datable to c. 1780-85, inscribed by Frederick Tatham. Butlin #79. SL, 4 Dec., #120, illus. color (£3500 to John Windle for stock). Previously sold CL, 17 Nov. 1992, #16, illus. (£7150 to Salander-O’Reilly Gallery, New York). Similar to, and probably a preliminary study for, The Resurrection or The Last Trumpet, listed immediately above. For illus., see Blake 26.4 (spring 1993): 141.
This is one of Blake’s nine small watercolors (eight traced) of c. 1779 picturing major events in English history. These may have been the basis for “The History of England, a small book of Engravings” Blake listed in his advertisement “To the Public” of October 1793 (E 693). No copy of that book, or any engraving from it, has ever been found. In the design reproduced here, three figures gesture prominently with their left hands. If Blake had copied the composition onto a copperplate without reversing it, impressions would show right-hand gestures. Photo courtesy of David Tunick.
St. Augustine Converting King Ethelbert of Kent. Watercolor, 13.3 × 18.4 cm., datable to c. 1779. Butlin #57. Acquired in 1978 from Colnaghi’s, London, by Neil Phillips, Montreal (and later Montpelier, Virginia); by inheritance c. 2007 to a private owner; on consignment with the New York dealer David Tunick by Jan. 2008 ($135,000). See illus. 5.
Two Studies of a Baby’s Head. Pencil, with touches of watercolor on the lower head, leaf 37.4 × 26.2 cm. Butlin #788, dating the drawing to c. 1820. BH, 11 March, #27, illus. color (£10,800; estimate £10,000-15,000). Acquired by a private collector, London. For illus. and comments, see Blake 41.4 (spring 2008): 140, 147, 149.
Manuscripts
Letter of 18 Jan. 1808 to Ozias Humphry, 4 pp. describing Blake’s Last Judgment design. Returned to the dealer Roy Davids by a private customer who acquired the manuscript from Davids in late 2002; offered by Davids to John Windle in Oct. (£55,000; Windle declined). Previously offered Davids, March 2000 cat. for “The Artist as a Portrait” exhibition and sale begin page 123 | ↑ back to top (3-14 April 2000) at the Fine Art Society, London, #10, 1st and last pp. illus. (£40,000). Previously sold SNY, 14 Dec. 1988, #58 ($26,400 to the dealer John Wilson); SL, 14 Dec. 1992, #16, 1st p. illus. (£18,000, apparently to Davids).
Separate Plates and Plates in Series
“Chaucers Canterbury Pilgrims.” Skinner auction, Boston, 7 March, #2028, 5th st., probably a Sessler impression, “laid down, loss to corner u[pper] r[ight], toning and staining,” illus. color online ($2700). Swann, 1 May, #286, 5th st., laid India, very probably a Colnaghi impression, “wide (full?) margins,” illus. color ($5400). Windle/Sotheran, June cat., #1, 5th st., Colnaghi impression on laid India “mounted on heavy wove” (£15,500).
Dante engravings. Swann, 1 May, #291, pl. 5 only, laid India, illus. color ($5400). Windle/Sotheran, June cat., #21-25, pls. 1, 2, 4-6 offered individually, laid India (£10,500 for pl. 1, others £4500-9000 each); #67, complete set, laid India, original label, later morocco case (£37,500). CNY, 31 July, #1, pl. 6 only, creases and soiling, laid India lifting in places, the same impression offered CNY, 30 Oct. 2007, #157 (not sold; estimate $6000-8000), illus. color ($1500). Swann, 31 Oct., #82, pl. 3 only, laid India, illus. (not sold; estimate $10,000-15,000).
“Enoch,” modified lithograph. CL, 2 Dec., #61, SP impression 1D, sheet 22.4 × 32.0 cm., repaired tear across the top left corner, the brown paper discolored to a lighter hue in both top corners, small surface abrasion just inside the right center margin, tiny nick at the lower sheet edge, framed, illus. color (£97,250 to John Windle acting for Essick; estimate £40,000-60,000). One of 4 recorded impressions, previously sold from Raymond Lister’s collection, SL, 11 Dec. 1985, #299, illus. color (£28,600 to Laurence Witten, a Connecticut book dealer probably acting on behalf of a private collector). The discoloration of the top corners was not present when this impression was sold at auction in 1985; I suspect that the glue attaching the print to the present backing leaf caused (and perhaps is continuing to cause) this problem. The auction cat. claims that Blake etched “away parts of the lithographic stone.” I know of no evidence for this. George Cumberland’s description of Blake’s process on the verso of SP impression 1B does not mention any etching, even though a shallow etch was conventional in early British lithography. In SP p. 57, I speculate that a slight relief effect may have been produced by Blake’s use of “asphaltum” (Cumberland), rather than conventional lithographic ink, to draw the design. For illus. of this impression and comments, see Blake 20.1 (summer 1986): 13, 19, 20. For the dating of the work to 1806-07, see Essick, “Dating Blake’s ‘Enoch’ Lithograph Once Again,” Blake 22.2 (fall 1988): 71-73.
“The Fall of Rosamond,” after Stothard, 1783. EB, Jan., printed in sanguine, 2nd st. (with the period after “Sculpt.”), trimmed close to the circular image with only the signatures remaining among the inscriptions (£511 to John Windle for stock; sold Feb. to the Victoria University Library, Toronto).
“George Cumberland’s Card.” EB, Feb., printed in “brown ink” (according to the vendor, Chandler and Reed Rare Books of Sunderland, Massachusetts) on laid paper with a partial watermark (“17,” as in SP impression 1Z), leaf 9.5 × 15.2 cm., stained around the edges of the leaf ($3650—probably a record auction price). Windle/Sotheran, June cat., #69, printed in black ink on a card pasted into a copy of George Cumberland, Jr., Bristol Beauties 1848 (£10,300). For more information on the Windle/Sotheran impression, see Blake 41.4 (spring 2008): 163.
Job engravings. Larkhall Fine Art, Dec. 2007 online cat., pls. numbered 2 and 3 only, 1826 printing on Whatman paper after removal of the “Proof” inscription, illus. color (£2750 each). Quaritch, Dec. 2007 private offer, complete set, 1826 printing on Whatman paper after removal of the “Proof” inscription, leaves trimmed to 30.0 × 24.5 cm. (untrimmed copies measure about 38.5 × 28.0 cm.), occasional light browning, begin page 124 | ↑ back to top contemporary calf rebacked (£30,000); same copy, Feb. Los Angeles Book Fair ($60,000); same copy, Feb. cat. 1364, #17, illus. color (£30,000); same copy, March cat. for the New York Book Fair, #12 ($60,000). Swann, 1 May, 4 pls. offered individually, all on laid India, the 1st lot probably the 1874 printing, the others published “Proof” impressions of 1826, all illus. color: #287, pl. numbered 4 ($1500); #288, pl. numbered 6 ($3600); #289, pl. numbered 11 ($4400); #290, pl. numbered 21 ($1800). Windle/Sotheran, June cat., 1874 printing on laid India, pls. offered individually as follows: #2-18, title p. and pls. numbered 1, 3-10, 12, 13, 16-20 (£1200-1800 each); #19, pl. numbered 5, 1826 “Proof” printing on so-called “French” paper (£1700); #20, pl. numbered 19, 1826 “Proof” printing on “French” paper (£2300); #62, complete set, 1826 “Proof” impressions on laid India, the pls. “appear to have been professionally cleaned,” later full morocco (£38,500; acquired by the book dealer Colin Franklin). Larkhall Fine Art, July-Sept. exhibit, pl. numbered 21 only (price on request). Aspire Auctions, Cleveland, 11 Sept., #117, pl. numbered 21 only, no description of the printing or paper but apparently an impression on Whatman paper after the removal of the “Proof” inscription, illus. color online ($1408.75). Swann, 18 Sept., #1, complete set, 1826 printing on Whatman paper after removal of the “Proof” inscription, “paper wrappers with the publisher’s label pasted on the front cover,” 8 pls. illus. color ($40,800 to Sims Reed for stock). GL, 23 Oct., #1091, pl. numbered 15 only, “Proof” printing on laid India, illus. color online (£700).
“Rev. John Caspar Lavater.” EB, May-June, 3rd st., apparently trimmed within the platemark to 35.6 × 27.9 cm., tear in margin top left (no bids on a required minimum bid of $499.99).
Letterpress Books with Engravings by and after Blake, Including Prints Extracted from Such Books
Allen, History of England, 1798. Windle/Sotheran, June cat., #48-49, pls. 1 and 3 only (£220 each).
Allen, Roman History, 1798. Windle/Sotheran, June cat., #56, later 19th-century cloth worn (£650).
Archaeologia. See under Basire in Blake’s Circle and Followers, below.
Ariosto, Orlando furioso. Windle/Sotheran, June cat., #50, 1791 ed., Blake’s pl. only, 2nd st. (£130). Magers & Quinn, June online cat., 1783 ed., 5 vols., contemporary calf worn ($600). Libreria Antiquaria Pregliasco, June online cat., 1785 ed., 5 vols., contemporary morocco, with fore-edge paintings (€5500). Hava Books, June online cat., 1783 ed., 5 vols., some staining, contemporary calf very worn, with Blake’s pl. “out of text” (£350). Poor Richard’s Books, June online cat., 1783 ed., 5 vols., calf worn (£350). Fair Hope Books, June online cat., 1799 ed., vols. 3, 4, 5 only (presumably with Blake’s pl. in vol. 3), “fair” condition (which generally means very worn), no description of binding ($200). Kenny’s Bookshop, June online cat., 1799 ed., 5 vols., contemporary calf ($644).
Blair, The Grave. BL, 29 Feb., #889, 1808 quarto, browned and foxed, later morocco worn (not sold; estimate £400-600). EB, May, portrait frontispiece of Blake only, imprint trimmed off, light stains and 1 tear in lower margin, framed (offered at the “buy it now” price of $750 or “best offer”). Windle/Sotheran, June cat., #57, 1808 quarto, slight browning or soiling, 2 pls. with marginal repairs, later morocco (£1450); #58, 1808 quarto, slight scattered foxing, original boards rebacked, cover label (£5000); #59, “1813” (actually 1870) folio, scattered foxing, quarter calf (£1420). BL, 11 June, #423, described as a quarto of “1813” but probably the 1870 folio because in “original blind-stamped cloth” rebacked, rubbed and stained (not sold; estimate £300-400). Manhattan Rare Book Co., June online cat., 1808 quarto, scattered foxing, contemporary half morocco worn, illus. color ($2700). EB, June, frontispiece portrait only, 1813 imprint, margins foxed (£117—probably a record price for a published st.). Quaker Hill Books, July online cat., 1808 quarto, marginal damp staining, three-quarter morocco ($1760). Waverley Books, July online cat., 1808 quarto, light foxing, “half leather” (£2000.50). Krown & Spellman, July online cat., “1813” (but actually 1870) folio, publisher’s cloth repaired ($1850). Anthony Laywood, July online cat., 1808 “small folio” (probably the quarto), modern half calf (£1100). George Robert Minkoff, July online cat., 1808 “quarto” (but probably the folio, since the frontispiece is on laid India), “large paper with the plates in early states” (i.e., the folio sts.?), foxed, “contemporary leather-backed boards, in damaged slipcase” ($5000). Peter L. Stern, July online cat., 1813 quarto, foxed, contemporary half morocco worn ($1750). Resource Books, July online cat., 1813 quarto, lacking pl. 3, three-quarter calf very worn, covers detached ($950). BL, 4 Sept., #433, 1813 quarto, light soiling and spotting, “last plate a little water-stained,” later half calf worn (£320). Hermitage Bookshop, Oct. online cat., 1808 quarto, scattered browning and marginal foxing, later calf rebacked ($3000). Scrivener’s Books, Oct. online cat., [1870] portfolio of the pls. only, slight foxing, original cloth folder repaired, cover illus. color (£1100). Houle Rare Books, Oct. online cat., 1808 “small folio” (probably the quarto), modern three-quarter morocco ($3750). Black Swan Books, Oct. online cat., [1870] portfolio of pls. only, lacking pl. 3, some tears, original cloth folder worn ($825). BL, 10 Nov., #24, 1808 quarto, browned and foxed, later morocco very worn (offered at £400 in a “fixed price” auction).
Boydell’s Graphic Illustrations of . . . Shakspeare, c. 1803. Charles Agvent, July online cat., scattered foxing, contemporary half calf worn, covers detached ($3500). H. M. Fletcher, July online cat., lacking the portraits, title p., and 2 unidentified pls., foxed, contemporary half calf (£1500).
begin page 125 | ↑ back to topBryant, New System . . . of Ancient Mythology, 2nd ed., 1775-76. Windle/Sotheran, June cat., #82, 3 vols., contemporary calf worn (£800).
Catullus, Poems, 1795. Justin Croft Books, July online cat., 2 vols., contemporary calf repaired (£1000).
Cumberland, Outlines from the Antients, 1829. Windle/Sotheran, June cat., #83, foxed or browned throughout, 19th-century quarter morocco (£500).
Cumberland, Thoughts on Outline, 1796. Windle/Sotheran, June cat., #39-43, Blake’s pls. 1, 4, 5, 7, 8 only (£220-350 each). Bonhams, Los Angeles and New York, 15 Oct., #1060, water stains on 12 pls., original boards rebacked ($1200).
Darwin, Botanic Garden. BL, 20 Dec. 2007, #624, Blake’s pl. 6 (“Tornado”) only from the 1795 ed., marginal tears, with “The Entombment,” an engraving attributed to “circle of” Dürer, both framed (£120). Ken Spelman, April cat. 64, #129, 1st ed. of Part 1, 3rd ed. of Part 2, both 1791, 2 vols., pls. foxed, full morocco rehinged (£495). EB, May, Part 1 (“The Economy of Vegetation”) only, 1st ed., 1791, apparently with all Blake pls., title p. badly stained, scattered foxing, contemporary calf very worn, front cover detached ($300). Bauman Rare Books, May online cat., 1st eds. (Part 1, 1791; Part 2, 1789), 2 vols. in 1, contemporary calf rebacked, illus. color ($4800). EB, June-July, 1st ed. of Part 1, 3rd ed. of Part 2, both 1791, 2 vols. in 1, scattered light foxing, signature of Robert Y. Hayne (American politician, 1791-1839), contemporary calf worn, front cover detached ($560). Black Oak Books, July online cat., 2 vols., apparently the 1st or 2nd ed. of Part 1 and the 3rd ed. of Part 2, both 1791, light foxing, contemporary calf worn, repaired ($1000). BL, 4 Sept., #510, ed. of Part 1 not indicated, 3rd ed. of Part 2, both 1791, 2 vols. in 1, foxed and browned, bookplate of Pamela Lister, contemporary calf rebacked and worn, color illus. placed with another lot (£220). EB, Sept., 1st ed. of Part 1 (1791), 2nd ed. of Part 2 (1790), 2 vols. in 1, some pls. trimmed at margins, scattered light foxing, contemporary calf rebacked ($770); Oct., 3rd ed. of Part 1 (1795), 4th ed. of Part 2 (1794), scattered foxing, contemporary calf worn, back cover detached ($431.88). Swann, 11 Nov., #260, 4th ed., 1799, 2 vols., “scattered pencil marginalia,” modern half calf ($450).
Enfield, Speaker. EB, Jan., 1795 ed., contemporary calf very worn (no bids on a required minimum bid of £29.99); same copy, March (£23.22); Feb., 1797 ed., contemporary calf worn (no bids on a required minimum bid of £39.99). Windle/Sotheran, June cat., #84, 1781 ed., “large-paper copy,” contemporary calf worn (£350). James Cummins, July online cat., 1785 ed., contemporary calf rebacked ($750).
Euler, Elements of Algebra, 1797. Librairie Crespin, July online cat., 2 vols., contemporary calf (€1573).
Flaxman, Hesiod designs. EB, Dec. 2007, apparently the Bell & Daldy 1870 reissue with the 1817 imprints erased, scattered light foxing, publisher’s(?) blue paper wrappers worn and stained, cover label (no bids on a required minimum bid of £174.99); Jan.-Feb., same copy, same result. McLean Arts & Books, July online cat., 1817 ed., new three-quarter calf ($1200). The Lark, July online cat., 1817 ed., foxed, bound with Flaxman’s Aeschylus designs, n.d. (1818?), half “leather” ($900). BL, 17 July, #87, 1817 ed., browning throughout, contemporary half morocco very worn, front cover detached (£55). Quinn’s & Waverly auction, Falls Church, Virginia, 13 Nov., #1318, 1817 ed., lacking pl. 7, foxed, quarter morocco worn, with Flaxman’s Iliad and Odyssey designs, both 1805, foxed, both in “brown boards,” illus. color online ($260). For Flaxman’s Hesiod drawings, see the 37 drawings at the beginning of the Flaxman entry under Blake’s Circle and Followers, below.
Flaxman, Iliad designs, 1805. EB, Jan., considerable foxing on some pls., original boards worn and rebacked with cloth, cover label (€112.11); Aug.-Sept., bound with the Odyssey designs, 1805, late 19th-century morocco by Zaehnsdorf, both covers detached, “crummy slipcase” (no bids on a required minimum bid of $350).
Gay, Fables, 1793. Rulon-Miller, Dec. 2007 cat. 135, #119, 2 vols., engraved title p. (in vol. 1?) damp stained, contemporary morocco, later quarter morocco slipcase ($1500). EB, Jan., 2 vols., lacking 2 pls. but with all Blake pls., contemporary calf rebacked with new calf spines ($416.88). Cheffins auction, Cambridge, 21 Feb., #2265, 2 vols., 11 (of 12) pls. by Blake, badly foxed, with Aesop, Fables, 1793, 2 vols., both contemporary morocco, illus. color online (£220). Swann, 7 April, #78, 2 vols. in 1, damp stained, contemporary morocco very worn, front cover detached ($600). E. M. Lawson, May cat. 324, #46, 2 vols., scattered foxing, from the library of Daniel Woodward (1931-2007), formerly director of the library at the Huntington Library, contemporary calf rebacked (£240). Bauman Rare Books, May online cat., 2 vols., scattered foxing, 19th-century calf rebacked ($2500). EB, May, Blake’s pl. 12 only, elaborately framed (withdrawn). Windle/Sotheran, June cat., #86, 2 vols., scattered browning, contemporary calf worn (£795). BL, 11 June, #133, 2 vols., “some pages brittle,” recent quarter calf, with a Dublin, 1760, ed. of Gay’s Fables (£400). James S. Jaffe, July online cat., 2 vols., later morocco ($3500). Black Swan Books, July online cat., vol. 1 only, “full leather” worn ($400). William James, July online cat., 2 vols., light foxing, three-quarter “leather” worn ($750). Art@home, July online cat., 2 vols., “full leather” very worn and repaired ($1175). D & E Lake, July online cat., 2 vols., margin of Blake’s pl. 1 stained, contemporary calf worn ($888). Books on the Green, July online cat., 2 vols. in 1, foxed, “old calf” worn ($1430). EB, Aug., 2 vols. in 1, 19th-century calf very worn ($649.95); Nov., complete pls. and engraved title pp. only, scattered foxing, modern cloth worn (£127.77). Some of these copies of the “1793” ed. may be the [1811] issue.
begin page 126 | ↑ back to topHayley, Ballads, 1805. BNY, 12 Dec. 2007, #134, 1st sts. of the pls., some foxing, contemporary half morocco worn, illus. color (not sold; estimate $1800-2400); same copy, 17 Sept., #245, illus. color ($1000). Windle/Sotheran, June cat., #87, 2nd sts. of pls. 1-3, later calf (£2950).
Hayley, Life of Cowper, New York 1803 ed. with a wood engraving of Blake’s “Weather House” design. Kelmscott Bookshop, July online cat., 2 vols. in 1, contemporary cloth ($45). Hurley Books, July online cat., pls. water stained, “leather” binding ($100).
Hayley, Life of Romney, 1809. Windle/Sotheran, June cat., #53, Blake’s pl. only, apparently trimmed to the image and oddly dated to “1791” (£280); #89, “large-paper copy,” modern half morocco (£2950). BL, 11 June, #148, contemporary calf, with Gray, Poems and Letters, 1863 (not sold; estimate £280-320). Howes Bookshop, Nov. cat. 329, #15, “large paper copy” described as having an “1808” watermark (probably an error for 1807—see appendix 1, below), uncut in original boards, printed spine label, binding worn, upper cover detached (£550).
Hayley, Triumphs of Temper, 1803. Windle/Sotheran, June cat., #88, apparently the small-paper issue, scattered foxing, contemporary calf rebacked (£410). EB, July, lacking pl. 3, small-paper issue, contemporary half calf worn (no bids on a required minimum bid of £95); same copy, Oct. (£109.77). James Fenning, Nov. cat. 243, #102, contemporary calf, “both boards eaten but binding sound and strong” (£450). A voracious reader?
Henry, Memoirs of Albert de Haller, 1783. Acanthophyllum Books, July online cat., Blake’s pl. damp stained along inner margin and “reattached,” text browned, recent “leather” (£330).
Hoare, Inquiry, 1806. Sotheran’s, July online cat., contemporary half calf worn (£198).
Hogarth, Works. Swann, 6 Dec. 2007, #232, undated Baldwin and Cradock issue, contemporary half morocco, “needs rebinding,” illus. color ($950). CL, 30 April, #124, 1822 ed., contemporary half Russia worn (£2375). EB, May, Blake’s pl. only, probably 5th st., edges of the leaf slightly browned (no bids on a required minimum bid of £34.50). Wittenborn Art Books, June online cat., Blake’s pl. only, 5th or 6th st. from an undated Baldwin and Cradock ed., illus. ($250). Harry E. Bagley, July online cat., 1822 ed., minor foxing, half morocco worn ($3500). Weyhe Art Books, July online cat., 1822 ed., foxed and water stained, disbound ($4500). BL, 23 Oct., #328, 1822 ed., 2 vols., damp stained, contemporary half sheep very worn, front cover of vol. 1 detached (£900); #374, undated Baldwin and Cradock ed., browning and spotting, “modern half-rexine over contemporary marbled boards” worn (£750). “Rexine” is a heavy cloth coated to imitate leather.
Hunter, Historical Journal, 1793. Joseph Felcone, Feb. cat. 97, #99, quarto issue, many leaves uncut, modern half calf ($5500). CL, 30 April, #82, quarto issue, some browning, contemporary calf rebacked, illus. color (£1250). Gaston Renard, July online cat., quarto issue, pls. slightly foxed, contemporary calf rebacked ($6750 Australian). Hordern Books, July online cat., quarto issue, contemporary morocco rebacked, “fine large copy” ($11,500 Australian). Banfield House, July online cat., octavo issue, “half leather” ($4000 Australian). Bauman Rare Books, July online cat., quarto issue, “large paper,” occasional foxing, uncut in “contemporary” (original?) boards rebacked ($12,000).
Josephus, Works. EB, Dec. 2007, Blake’s pl. 3 only, 3rd st., marginal stains ($38); May, probably an issue between BB issues A and B, lacking “Whole” in the 1st line of the title (as in A) but with the reference to Kimpton (as in B), contemporary calf very worn, front cover detached (£201). Krown & Spellman, July online cat., BB issue D or E, some leaves torn, “old cloth” ($850). Vinyl UK, July online cat., BB issue B or later, contemporary calf worn, covers loose (£757.80).
Kimpton, History of the Bible, c. 1781. Beckham Books, July online cat., lacking 2 unidentified pls., contemporary calf (£210).
Lavater, Aphorisms on Man. Windle/Sotheran, June cat., #90, 1788 ed., contemporary calf rebacked (£360). Worcester Rare Books, July online cat., 1789 ed., contemporary “leather” rebacked (£125).
Lavater, Essays on Physiognomy. EB, Jan., 1810 ed., 3 vols. in 5, minor foxing, contemporary Russia (offered at the “buy it now” price of $3521 or “best offer”); May, 1789-98 ed., 3 vols. in 5, contemporary calf rebacked with new spines (£256). BL, 15 May, #495, “1792” (actually c. 1818) ed., 3 vols. in 5, contemporary morocco, handsome binding illus. color (£2800). Windle/Sotheran, June cat., #44-47, Blake’s 4 pls. only (£90-130 each). EB, June, Blake’s pl. 2 only, marginal foxing (€9.90); July, a mixed set, “1792” (vol. 2), 1810 (all others), 3 vols. in 5, scattered light browning, contemporary calf rebacked ($570). EOS Buchantiquariat, July online cat., 1810 ed., 3 vols. in 5, foxed, contemporary half calf very worn, spines detached ($1510). Alan Wofsy Books, July online cat., 1789-98 ed., vols. 1 and 3 only (but presumably with all 4 Blake pls. in vol. 1), contemporary calf ($950). Books for Change, July online cat., apparently the 1789-98 ed. in 3 vols., light foxing, modern cloth ($750). Donald Heald, July online cat., “1792” ed., 3 vols. in 5, fancy contemporary morocco ($12,000). James Cummins, July online cat., “1792” ed., 3 vols. in 5, contemporary calf worn and rebacked ($2000). Krown & Spellman, July online cat., “1792” ed., 3 vols. in 5, scattered foxing, 19th-century begin page 127 | ↑ back to top Russia rebacked ($1300). Jeremy Norman, July online cat., 1789-98 ed., 3 vols. in 5, minor foxing, 19th-century quarter morocco worn ($2750).
Malkin, Father’s Memoirs of His Child, 1806. Swann, 7 April, #21, John Quinn’s copy (sold at auction in 1923 for $18), contemporary calf very worn, front cover detached ($550). Windle/Sotheran, June cat., #91, contemporary morocco (£960). James Cummins, July online cat., uncut in original boards rebacked, new endpapers ($1500).
Mora, Meditaciones poeticas, 1826. BL, 15 May, #360, engraved title folded at foot, 1 pl. damp stained, contemporary quarter morocco worn, modern folding box, illus. color (not sold; estimate £1500-2000).
Nicholson, Introduction to Natural Philosophy, 1782. Scarthin Books, July online cat., 2 vols., contemporary calf worn (£300). Bristow & Garland, July online cat., 2 vols., some leaves browned, contemporary calf very worn, 3 covers detached (£180). B & L Rootenberg, July online cat., 2 vols., some browning, contemporary calf rebacked ($950).
Novelist’s Magazine. EB, May, vol. 8, 1782 ed., lacking the general title p., contemporary calf very worn, covers amateurishly reattached with tape (£102). Windle/Sotheran, June cat., #26-33, Blake’s pls. only, vol. 8, pl. 2 in the 2nd st., all others 1st sts., offered individually as follows: vol. 8, pl. 2; vol. 9, pls. 1-3; vol. 10, pls. 1-3; another impression of vol. 10, pl. 3 trimmed to the central image (£60 for the last, £70 each for all others). Best Buy Books, July online cat., vol. 8, apparently lacking the general title p. and with the specific title p. dated “1795” according to the vendor (thus a previously unrecorded issue?), later morocco worn, front cover loose ($350); same copy, Vinyl UK, July online cat. (£383.74). EB, Oct., vol. 8, 1782 ed., contemporary calf worn (offered at the “buy it now” price of $575 or “best offer”). J & S Wilbraham, Nov. online cat. 78, #164, vols. 10-11, 1783 (vol. 10) and 1793 (vol. 11) eds., contemporary calf worn (£75).
Olivier, Fencing Familiarized, 1780. N1 Books, July online cat., some ink underlining of text, contemporary calf worn, binding illus. color (£350). Possibly the same copy with “some heavy underlining in text” sold BL, 16 Aug. 2007, #632 (£120).
Rees, The Cyclopædia, 1820. BL, 3 April, #381, pls. vols. 2-6 only (presumably including Blake’s pls. 2-7), scattered foxing, contemporary half calf very worn, some covers lacking (£420). EB, June, Blake’s pl. 1 with 3 pls. not by Blake, marginal foxing ($9.99); another lot of 4 pls. including Blake’s pl. 1, slight browning ($31); another lot of 6 pls. including Blake’s pls. 4-7, marginal browning ($24.99); July, pls. vol. 2 only (presumably including Blake’s pl. 2), light foxing, “hardback,” covers loose ($114.49).
Ritson, Select Collection of English Songs, 1783. Windle/Sotheran, June cat., #34-36, Blake’s pls. 2, 4, 6 only (£60 each).
Salzmann, Elements of Morality. A. Parker’s Books, July online cat., 48 (of 50) pls. only, foxed, loose in portfolio, sts. not recorded ($3000). John Gach, July online cat., 1791 ed., 3 vols. in 1, lacking 9 pls. (including 8 attributed to Blake), early 19th-century half calf worn ($850).
Scott, Poetical Works, 1782. EB, Jan., contemporary calf (no bids on a required minimum bid of $499); same copy, Feb., same result on a required minimum bid of $399. Windle/Sotheran, June cat., #37-38, Blake’s pls. 1 and 3 only (£70 each). Ed Buryn, July online cat., “marbled leather boards” (i.e., mottled calf?) worn ($395).
Shakespeare, Dramatic Works, 1802. Michael Sharpe, Dec. 2007 cat. 2, #104, 9 vols., scattered light foxing, contemporary calf rebacked, binding illus. color ($25,000—a record asking price). CSK, 19 March, #70, 9 vols., foxed, contemporary morocco worn, illus. color (£1250). Bauman Rare Books, July online cat., 9 vols., contemporary calf rebacked ($16,000). BL, 17 July, #572, 9 vols., occasional damp staining, with annotations by Henry Irving (actor and theater manager, 1838-1905), contemporary morocco worn (not sold; estimate £1000-1500).
Shakespeare, Plays, 1811. Bookshop on the Heath, July online cat., 9 vols., contemporary calf (£1495).
Stedman, Narrative, colored copies. CSK, 24 Sept., #235, 35 (of 80) pls. only, including at least Blake’s pl. 10, loose in a box, Blake’s pl. 10 illus. color (£875; estimate £400-600). The coloring of pl. 10 accords with hand-colored impressions in the 1796 ed.
Stedman, Narrative, uncolored copies. EB, Dec. 2007, 1796 ed., 2 vols., lacking 1 pl. not by Blake, tears in several leaves, severe damp staining at the beginning of each vol., most pls. badly foxed, modern buckram ($1681). BL, 24 April, #416, 1796 ed., vol. 2 only, foxed, uncut in original boards rebacked (£220); #417, 1796 ed., 2 vols., scattered foxing, contemporary calf rebacked, illus. color (£1600). Hindman auction, Chicago, 6 May, #2127, 1813 ed., vol. 1 only, contemporary calf worn, front cover detached, illus. color online ($350). Peter Harrington, June cat. 57, #137, 1796 ed., 2 vols., some marginal spotting on the pls., contemporary half calf, illus. color (£4500). Shaw’s Antiquarian Books, July online cat., 1796 ed., 2 vols., occasional foxing, contemporary calf worn, vol. 1 rebacked (£3000). J. Tuttle Maritime Books, July online cat., 1806 ed., 2 vols., contemporary three-quarter calf worn ($3000).
Stuart and Revett, Antiquities of Athens. BNY, 5 April, #145, 1762-1830, 5 vols., browned and spotted, vols. 1-4 19th-century begin page 128 | ↑ back to top Russia rebacked, vol. 5 quarter morocco ($30,000); same copy, Sims Reed, July online cat. (£35,000). Swann, 19 June, #255, 1762-94, 3 vols., some foxing, early 19th-century half calf, some covers detached ($6000); same copy?, Gonzalo Fernández Pontes, July online cat., the binding “restored” (€16,500). SL, 13 Nov., #197, 1762-1830, 5 vols., some spotting and offsetting, modern half calf, illus. color (£18,750). Blake’s 4 pls. are in vol. 3 of 1794.
Tuer, Follies and Fashions of Our Grandfathers, 1886-87. BL, 11 June, #466, large-paper issue, publisher’s boards, and another book, Victorian Illustrated, not dated (£100). Includes a restrike of Blake’s pl. 3 from Hayley’s Essay on Sculpture, 1800.
Virgil, Pastorals, 1821. Windle/Sotheran, June cat., #94, vol. 1 only, original sheep (£23,100); same copy, and 2 separate cuts by Blake, Larkhall Fine Art, July-Sept. exhibit (prices on request). See also Essick, A Troubled Paradise, 1999, under Interesting Blakeana, below.
Virgil, The Wood Engravings of William Blake for Thornton’s Virgil, 1977. Windle/Sotheran, June cat., #81, publisher’s box (£3350).
Wit’s Magazine, 1784. EB, Feb., Blake’s pl. 4 only, with signatures and title, no mention of the imprint (no bids on a required minimum bid of $299). Possibly the same impression offered EB, Nov. 2007 (not sold). Windle/Sotheran, June cat., #51-52, Blake’s pls. 4 and 5 only (£250 each).
Wollstonecraft, Original Stories. BNY, 12 Dec. 2007, #374, 1791 ed., pl. 1 in the 1st st., sts. of other pls. not recorded, later morocco worn, back cover detached, illus. color ($1500). Windle/Sotheran, June cat., #96, 1796 ed., 3rd sts. of the pls., “a little soiling and wear, but a wide-margined copy,” modern boards (£2450); #97, 1791 ed., 2nd sts. of the pls., some slight browning, modern calf (£3500, mistakenly listed at “£900”). Second Life Books, June cat. 163, #146, 1791 ed., “with the Blake plates in the first issue [i.e., sts.?],” contemporary calf rebacked (“sold”). Books on the Green, July online cat., 1791 ed., “light stains” and “some foxing,” later three-quarter morocco worn, covers detached ($5720). Half Moon Books, July online cat., 1796 ed., browned, “leather” binding very worn ($3500).
Young, Night Thoughts, 1797, uncolored copies. SNY, 11 Dec. 2007, #72, with the “Explanation” leaf, pls. 5 and 26 before imprints, fore-edge and tail uncut, leaves 43.2 × 33.3 cm., later morocco, illus. color ($6875); same copy, John Windle, Oct. online cat. ($25,000). BL, 29 Feb., #888, lacking the “Explanation” leaf, damp stained at lower edges, contemporary morocco rebacked, illus. color (£4200). Bauman Rare Books, May online cat., with the “Explanation” leaf, uncut, 19th-century cloth rebacked in morocco, illus. color ($16,000). BL, 15 May, #254, with the “Explanation” leaf, contemporary morocco, illus. color (£6500); same copy, Bernard Shapero, June cat. of “50 Favourites,” #50, illus. color (£12,500), and Oct. cat. of “50 Fine Books,” #3, illus. color (£13,500).
Interesting Blakeana
J. Boehme, Works, the so-called “Law edition,” 1764-81. Ursus Books, May cat. 274, #7, 4 vols., with marginalia by “Dr. Charles A. Muses, founder of the Jacob Boehme Society of America,” modern calf, illus. color ($25,000). The ed. of Boehme known to Blake and perhaps owned by him—see his comment to Henry Crabb Robinson on the beauty of the “figures” (i.e., the illus.) in “Law’s transln.” (BR(2) 423).
J. Meyer, portrait miniatures of the Hayley family, c. 1770. SL, 16 April, #19, Mrs. William Hayley (née Elizabeth Ball), William Hayley’s 1st wife, 6.9 × 5.7 cm. oval, framed, illus. color (not sold; estimate £6000-8000); #20, Mrs. Thomas Hayley (née Mary Yates), William Hayley’s mother, 7.1 × 5.9 cm. oval, framed, illus. color (not sold; estimate £4000-6000).
Monthly Magazine, and British Register, vol. 11, part 1, 1801. Givens Books, July online cat., “leather” worn ($45). The April issue states that Thomas Macklin paid Blake £80 to engrave “The Fall of Rosamond” after Stothard (BB #987).
J. Hassell, Memoirs of . . . George Morland, 1806. Quaritch, Feb. cat. 1363, #58, some browning, contemporary half calf worn (£275). Hassell describes Blake’s prints after Morland, “The Idle Laundress” and “Industrious Cottager” (78), and lists “Blake” as their engraver in the “Catalogue of the Works of Morland” (170).
Monthly Magazine, and British Register, vol. 26, part 2, 1808. Broad Street Book Centre, July online cat., half calf very worn (£40). The 1 Dec. issue contains a brief anonymous review (BB #951) of Blake’s illus. in the 1808 ed. of Blair’s Grave. The review is generally positive, but the author points out that the spiritual “conceptions” pictured in some of the designs “admit of no just graphic representation.” Blake responded to this type of criticism in his Descriptive Catalogue of 1809: “The connoisseurs and artists who have made objections to Mr. B.’s mode of representing spirits with real bodies, would do well to consider that the Venus, the Minerva, the Jupiter, the Apollo, which they admire in Greek statues, are all of them representations of spiritual existences of God’s immortal, to the mortal perishing organ of sight; and yet they are embodied and organized in solid marble. Mr. B. requires the same latitude and all is well” (E 541). See BR(2) 276 for the complete text of the review.
W. Carey, Critical Description of the Procession of Chaucer’s Pilgrims . . . Painted by Thomas Stothard, 1808, 1818. EB, March, 1818 ed., stains, “boards detached” (£25.99). James Burmester, April cat. 71, #12, “1809” (probably an error for begin page 129 | ↑ back to top 1808) ed., bound with Carey, Letter to Ixxx Axxxx, 1809, contemporary half roan worn (£200). Both eds. include brief references to Blake’s designs for Blair’s Grave.
Vaterländisches Museum, vol. 1, nos. 1-6, 1810, and vol. [2], no. 1, 1811. Hamburger Antiquariat, Jan. online cat., contemporary quarter calf ($1099). The Jan. 1811 issue includes Henry Crabb Robinson’s essay on Blake. BB #2538 locates the essay in vol. “I,” but BR(2) correctly places it in vol. “II” (573). For the complete German text and an English translation, see BR(2) 573-603. Apparently rare; the only copy I have ever seen on the market.
J. Montgomery, ed., The Chimney-Sweeper’s Friend, and Climbing-Boy’s Album, 1824. James Burmester, Jan. cat. 70, #49, modern half calf, title p. illus. (£475). Includes Blake’s “The Chimney Sweeper” from Songs of Innocence, “communicated [to Montgomery] by Mr. Charles Lamb, from a very rare and curious little work” (343).
Annual Register . . . [for] 1827. Francis Edwards, Jan. cat. 108, #861, light browning, contemporary calf worn (£50). Peter Bell, Jan. online cat., contemporary half calf worn (£15). Includes an anonymous obituary of Blake reprinted from Gentleman’s Magazine of Oct. 1827.
W. Blake, Songs of Innocence and of Experience, London: Pickering, 1839. Quaritch, Feb. cat. 1364, #18, issue without “The Little Vagabond,” presentation letter from Gordon N. Ray to John Hayward laid in, publisher’s cloth worn (£500). Bauman Rare Books, May online cat., issue without “The Little Vagabond,” publisher’s cloth rebacked, illus. color ($15,000).
J. Ruskin, The Elements of Drawing, 1857. Ken Spelman, Nov. cat. 65, #128, publisher’s cloth repaired (£85). Includes a reference to Blake’s Job engravings; see appendix 2.
B. Disraeli, autograph letter signed to Anne Gilchrist, 5 Nov. 1862. Lion Heart Autographs, Nov. online cat., 4 pp. with references to Isaac D’Israeli’s Blake collection, 1st and last pp. illus. color ($1600). For a transcription and discussion of this letter, see Raymond Lister, “A Letter from Benjamin Disraeli to Anne Gilchrist,” Blake 14.2 (fall 1980): 99. The letter was in Lister’s collection in 1980.
Art-Journal, vol. 4, 1865. Keogh’s Books, Feb. online cat., lacking some contents pp., badly damp stained, calf very worn (£45). Books N More, Feb. online cat., lacking the 3rd installment of Ruskin’s essay noted below, morocco worn ($99.95). Dust Jacket Books, Feb. online cat., half calf worn ($250). Includes 3 installments of John Ruskin’s “The Cestus of Aglaia” with references to Blake or his works; see appendix 2.
W. Blake, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, Camden Hotten facsimile, 1868. PBA, 26 June, #2028, some foxing as usual, slightly later quarter cloth over boards, illus. color online ($800).
E. C. Clayton, English Female Artists, 1876. Hobgoblin Books, Feb. online cat., 2 vols., publisher’s cloth worn (£98). Internet Bookshop, Feb. online cat., 2 vols., publisher’s cloth worn (£115). In addition to Ruskin’s letter of 1855 (see appendix 2) with a reference to Blake, cited in BB #1400A, the book includes 11 paragraphs about Catherine Blake, 1: 370-75.
A. Gilchrist, Life of William Blake, 2nd ed., 1880. EB, Dec. 2007, 2 vols., “small annotations to some margins in volume 2,” light scattered foxing in vol. 2, publisher’s cloth, corners slightly bumped ($595). Windle/Sotheran, June cat., #103, 2 vols., publisher’s cloth (£660). EB, June, 2 vols., publisher’s cloth (offered at the “buy it now” price of $888 or “best offer”). PBA, 26 June, #2029, 2 vols., publisher’s cloth, illus. color online ($600). Rulon-Miller, June cat. 136, #76, 2 vols., publisher’s cloth ($1250). Getting pricey, even on EB. The gilt-stamped front cover design for both vols., based on a drawing by Robert Blake in Blake’s Notebook, is attracting the attention of binding collectors as a precursor to art nouveau. See illus. 6 and its caption for more on Blake and art nouveau.
J. Ruskin, The Art of England, 1884. Wahrenbrock’s Book House, Feb. online cat., calf worn ($225). Sam Weller’s Zion Bookstore, Feb. online cat., calf worn ($250). Wonder Book, Feb. online cat., “hardcover” ($45). Includes a brief reference to Blake’s Job engravings; see appendix 2.
W. Blake, Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience, William Muir facsimiles, 1884-85. Windle/Sotheran, June cat., #73, 2 vols., Innocence copy no. 30 and Experience no. 13, the latter signed by Muir, quarter vellum, original wrappers bound in (£6450).
W. Blake, Songs of Experience, William Muir facsimile datable to c. 1885 on paper with an “Antique Note” watermark, 27 pls. with coloring based on the “Experience” pls. in Songs of Innocence and of Experience copy T (in the British Museum since 1856). With a lithographic(?) “Index” of the pls. and a reproduction of “A Divine Image” (from posthumous copy a?) inserted as the 16th pl. (this pl. not in copy T). Publisher’s blue wrappers without inscriptions. Offered Aug. for $6000 Canadian by a private collector, Toronto, to John Windle, who declined. This is probably the unique(?) copy noted by Muir in a letter of 18 July 1916 to Kerrison Preston: “In addition to these [facsimiles] I have one copy of the Songs of Experience coloured from the Brit Mus copy. £5.5.0” (quoted in Keri Davies, “William Muir and the Blake Press at Edmonton with Muir’s Letters to Kerrison Preston,” Blake 27.1 [summer 1993]: 21). Possibly the unnumbered copy of Experience delivered by Muir to Bernard Quaritch, the London book dealer, on 16 April 1918; see the records printed in G. E. Bentley, Jr., “‘Blake. . .Had No Quaritch’: The Sale of William Muir’s Blake
begin page 130 | ↑ back to top
Facsimiles,” Blake 27.1 (summer 1993): 9. I have not inspected the facsimile itself, but digital images of the frontispiece and title p. suggest that the work has a lithographic base, but not the same one used by Muir for his 1885 facsimile with hand coloring based on the “Experience” section of copy U of the combined Songs.
W. Blake, There is No Natural Religion, William Muir facsimile, 1886. Windle/Sotheran, June cat., #77, copy no. 26, signed by Muir, full morocco, original wrappers bound in (£2320).
Century Guild Hobby Horse, 1886-87. Leonard Roberts, Feb. online cat., issue no. 6 (April 1887), with references to Blake by Ruskin (see appendix 2), publisher’s wrappers ($385 Canadian). Windle/Sotheran, June cat., #66, issue no. 4 (Oct. 1886), containing Muir’s facsimile of Little Tom the Sailor cut in half, publisher’s wrappers (£395).
Blake His Songs of Innocence, Oxford: H. Daniel, 1893. James Cummins, June online cat., publisher’s wrappers worn ($450).
W. Blake, Songs of Innocence and of Experience, E. J. Ellis facsimile, 1893. Windle/Sotheran, June cat., #74, hand-colored copy no. 42, contemporary morocco (£3465).
W. Blake, Works, ed. Ellis and Yeats, 1893. SL, 13 Dec. 2007, #158, 3 vols., small-paper issue, publisher’s decorated cloth, binding illus. color (£1500). Windle/Sotheran, June cat., #101, 3 vols., large-paper issue, publisher’s half roan worn (£1420); #102, 3 vols., small-paper issue, publisher’s decorated cloth (£1420).
R. Garnett, William Blake Painter and Poet, 1895. EB, May, publisher’s cloth, lower portion of front cover slightly stained with mildew (£16.95). See illus. 6.
W. Blake, The Book of Thel, Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience, illus. Ricketts, 1897. EB, Dec. 2007, 1 of 210 copies, publisher’s boards, cover and spine labels ($537-50). Maggs, Sept. cat. 1425, #653, “proof” of the title-p. vignette, leaf 19.1 × 12.6 cm. (£150). One of the more handsome typographic selections of Blake’s poems.
W. B. Yeats, Ideas of Good and Evil, 1903. SL, 13 Dec. 2007, #167, presentation inscription by Yeats to his uncle, George Pollexfen, publisher’s boards and cloth spine, some spotting, presentation inscription illus. color (£7500); #168, another copy, presentation inscription by Yeats to his literary agent, Alexander Pollock Watt, publisher’s binding, some spotting begin page 131 | ↑ back to top (£3000). Contains Yeats’s essays “William Blake and the Imagination” and “William Blake and His Illustrations to The Divine Comedy” (BB #3047B, 3051B).
J. Ruskin, Works, ed. Cook and Wedderburn, 1903-12. Contact Editions, Feb. online cat., 39 vols., halfmorocco ($12,500). Townsend Booksellers, Feb. online cat., 39 vols., cloth with library markings ($3250). Adrian Harrington, Feb. online cat., 39 vols., publisher’s morocco (£6000). James Cummins, Feb. online cat., 39 vols., three-quarter morocco ($12,500). For the Blake references, see appendix 2.
William Blake: Ausgewählte Dichtungen, translated by Adolf Knoblauch, Berlin, 1907 (BB #361). Buchantiquariat Heinz Tessin, Dec. 2007 online cat., vol. 2 (of 2) only, 1 of 670 copies, publisher’s wrappers (€32). EB, Sept., 2 vols., publisher’s wrappers worn, front cover of vol. 1 loose (€13.21). One of the earliest translations of Blake’s writings, to my knowledge preceded only by brief selections in essays and books about Blake (e.g., Henry Crabb Robinson’s 1811 essay [see entry above] and Helene Richter’s William Blake of 1906 [BB #2538, 2520], both in German), a 1900 French translation of The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, and a 1906 Italian translation of “The Tyger” (BB #110, 343). See the next entry for another German translation of Blake’s selected works published in 1907.
William Blake: Die Ethik der Fruchtbarkeit, translated by Otto Freiherr von Taube, Jena, 1907 (BB #363). Any Amount of Books, Dec. 2007 online cat., publisher’s cloth (£25). See comments under the previous entry.
Poems by William Blake, ed. Alice Meynell, Red Letter Library series, London: Blackie and Son, 1911 (BB #289A). EB, Aug., publisher’s limp calf worn, front cover detached (£16.01). In Blake 39.4 (spring 2006): 169, I incorrectly reported that an undated issue of this ed., sold on EB in May 2005, might be the 1911 issue. That undated issue may be 1 of at least 2 variant undated issues, 1 of which is dated to “[1927]” in BB #289B.
William Blake’s Illustrations to Thornton’s Pastorals of Virgil, platinotypes by Frederick Evans, 1912. Paul Hertzmann/Margolis & Moss, Aug. online cat., #61, no. 3 of 25 copies, signed and dated by Evans, limp “leather” rebacked, illus. ($7500).
Catalogue of an Exhibition of Original Water-Colour Drawings by William Blake to Illustrate Dante, New York: Scott and Fowles, 1921 (BB #616). EB, May-June, publisher’s wrappers worn ($9.99). Apparently rare; the only copy I have ever seen on the market.
A souvenir letter card, c. 1925, with a color reproduction, 9.5 × 29.8 cm., of a colored (?) impression of Blake’s engraving, “Chaucers Canterbury Pilgrims,” probably 3rd st. EB, May ($4.99). A curious object, published by “J. G. Charlton, Photographer, Canterbury.” The vendor on EB cites a 1925 advertisement by Charlton that lists “reproductions, in original and smaller sizes, of Blake’s and Stothard’s celebrated picture of ‘Chaucer’s Canterbury Pilgrims.”’ Some of the coloring accords with the hand-colored impression of the 2nd st. now in the Keynes Collection, Fitzwilliam Museum (SP XVI impression 2B), but there are many exceptions (e.g., the Host wears a blue rather than brown jumpsuit with brown rather than blue belt and boots). Another coloring scheme, closer to the Keynes impression, is represented in a photo-lithographic reproduction of the 3rd st., 21.1 × 60.1 cm., published at an unknown time by the “Agnes Press.” Perhaps these coloring schemes bear no direct relation to any original. The single recorded colored impression of Blake’s 3rd st. is SP impression 3P (now Morgan Library and Museum), tinted only with flesh tones on exposed skin.
W. Blake, Songs of Innocence, 1927, William Muir facsimile of pls. 2-27, 53-54 of Songs of Innocence and of Experience copy A. EB, April, copy no. 29, bookplate of Joseph Holland, rebound in cloth, worn, endpapers detached, original wrappers bound in ($910).
Photographic postcards of Blake’s cottage in Felpham, 1930s? EB, Jan.-Feb., 3 cards in sepia tones offered individually: south aspect from the southeast; a slightly more distant view showing the south and east aspects from the southeast; the road in front of the house from the south, the south aspect of the house, and the Fox Inn in the distance, with postmark dated 24 Aug. 1933 (75 pence each for the 1st 2, £1.99 for the 3rd). EB, July, 1 card showing the south aspect with a long thatch canopy over the ground-floor windows (as in W. Graham Robertson’s drawing of 1904), a field (of cabbages?) and low wall between the camera and the house (£3.70) (see cover illus.). These postcards, produced for the tourist trade in Bognor Regis near Felpham, have some scholarly value as representations of the cottage before the render was removed and other modifications were undertaken. The locations of windows, doors, and chimneys are helpful in understanding how Blake and his wife Catherine lived and worked in Felpham. For a fine essay on this topic, see M. Crosby, “‘The sweetest spot on earth’: Reconstructing Blake’s Cottage at Felpham, Sussex,” British Art Journal 7.3 (winter 2006-07): 46-53.
The Piper by William Blake [the “Introduction” to Songs of Innocence], illus. Roberta F. C. Waudby, London: Medici Society, n.d. EB, Sept., publisher’s printed wrappers (25 pence). Datable to the 1930s when Waudby was active. BBS 160 dates this pamphlet to “c. 1980,” either in error or in reference to a later issue.
Blake, Songs of Innocence and of Experience, reproduction of posthumous copy b, introduction by Ruthven Todd, 1947 (BB #186A). EB, Jan., with the bookplate of Pamela and Raymond begin page 132 | ↑ back to top Lister, hand tinted with watercolors, publisher’s cloth ($99 to John Windle for stock). Returned March by Windle because of spilled watercolors on the final pl. not described by the vendor. The hand coloring is too amateurish to be by Raymond Lister (1919-2001), an accomplished miniature painter and president of the Royal Society of Miniature Painters from 1970 to 1980. The coloring may be based on a copy colored by Blake, but I have not been able to identify any such.
Poems from William Blake’s Songs of Innocence, illus. Maurice Sendak, 1967. Aleph-Bet Books, Dec. 2007 cat. 87, #504, presentation inscription from Sendak to the playwright William Archibald, with a Sendak Christmas card sent to Archibald, original wrappers, slight wear to outer edge, illus. color ($6500). Previously sold EB, Sept. 2000 ($5,151.51). A poor investment, yielding only 3.7% per annum if sold at full price.
Robert R. Wark, ed., Blake’s Illuminated Manuscript of Genesis, c. 1975(?). Proofs of an essay by Wark, 14 pp., accompanied by a full-size color reproduction of the manuscript, loose in a cloth portfolio, “William Blake / The Genesis / Manuscript” gilt-stamped on the front cover. Printed for the American Blake Foundation as a vol. in its facsimile series, but never published. John Windle, Dec. private offer, 1 of 2 known copies ($975, acquired by Victoria University Library, Toronto).
Songs of Innocence and of Experience, Manchester Etching Workshop facsimile, 1983. Bonhams, Los Angeles and New York, 15 Oct., #1061, colored issue (no. 8 of 40) and uncolored issue (no. 8 of 35), 2 vols., publisher’s morocco (colored issue) and loose in paper mounts (uncolored issue), clamshell boxes, illus. color ($2400).
R. N. Essick, A Troubled Paradise, afterword by J. Windle, 1999. Windle/Sotheran, June cat., #85, “de-luxe” issue with an original impression of Blake’s 6th Virgil wood engraving (stormy night with tree and moon), not the “fifth” engraving as noted in the cat., publisher’s wrappers and quarter-cloth box (£1800).
Barry Moser (American artist, 1940-), wood-engraved portrait of Blake based on the life mask. Image 13.3 × 8.3 cm. EB, March, 2000 printing of 70 impressions (according to the vendor), leaf 31.8 × 24.1 cm. ($105); April, apparently another impression (no bids on a required minimum bid of $105).
Blake’s Circle and Followers
Works are listed under artists’ names in the following order: paintings and drawings sold in groups, single paintings and drawings, letters and manuscripts, separate plates, books by (or with plates by or after) the artist.
BARRY, JAMES
“Venus Anadyomene,” mezzotint by Valentine Green. CSK, 12 March, #109, “good impression with margins” (£1500; estimate £500-700).
BASIRE, JAMES
Archaeologia: or, Miscellaneous Tracts Relating to Antiquity, vol. 3, 1775 or 1776. Barnaby Rudge Bookseller, Dec. 2007 online cat., title p. misdated “MDCCLXXXVI,” modern cloth, binding illus. color ($294). Includes 19 pls. signed by Basire as the engraver; the 8 unsigned pls. were probably also executed in Basire’s shop. Blake may have participated in the production of some of these pls. while an apprentice to Basire (see CB 116 and BBS 191).
Bryant, New System . . . of Ancient Mythology, and Stuart and Revett, Antiquities of Athens. See under Letterpress Books with Engravings by and after Blake, above.
BUTTS, THOMAS, Father and Son
“Man on a Drinking Horse,” etching, 1806. EB, Feb., sheet 11.4 × 15.2 cm., browned ($75). For illus. and information about this print, see Alexander S. Gourlay, “‘Man on a Drinking Horse’: A Print by Thomas Butts, Jr.,” Blake 37.1 (summer 2003): 35-36.
CALVERT, EDWARD
“The Bride,” engraving. Larkhall Fine Art, July-Sept. exhibit, from the Memoir (price on request). BL, 23 Oct., #459, from the Memoir, some browning, framed, illus. color (£1000; estimate £300-500).
“The Cyder Feast,” wood engraving. Larkhall Fine Art, July-Sept. exhibit, from the Memoir (price on request).
“The Flood,” lithograph. Larkhall Fine Art, July-Sept. exhibit, “lifetime proof” (price on request).
“The Lady with the Rooks,” wood engraving. Larkhall Fine Art, July-Sept. exhibit, from the 1904 Carfax portfolio (price on request).
“The Ploughman,” wood engraving. Larkhall Fine Art, April online cat., 1904 Carfax printing on laid India, from the collection of Raymond Lister, illus. color (£2800); same impression, and another from the Memoir, July-Sept. exhibit (prices on request).
begin page 133 | ↑ back to top“The Return Home,” wood engraving. Larkhall Fine Art, April online cat., 1904 Carfax printing on laid India, from the collection of Raymond Lister, illus. color (£1350); July-Sept. exhibit, impression from the Memoir (price on request).
CROMEK, ROBERT
“Important collection of papers relating to the engraver and literary entrepreneur Robert Hartley Cromek and his son, the painter Thomas Hartley Cromek.” SL, 17 July, #9, illus. color (£20,000; estimate £5000-7000). This archive, for many years in the possession of the Warrington family (descendants of both Cromeks through the female line), includes a copy of R. Cromek’s long letter to Blake of May 1807 rejecting his design for the dedication to the queen in Cromek’s ed. of Blair’s Grave (BR(2) 241-44); a copy of R. Cromek’s letter to Thomas Bewick of 13 Aug. 1808 mentioning Cromek’s ed. of The Grave (BR(2) 262); T. Cromek’s transcription of Frederick Tatham’s letter of 1 April 1829 written on behalf of Blake’s widow Catherine (BR(2) 495-96); and (according to the auction cat.) “extracts from Gilchrist’s Life of William Blake with T. H.’s critical comments on ‘Many slanderous assertions’ (‘. . . here again, assertions are not proofs . . .’, ‘. . . In defense of my father, I must, though unwillingly, relate my anecdote . . .’, etc.).”
R. H. Cromek, ed., Reliques of Robert Burns, 1808. EB, May, pp. 389-402 badly stained, contemporary half calf worn (no bids on a required minimum bid of $100); same copy, June-July (no bids on a required minimum bid of $75). Includes an advertisement for Cromek’s 1808 ed. of Blair’s Grave illustrated by Blake.
FLAXMAN, JOHN
Thirty-seven pencil and gray ink drawings, possibly the preliminary drawings for the Hesiod designs engraved by Blake and published in 1817, or possibly a set created by Flaxman independent of the production of the engravings. 22.7 × 30.5 cm. and slightly smaller, 5 leaves with 1809 and 1815 watermarks, bound in a 19th-century morocco album. Maggs, June private offer, on consignment from the estate of H. D. Lyon ($125,000). Previously offered CL, 7 June 2001, #78, illus. color (not sold; estimate £80,000-120,000).
Six pencil sketches, some for a pediment for Buckingham Palace, each approx. 12.5 × 17.5 cm. BH, 11 March, #14, sketch of a standing woman illus. color (not sold; estimate £700-900).
The Holy Family. Watercolor, 72.0 × 51.0 cm. BH, 11 March, #43, illus. color (£960).
The Misses Harrison, Sharpe and Rogers and Mrs. Sharpe at Samuel Rogers’s Party, 1800. Pen and ink, 22.7 × 16.0 cm. W/S Fine Art, Nov. online cat., illus. color (not priced).
Scene from Medieval History. Pen and ink, gray wash, 47.0 × 62.0 cm. W. M. Brady & Co., New York, advertisement in Burlington Magazine 150 (Jan. 2008): [10], illus. color (not priced). Similar in size and style to The Massacre of the Britons by Hengist’s Party at Stonehenge and St. Ethelburga with Her Chaplain St. Paulinus of Rochester Bringing Christianity to Northumbria (both Fitzwilliam Museum), and thus datable to c. 1783.
Study of a Seated Male. Pencil, 29.5 × 23.5 cm., signed and inscribed by another hand, “I sat behind Flaxman at the R. A. and saw him draw this C.H.S.” BH, 11 March, #25, illus. color (withdrawn for unstated reasons; estimate £1500-2000).
A collection of letters by Thomas Hope to Flaxman, c. 1792-1808. BH, 26 Nov., #143, bound, illus. color (£3360; estimate £800-1200).
Acts of Mercy, etchings with aquatint by Lewis, 1831. EB, Dec. 2007, small-paper issue, most pls. foxed, contemporary quarter calf ($68); Feb., 8 pls. in 2 lots, lacking only the engraved title p., oddly attributed to Sir Thomas Lawrence as the “designer” and Flaxman as the “artist” (no bids on a required minimum bid of £15.99 for each lot).
Aeschylus designs, 1795. Galerie Bassenge auction, Berlin, 11 April, #1189, some browning and spotting, recent cloth (€130). EB, July-Aug., scattered foxing, 19th-century half calf worn ($276).
Dante designs. EB, Jan., engraved by Piroli, Milan, 1823, probably a reprint of the 1822 ed., scattered foxing, contemporary calf (€156); May, 1867 ed. with revised sts. of Piroli’s 1807 pls., publisher’s cloth (offered at the “buy it now” price of $200); another copy of the 1867 ed., modern cloth (offered at the “buy it now” price of £149.95 or “best offer”); 1802 ed., bound as extra-illus. in a copy of Dante’s Divina Commedia, Rome, 1815, 3 vols., contemporary vellum worn ($796). Ken Spelman, Nov. cat. 65, #138, engraved by Piroli, Milan, 1823, minor foxing, original wrappers worn (£280).
Flaxman, Anatomical Studies, 1833. EB, July, original boards stained, “crudely” rebacked with cloth, leaves coming loose from spine (£23.03); Aug., modern cloth (£73.12).
Hesiod designs, engraved by Réveil, Paris, 1844. EB, Aug., original wrappers worn (no bids on a required minimum bid of $225); same copy, Sept., same result. See also the album of 37 Hesiod drawings, above, and Flaxman, Hesiod designs, under Letterpress Books with Engravings by and after Blake, above.
begin page 134 | ↑ back to topIliad designs. EB, Jan., 1793 ed., light water stains and foxing on a few pls., original wrappers ($385.02); Feb., Iliade d’Homere gravée par Thomas Piroli d’apres les desseins composés par Jean Flaxman, Rome, n.d. (c. 1818?), marginal losses on final pl., contemporary quarter vellum very worn ($142.50). BL, 17 July, #65, with the Odyssey and Hesiod designs, eds. with inscriptions in French, n.d. (c. 1818?), foxed, marginal damage, 2 vols., half morocco very worn (not sold; estimate £300-500). See also Flaxman, Iliad designs, under Letterpress Books with Engravings by and after Blake, above.
Odyssey designs. EB, Feb., Darstellungen aus Homers Odyssee, engraved by Edouard Schuler, bound with the Iliad designs engraved by Schuler (lacking the title p.), both Karlsruhe, n.d., foxed, 19th-century half calf ($91 Canadian). Both Schuler series are dated to 1828 by Detlef W. Dörrbecker, “A Survey of Engravings after Flaxman’s Outline Compositions 1793-1845,” John Flaxman, ed. David Bindman (London: Thames and Hudson, 1979) 185. EB, April-May, lithographs by Feillet and Laqueson, Paris, 1823, publisher’s wrappers worn ($9.99).
Œuvres de John Flaxman sculpteur anglais . . . [with] Les tragédies de Sophocle par Giacomelli, Paris: A. Morel et Cie, n.d. EB, April, dated to 1860 by the vendor, 19th-century quarter calf (no bids on a required minimum bid of €150).
FUSELI, HENRY
Joseph Interpreting the Dreams of Pharaoh’s Baker and Butler. Oil, 86.6 × 65.1 cm., datable to c. 1768. CL, 2 Dec., #28, possibly Fuseli’s 1st painting, illus. color (not sold; estimate £120,000-180,000).
Portrait of John Henry Fuseli by George Henry Harlow. Oil on panel, 51.0 × 39.5 cm., datable to 1818 on the basis of an inscription by Robert Balmanno on the back. SL, 30 Oct., #190, illus. color (£3750). Previously sold SL, 23 April 1996, #235 (£6900); offered SL, 15 Dec. 2005, #68 (not sold; estimate £6000-8000).
Salome with the Head of John the Baptist, attributed to Fuseli. Wash drawing on cream laid paper with a 1795 watermark, 31.1 × 21.8 cm. Skinner auction, Boston, 12 Sept., #405, framed, illus. color online ($1007). Possibly a preliminary drawing by Thomas Holloway for his engraving of the design, dated 1798 in the imprint and published in Lavater, Essays on Physiognomy, vol. 2, or an early copy after the pl.
The Vision of the Deluge. Oil, 254.0 × 210.0 cm., painted in the 1790s for Fuseli’s Milton Gallery. CL, 9 June, #209, illus. color (£505,250; estimate £80,000-120,000).
“The Death of Oedipus,” mezzotint by Ward. CSK, 18 March, #530, with 3 pls. after Fuseli from Boydell, Collection of Prints . . . Illustrating . . . Shakspeare, 2 for A Midsummer Night’s Dream and 1 for The Tempest (£875). Apparently rare; the only impression I’ve ever seen on the market.
Portrait of Fuseli, designed and engraved by J. H. Lips, 1779. EB, June (€18.03).
“Queen Katherine’s Dream,” engraved by Bartolozzi. EB, April, marginal stains (no bids on a required minimum bid of €55). An important print, published by Macklin in 1788 for his “British Poets” series, that may have influenced Blake’s versions of the subject (Butlin #247, 547.3, 548-49).
“The Witches” from Macbeth, engraved by Tomkins. EB, Jan., trimmed close to the image with inscriptions (except for the signatures) trimmed off, minor foxing (£47.78).
Bible, Macklin ed., 1800. Michael Sharpe, Dec. 2007 cat. 2, #14, 6 vols., Richard Westmacott’s copy, contemporary morocco, illus. ($20,000). Swann, 7 April, #17, 6 vols., considerable damp staining, 19th-century morocco very worn, some covers detached ($1500). EB, April, 6 vols. in 7, contemporary calf, 3 vols. rebacked (no bids on a required minimum bid of $9999); same copy, May ($5001). Phillip Pirages, Nov. cat. 56, #478, 7 vols. (including vol. 7, The Apocrypha, 1816), pls. before letters, lacking 1 leaf of text in vol. 7, sumptuous contemporary morocco, binding illus. color ($85,000—a record asking price, probably based on the binding). The single pl. after Fuseli is in vol. 6.
[Boothby], Sorrows, Sacred to the Memory of Penelope, 1796. EB, May-June, large-paper issue, frontispiece after Fuseli in the 1st st., uncut in original boards, printed cover label, scattered foxing (no bids on a required minimum bid of £199); same copy, July, same result.
Boydell, The American Edition of Boydell’s Illustrations of the Dramatic Works of Shakspeare, 1852. EB, April, 2 vols., some damp staining in vol. 2, recent half morocco ($1425). The pls. in this work are the original British pls., “restored.”
Boydell, Collection of Prints . . . Illustrating . . . Shakspeare, c. 1803. SNY, 11 Dec. 2007, #108, 2 vols., 96 pls., lacking the portraits, some marginal stains and tears, 19th-century half morocco worn, illus. color ($5000). BL, 31 Jan., #169, “a few plates proofs before letters,” light browning on some pls., contemporary morocco worn, illus. color (£2800); 21 Feb., #132, 1 pl. only, “King Lear,” engraved by Earlom, marginal stains, with 2 other pls. from Boydell’s Shakespeare series, the Fuseli illus. color (£100); #135, 1 pl. only, “Hamlet,” engraved by Thew, marginal stains, with a pl. for “Hamlet” by Legat after West, the Fuseli illus. color (£140). EB, May, 1 pl. only, “King Henry the Fourth,” engraved by Leney, lower margin stained, framed ($99.90). EB, Oct., 1 pl. only, “King Lear,” engraved by Earlom (offered at the “buy it now” price of $325); 1 pl. only, begin page 135 | ↑ back to top “King Henry the Fourth,” engraved by Leney (offered at the “buy it now” price of $225); Nov., 1 pl. only, “King Henry the Fifth,” engraved by Thew (£23). Bauman Rare Books, Dec. online cat., 2 vols., 19th-century half morocco rebacked and repaired ($28,000).
Boydell’s Graphic Illustrations of . . . Shakspeare, c. 1803. See under Letterpress Books with Engravings by and after Blake, above.
Cowper, Poems, 1806. Thornton’s Bookshop, June online cat., 2 vols., foxed, contemporary calf very worn, vol. 2 rebacked (£75).
Darwin, Botanic Garden, New York, 1807. EB, Feb., 2 vols. in 1, foxed, contemporary calf worn (no bids on a required minimum bid of $199.95). Includes 3 pls. after Fuseli, ‘Nightmare,” “Flora Attired by the Elements,” and “Fertilization of Egypt.” See also Darwin under Letterpress Books with Engravings by and after Blake, above.
Darwin, Temple of Nature, 1803. Bauman Rare Books, June online cat., “period-style full . . . calf” ($2600).
Gray, Poems, published by Du Roveray, 1800. Jeff Weber, June online cat., Edwards of Halifax calf binding and fore-edge painting, rebacked ($4000). Georges de Lucenay, June online cat., full morocco (€750).
Homer, Iliad and Odyssey, published by Du Roveray, 1805-06. PBA, 26 June, #2127, 12 vols. in 6, occasional foxing, later 19th-century calf, binding illus. color online ($550).
Hume, History of England, [1852]. EB, Aug., Fuseli’s pl. only, “The Death of Beaufort” engraved by Rogers, marginal browning (no bids on a required minimum bid of £1.50); Aug.-Sept., another impression (no bids on a required minimum bid of £3.99).
Lavater, Aphorisms on Man. See under Letterpress Books with Engravings by and after Blake, above.
Lavater, Essays on Physiognomy, 1789-98. EB, May, 1 pl. only, “St. John,” engraved by Holloway (€9.99); 1 pl. only, “Christ at the Sepulchre: A Scene from Raphael,” engraved by Holloway (no bids on a required minimum bid of €9.99). For complete copies of the book, see under Letterpress Books with Engravings by and after Blake, above.
Milton, Paradise Lost, published by Suttaby, Evance, and Fox, 1821. James Cummins, Dec. 2007 online cat., contemporary calf ($200). Includes 2 pls. after Fuseli, “The Birth of Sin” (frontispiece) and “The Shepherd’s Dream” (vignette on the title p.).
Milton, Poetical Works. EB, Feb., published by Chidley, 1842, publisher’s cloth (no bids on a required minimum bid of £10); May, 2 vols., published by Suttaby, 1808 (vol. 1), 1806 (vol. 2), pls. badly foxed, contemporary calf very worn, 1 cover detached (£12.50). Houle Rare Books, June online cat., published by Churton, 1838, full morocco ($175). Rulon-Miller, June cat. 136, #896, published by Chidley, 1844, contemporary morocco ($250). EB, Aug., published by Bohn, 1848, some stains, contemporary calf very worn (no bids on a required minimum bid of $49.95). Vol. 1 of the Suttaby ed. includes a frontispiece after Fuseli, “The Birth of Sin,” 1st published in the 1806 issue, and “The Shepherd’s Dream” after Fuseli on the title p., both later used by Suttaby in the 1821 ed. of Paradise Lost (see previous entry). The Churton, Chidley, and Bohn eds. include “Silence,” engraved by Rogers.
The Penny Magazine of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, vol. 1, issue of 14 July 1832. EB, Dec. 2007, disbound (£2.50). Includes John Jackson’s wood engraving of “Lycidas” after Fuseli.
Shakespeare, Dramatic Works, 1802. See under Letterpress Books with Engravings by and after Blake, above.
Shakespeare, Plays, Basil, 1800. EB, Feb., 1 pl. only, “Prospero, Miranda, Caliban and Ariel,” engraved by Wolf, marginal tears and soiling (no bids on a required minimum bid of $9, but “the seller ended this listing early because the item” was “no longer available for sale”).
Shakespeare, Plays, London, 1811. See under Letterpress Books with Engravings by and after Blake, above.
Sotheby, Oberon, 1805. EB, Feb., 2 vols. in 1, contemporary calf worn ($173.50). Veatchs Arts of the Book, June online cat., 2 vols., contemporary calf ($280). Libreria Antiquaria Gozzini, June online cat., 2 vols., calf worn (€220).
Tatler, published by Sharpe, 1803-04. EB, Jan.-Feb., vol. 3 (of 1804) only, with “Tiresias Appearing to Odysseus in the Underworld,” engraved by Bromley after Fuseli, and 1 pl. by Parker after Thomson, contemporary calf worn, part of spine missing ($34).
Works of the British Poets, ed. Park, 1805-11. Golden Books Group, Dec. 2007 online cat., 49 vols., full calf worn (£1450). Includes 2 pls. after Fuseli illustrating Paradise Lost.
Young, Catalogue of the . . . Collection . . . of . . . Angerstein, 1823. EB, July, light marginal staining, fancy contemporary morocco ($310).
Young, Catalogue of Pictures by British Artists, in the Possession of Sir John Fleming Leicester, 1821. Quaritch, Nov. online cat., #12, uncut in contemporary half morocco worn (£250).
LINNELL, JOHN
Three drawings in a folio. See the 1st entry under Richmond, below.
An Afternoon Fishing, attributed to Linnell. Oil, 25.5 × 30.0 cm. BH, 9 Sept., #284, illus. color (£3360). I suspect that this painting might be by William Linnell, John Linnell’s son.
An Area of Cleared Ground with a Mound of Earth at Bayswater. Watercolor, 10.0 × 13.5 cm., signed and dated “Bayswater 1812.” CSK, 11 Nov., #509, illus. color (£6250; estimate £600-800).
The Boar Hunt in Olden Times. Oil, 30.0 × 47.0 cm., signed. SL, 19 Nov., #51, illus. color (£3750).
A Distant View of Lancing College. Watercolor, 22.8 × 40.6 cm. CSK, 12 March, #22, illus. color (not sold; estimate £3000-5000).
Evening. Oil, 38.1 × 55.9 cm., signed and dated 1849. CNY, 8 April, #81, illus. color ($11,250).
Evening, Storm Clearing Off. Oil, 39.0 × 58.4 cm., signed, datable to 1818-19. Fine Art Society and Lowell Libson, April cat., Power and Poetry: The Art of John Linnell, #2, illus. color (price on request).
An Extensive Landscape, Possibly the Weald of Kent. Pen and ink and watercolor over pencil, 27.0 × 37.0 cm., datable to c. 1813-16. BH, 11 March, #31, illus. color (£50,400; estimate £4000-6000). See illus. 7.
The Farmer’s Boy. Oil, 61.0 × 44.0 cm., signed and dated 1830. Fine Art Society and Lowell Libson, April cat., Power and Poetry: The Art of John Linnell, #4, illus. color (price on request). For earlier sales and cat. listings, see Blake 40.4 (spring 2007): 140. Possibly related in subject to Blake’s “Introduction” to Songs of Innocence; see also Piping down the Valley Wild, below.
The Harvest Field. Oil and watercolor, 22.0 × 30.0 cm., signed and dated 1851. SL, 19 Nov., #53, illus. color (£3750).
Harvest Time in Sussex. Oil, 63.2 × 101.6 cm., signed. SNY, 18 April, #111, illus. color (not sold; estimate $60,000-80,000).
Hastings Beach, attributed to Linnell. Oil, 26.0 × 18.0 cm. EB, Oct. (offered at the “buy it now” price of $2495 or “best offer”).
Haymakers. Oil, 30.5 × 48.0 cm. SL, 19 Nov., #52, illus. color (£2500).
Heathland. Oil, 22.9 × 30.5 cm., signed. GL, 23 Oct., #1138, illus. color online (£950). Previously sold GL, 25 April 2007, #1256 (£1200). I am a little uneasy about the attribution to Linnell.
The Isle of Wight from Lymington Quay. Oil, 28.6 × 40.0 cm., signed and dated 1825. Fine Art Society and Lowell Libson, April cat., Power and Poetry: The Art of John Linnell, #3, illus. color (price on request). For earlier cat. listings, see Blake 40.4 (spring 2007): 140.
Midday Rest. Oil, 71.0 × 92.0 cm., signed and dated 1852. BH, 29 Oct., #103, illus. color (£6600).
An Old Mill near Redhill, Surrey, circle of John Linnell. Watercolor, 33.0 × 46.0 cm., signed. BH, 11 March, #29, illus. color (£1560). The printed cat. attributes this work to Linnell, but this was amended at the beginning of the auction to “Circle of John Linnell.” This may be a drawing by one of Linnell’s sons.
Piping down the Valley Wild. Oil, 56.0 × 68.7 cm., signed. CSK, 12 March, #24, illus. color (£5250). The title, which may not be Linnell’s own, suggests a relationship with Blake’s “Introduction” to Songs of Innocence. See also The Farmer’s Boy, above.
Portrait of Mrs. Nasmyth. Pencil, colored chalks, and watercolor, 56.1 × 40.5 cm., signed and dated 1836. W/S Fine Art, July cat., British Works on Paper, #38, illus. color (£10,000).
Portrait of Professor Mylne. Oil, 41.5 × 34.5 cm., signed. BH, 8 April, #62, illus. color (£1680).
Road to the Village of Sudfield, Sussex. Oil, 50.8 × 81.3 cm., signed. CSK, 12 March, #25, illus. color (£3500).
St. John the Baptist Preaching in the Wilderness. Oil, 98.0 × 136.0 cm., signed and dated 1828-33. BH, 29 Oct., #102, illus. color (not sold; estimate £6000-8000).
Sky Study. Black and white chalk, 15.5 × 23.3 cm., signed. Guy Peppiatt Fine Art, winter 2008-09 cat., #18, illus. color (£300).
The Storm in Harvest Time. Oil, 45.7 × 61.0 cm., signed and dated 1856. Fine Art Society and Lowell Libson, April cat., Power and Poetry: The Art of John Linnell, #9, illus. color (price on request).
Studies of Children. Pencil and chalk on blue paper, 27.0 × 25.5 cm., signed and dated 1811. BL, 23 Oct., #153, illus. color (£220).
Study of Harvesters. Black and white chalk, 19.4 × 28.6 cm. Guy Peppiatt Fine Art, Winter 2008-09 cat., #19, illus. color (£400).
begin page 137 | ↑ back to top
Woodcutters and Shepherds. Oil, 71.1 × 91.4 cm., datable to the 1850s. Bill Hood & Sons auction, Delray Beach, Florida, 25 Nov., #202, illus. color online ($4400).
Autograph letter signed to Richard E. Tagart, July 1846. EB, Oct., 2 pp. concerning Linnell’s portrait of G. W. Wood (offered at the “buy it now” price of £150).
“Sheep at Noon” or “Midday,” etching, 1818. Larkhall Fine Art, July-Sept. exhibit (price on request).
Linnell, Michael Angelo’s Frescoes in the Sistine Chapel, 1834. J & S Wilbraham, Aug. online cat. 76, #146, pls. lightly water stained, contemporary half morocco (£750). Probably the same copy offered by Wilbraham in Feb. 2006 for £1000.
MORTIMER, JOHN HAMILTON
Three Gentlemen in a Landscape. Oil, 75.0 × 63.0 cm., probably dating from the mid-1760s. SL, 5 June, #49, illus. color (£34,850).
“An Academy,” engraved by Ravenet, 1771. EB, Jan., stains in lower margin (offered at the “buy it now” price of £90); same impression?, March (£37).
begin page 138 | ↑ back to top“King John Delivering Magna Charta to the Barons,” engraved in stipple by Ryland, 1783. St. Charles Gallery auction, New Orleans, 8 Dec. 2007, #261, color printed and with touches of hand coloring, matted and framed close to the image, illus. color online ($125).
“Nebuchadnezzar Recovering His Reason,” engraved by Blyth, 1781. BL, 17 July, #57, printed in brown, framed, with 2 prints after Henry Bunbury (not sold; estimate £150-200).
“Packhorse with Soldiers” (inscribed “To Colonel William Butler . . .”), etching by Blyth, 1783. EB, Dec. 2007, 1st st., marginal tears and stains ($40).
“Shylock,” etching, 1776. EB, Sept., hand colored (no bids on a required minimum bid of $50).
PALMER, SAMUEL
Beddgelert Bridge, North Wales. Watercolor, 25.0 × 36.0 cm., datable to 1837. SL, 4 Dec., #158, illus. color (£7500).
Bright Cloud, Shepherd and Windmill. Brown wash, 8.5 × 11.0 cm., datable to 1832-33. BH, 11 March, #28, illus. color (not sold; estimate £15,000-20,000).
Children Gleaning in a Cornfield. Watercolor, 18.7 × 40.0 cm., signed and datable to 1846. CL, 4 June, #92, illus. color (not sold; estimate £15,000-20,000). Previously sold SL, 10 Nov. 1994, #181 (£9200).
The End of the Day: A Recollection of Italy. Watercolor, 14.3 × 21.0 cm., signed, datable to the early 1870s. W/S Fine Art, July cat., British Works on Paper, #43, illus. color (£75,000). Previously offered by W/S Fine Art, June-July 2007 cat., #35, illus. (price on application).
An Extensive Landscape, Possibly the Weald of Kent. See under Linnell, above, and illus. 7.
Landscape with a Glowing Cloud. Watercolor, 6.2 × 11.8 cm., possibly dating from the early 1830s. W/S Fine Art, July cat., British Works on Paper, #42, illus. color (“sold”). Previously offered by W/S Fine Art and Andrew Wyld, June 2005 cat., #50, illus. (£8500).
A Road past a Farm. Watercolor, 6.7 × 13.0 cm., possibly dating from the early 1830s. W/S Fine Art, July cat., British Works on Paper, #41, illus. color (£8500); SL, 4 Dec., #157, illus. color (not sold; estimate £4000-6000). Previously sold CL, 22 March 1966, #59, with another watercolor by Palmer, illus. (to Anthony Reed Gallery, London, no price record), and CL, 19 Nov. 1985, #207, both watercolors, illus. (£3240).
The Vintage. Pencil and brown wash, 13.6 × 7.7 cm., an illus. to Dickens, Pictures from Italy, 1846. Larkhall Fine Art, July-Sept. exhibit (price on request).
Edmund Spenser, The Workes (1679), and Abraham Cowley, The Works (1688), both with a few annotations by Palmer. Quaritch, winter 2008-09 cat. 2008/20, #52, from the collection of Raymond Lister, both vols. contemporary calf rebacked (£8500).
“The Bellman,” etching. Larkhall Fine Art, July-Sept. exhibit, “proof in the published state” (price on request). Hindman auction, Chicago, 7 Sept., #306, described as a “working proof” but the illus. suggests 4th st. (possibly with some hand touching), small repair in image, mat burn, some discoloration and foxing, illus. color online ($11,000; estimate $3000-5000).
“Christmas,” or “Folding the Last Sheep,” etching. Larkhall Fine Art, Dec. 2007 online cat., 4th st. from the Memoir, 1882, illus. color (£3250); July-Sept. exhibit, “fine early proof” (price on request).
“The Cypress Grove,” etching. EB, Sept.-Oct., 2nd st. (no bids on a required minimum bid of $699.99).
“The Early Ploughman,” etching. EB, March, 5th st. from Hamerton, Etching and Etchers, 1868, scattered foxing ($295); another impression, 5th st. from Hamerton, 1868 (no bids on a required minimum bid of $699.99); April, another impression, probably 5th st., pencil signature, framed ($698). Larkhall Fine Art, July-Sept. exhibit, 4 impressions, “fine fourth state proof,” “fine sixth state proof,” “fine seventh state proof,” and “final [9th] state printed by Griggs” (prices on request). EB, July, 5th st. (no bids on a required minimum bid of $899.99); same impression, Oct. (offered at the “buy it now” price of $999.99).
“The Herdsman’s Cottage,” etching. EB, May, 2nd st. from Hamerton, Etching and Etchers, 1880 ($430); June, 2nd st. (no bids on a required minimum bid of £475). Larkhall Fine Art, July-Sept. exhibit, “published [2nd] state” (price on request). Hindman auction, Chicago, 11 Sept., #2407, 2nd st., paper browned ($100).
“The Morning of Life,” etching. Larkhall Fine Art, July-Sept. exhibit, 3 impressions, “touched trial proof,” “superb pattern proof in an unrecorded state,” and “published [7th] state” (prices on request). EB, Sept., 7th st. ($560). BL, 23 Oct., #476, 7th st., illus. color (£650). SL, 19 Nov., #20, 5th st., pencil signature, illus. color (not sold; estimate £3000-4000).
“Opening the Fold,” etching. EB, Oct., 8th st. (offered at the “buy it now” price of $1599.99 or “best offer”).
begin page 139 | ↑ back to top“The Rising Moon,” etching. Larkhall Fine Art, July-Sept. exhibit, “published [7th] state” (price on request).
“The Sepulchre,” etching. Abbott and Holder, May online cat. 388, #216, 1st st. (£395). EB, Sept.-Oct., 2nd st. (offered at the “buy it now” price of $699.99 or “best offer”).
“The Skylark,” etching. Larkhall Fine Art, July-Sept. exhibit, “published [7th?] state” (price on request).
“The Weary Ploughman,” etching. Larkhall Fine Art, July-Sept. exhibit, “published [8th?] state” (price on request). SL, 19 Nov., #21, st. not identified but probably 8th, illus. color (£1125).
“The Willow,” etching. Larkhall Fine Art, April online cat., 2nd st., illus. color (£1650); July-Sept. exhibit, “early first state proof” and “final [3rd] state printed by Griggs or Short” (prices on request).
Dickens, Pictures from Italy, 1846. CNY, 2 April, #125, 1st ed., publisher’s cloth, “unrecorded variant issue binding,” title p. illus. color ($438).
Hamerton, Etching and Etchers, 1880. BL, 19 Dec. 2007, #87, foxed and browned, original roan-backed cloth worn (£1300). Includes Palmer’s etching, “The Herdsman’s Cottage,” 2nd st.
A. H. Palmer, Life and Letters of Samuel Palmer, 1892. BL, 19 Dec. 2007, #398, lightly foxed, later half morocco worn (£110); 29 Feb., #894, publisher’s cloth rebacked and worn, with Dickens, Pictures from Italy, 1846, with an “amateur foreedge painting,” apparently publisher’s cloth very worn (£160). EB, Aug., publisher’s cloth (offered at the “buy it now” price of $425 or “best offer”). Life and Letters includes Palmer’s etching, “The Willow,” 2nd st.
S. Palmer, English Version of the Eclogues of Virgil. EB, Sept., 2nd ed., 1884, large-paper issue, publisher’s vellum, scattered light foxing (no bids on a ridiculously high starting bid of $7999.99). BL, 30 Oct., #148, 1st ed., 1883, large-paper issue, some marginal browning to the pls., publisher’s vellum worn, illus. color (£2200; estimate £800-1200).
S. Palmer, The Shorter Poems of John Milton, 1889. BL, 16 May, #9, large-paper issue, publisher’s vellum (£160).
PARKER, JAMES
Akenside, Pleasures of the Imagination, 1795. J & S Wilbraham, July online cat. 75, #1, contemporary calf (£35). Includes 1 pl. by Parker after Stothard.
Falconer, Shipwreck, 1806. EB, April, contemporary calf worn (no bids on a required minimum bid of $99.99). Includes 3 pls. by Parker after Stothard dated 1795 in their imprints.
Hume, History of England, 1793-1806. EB, May, 1 pl. only, “Charles II and Sir William Temple,” Parker after Stothard (no bids on a required minimum bid of £3.99).
Johnson, Rasselas, 1796. EB, Feb., contemporary calf (£19.87). Includes 4 pls. by Parker after Stothard.
Shakespeare, The Plays of William Shakspeare, ed. Manley Wood, 14 vols., London: George Kearsley, 1806. Vangsgaards Antikvariat, Dec. 2007 online cat., contemporary calf worn, bindings illus. color ($2500). Includes 4 pls. by Parker, dated 1803 and 1804 in their imprints, 2 after Stothard, 1 after Philip De Loutherbourg, and 1 after Edward Burney. Not recorded in G. E. Bentley, Jr., “The Journeyman and the Genius: James Parker and His Partner William Blake with a List of Parker’s Engravings,” Studies in Bibliography 49 (1996): 208-31.
Tatler, published by Sharpe, 1803-04. See under Fuseli, above.
RICHMOND, GEORGE
Three drawings by Richmond, and 3 by John Linnell, in a folio. Pencil, pen and ink, 32.7 × 44.2 cm. and smaller. SL, 4 Dec., #121, including a self-portrait of Richmond dated 1871 and a drawing of the New Road, Paddington, by Linnell dated 1811, the self-portrait illus. color (not sold; estimate £4000-6000). The self-portrait previously sold SL, 27 Nov. 1975, #33 (£320).
A Figure Weeping over a Grave. Pen and brown ink, brown wash, 8.0 × 12.7 cm., signed and dated Jan. 1827 on a sheet attached to the backboard. SL, 4 Dec., #124, illus. color (£17,500; estimate £4000-6000). A record auction price for a drawing by Richmond. Previously sold SL, 16 March 1978, #55, illus. (£550 to Agnew’s).
Isaac Going Forth to Meditate. Oil, 51.0 × 30.5 cm. SL, 5 June, #88, illus. color (not sold; estimate £20,000-30,000); 28 Oct., #148, illus. color (not sold; estimate £3000-5000). Previously sold SL, 30 Jan. 1985, #94 (£1430 to Agnew’s acting for a private collector, Philadelphia).
Portrait of Henry Walter. Pencil with touches of pen and brown ink, 22.0 × 16.4 cm., initialed and dated 28 Dec. 1827. SL, 19 Nov., #22, illus. color (£6250). Henry Walter (1799-1849) was among the circle of young artists who gathered around Blake in his final years.
St. John at Patmos. Oil, 47.0 × 29.0 cm. SL, 5 June, #89, illus. color (not sold; estimate £10,000-15,000); 28 Oct., #147, begin page 140 | ↑ back to top illus. color (not sold; estimate £3000-5000). Previously sold SL, 30 Jan. 1985, #95 (£1760 to Agnew’s acting for a private collector, Philadelphia).
Samson Carrying the Gates of Gaza. Pen and brown ink, study of a standing male nude on the verso, 16.5 × 12.2 cm., inscribed “jany 1827” on the recto. SL, 4 Dec., #123, illus. color (£3750). Previously sold SL, 18 Nov. 1976, #181A, illus. (£150), and CL, 19 March 1985, #35, from the collection of Donald Heald, illus. (£302).
Samson Slaying the Philistines with the Jawbone of an Ass. Pen and brown ink, figure studies on the verso, 15.2 × 14.1 cm. SL, 4 Dec., #122, “recorded” as having been “made by Richmond on 24th January 1827,” illus. color (£4375). Previously sold CL, 12 June 1973, #172 (no price record).
Study for “Comus—The Measure.” Pencil and black chalk, 24.6 × 29.2 cm., probably dating from the 1830s. W/S Fine Art, July cat., British Works on Paper, #39, illus. color (£6000).
View across a Wooded Valley. Watercolor, 19.2 × 39.4 cm. W/S Fine Art, Master Drawings exhibit at Dickinson, New York, 14-26 Jan., #20, illus. color online (price on request); July cat., British Works on Paper, #40, illus. color (£7500).
“The Fatal Bellman,” engraving. Larkhall Fine Art, July-Sept. exhibit, “superb early impression” (price on request).
ROMNEY, GEORGE
Crouched and Huddled Figures. Pencil, 65.0 × 140.0 cm., datable to c. 1790. BL, 23 Oct., #80, illus. color (£360). Possibly a study for John Howard visiting a lazaretto.
The Infant Shakespeare. Pen and ink, 11.0 × 18.7 cm. W/S Fine Art, Master Drawings exhibit at Dickinson, New York, 14-26 Jan., #21, illus. color online (price on request).
John Howard Visiting a Lazaretto. Pencil, 13.7 × 23.2 cm. W/S Fine Art, July cat., British Works on Paper, #8, illus. color online (price on request).
Macbeth Discovering Banquo’s Ghost. Pen and gray ink, gray wash, 32.7 × 49.2 cm. SL, 5 June, #159, illus. color (not sold; estimate £3000-4000).
A Standing Figure. Pen and brown ink, 18.1 × 7.4 cm. SL, 5 June, #160, illus. color (£4000).
Study for the Head of a Sailor (Act 1 of Shakespeare’s The Tempest). Oil, 44.0 × 35.0 cm., datable to c. 1787. SL, 5 June, #57, illus. color (£51,650).
Study of a Gentleman. Pencil and brown wash, 42.0 × 28.0 cm. W/S Fine Art, Master Drawings exhibit at Dickinson, New York, 14-26 Jan., #22, illus. color online (price on request).
A Study of Elizabeth Warren, Later Viscountess Bulkeley, as Hebe. Pen and brown ink, brown wash, 16.9 × 9.1 cm. SL, 5 June, #161, illus. color (£10,000).
Thelassie, the French Dancer. Pen and sepia ink, 10.2 × 17.8 cm. Abbott and Holder, March “Selected Six,” online cat. 387 (£1750). Previously offered Agnew’s, Feb. 1998 cat., #1, illus. color (£2750); previously sold under the title Studies of Thelassie, the French Dancer, Reclining, CL, 21 Nov. 2007, #13, illus. (£875).
RUNCIMAN, ALEXANDER
“Cormar Attacking the Spirit of the Waters,” etching. EB, Feb., incorrectly titled “Perseus and Andromeda,” framed (no bids on a required minimum bid of $174.99).
SHERMAN, WELBY
“The Shepherd,” engraving. Larkhall Fine Art, July-Sept. exhibit (price on request).
STOTHARD, THOMAS
Books with illustrations by Stothard are listed only for editions not recorded in the standard reference works, A. C. Coxhead, Thomas Stothard, R.A. (London: Bullen, 1906), and Shelley M. Bennett, Thomas Stothard: The Mechanisms of Art Patronage in England circa 1800 (Columbia: U of Missouri P, 1988).
Fifteen pen and ink and wash drawings, dating from the late 1770s to the late 1820s, ranging in size between 3.8 × 3.8 cm. and 22.9 × 17.8 cm. Abbott and Holder, June online cat., #1-15 of the “Select Group,” sold individually, illus. color (£275-425 each).
Five monochrome wash drawings datable to the early 1780s, each approx. 13.5 × 8.5 cm., 4 for Novelist’s Magazine (Tales of the Genii, Arabian Nights [2], and Chinese Tales) and 1 for Johnson’s Rasselas (“Achmet and Selima”) in Lady’s Magazine. EB, May-June, offered at “buy it now” prices of £150-190 each.
Three monochrome wash drawings, each approx. 9.0 × 7.0 cm., for Mackenzie’s The Man of Feeling, 1800. GL, 12 June, #2313, framed, illus. color (£240).
begin page 141 | ↑ back to topThe Dancers. Pencil, leaf 6.4 × 11.4 cm., probably executed in the 1780s. EB, March-April (£21).
Measure for Measure, attributed to Stothard. Oil, 8.3 × 8.3 cm. CSK, 11 Nov., #534, illus. color (£138; estimate £300-500). Possibly by Stothard, but this might be a copy to size of the engraving of the design by Charles Warren, published in The Plays of William Shakspeare, ed. Manley Wood (London: G. Kearsley, 1806) 2: facing 293.
A Sheet of Figural and Animal Studies, attributed to Stothard. Pencil, pen and ink, 19.1 × 24.2 cm. CSK, 11 Nov., #562, illus. color (not sold; estimate £600-800). The attribution seems solid to me.
Sylvia and the Outlaws: A Scene from Shakespeare’s “Two Gentlemen of Verona.” Oil, 69.9 × 52.4 cm., indistinctly signed. CSK, 3 Sept., #183, illus. color (not sold; estimate £8000-12,000). Very probably painted for Boydell’s Shakespeare Gallery, engraved by John Ogborne and published in Boydell’s edition of the Dramatic Works (1802) and Boydell’s Graphic Illustrations of . . . Shakspeare (c. 1803).
The Tempest. Oil, 101.5 × 127.0 cm. SL, 30 Oct., #198, illus. color (not sold; estimate £3000-5000). I am uneasy about the attribution to Stothard.
“Charlotte’s Visit to the Vicar,” engraved by Ogborne, 1785. EB, April, foxed and stained (£9.16). A separate pl. illustrating Goethe’s Sorrows of Young Werther. Not in Coxhead or Bennett, but listed in Poetic Description of Choice and Valuable Prints, Published by Mr. Macklin (1794) 64.
“The Evening Prayer” and “The Morning Lesson,” a pair engraved by Nutter, 1792. EB, April, slight foxing, framed (no bids on a required minimum bid of £99). Apparently separate pls., but possibly removed from a book; not in Coxhead or Bennett.
“Joseph Interpreting the Dream of Pharaoh’s Chief,” mezzotint by Young, 1798. EB, April, laid paper, water stain on verso (£21).
“Joseph’s Brethren Presenting His Bloody Coat to Jacob Their Father,” mezzotint by Young, 1798. EB, May, laid paper (no bids on a required minimum bid of £12.99); same impression, Aug. (£11.50).
“Pilgrimage to Canterbury,” engraved by Schiavonetti and Heath, 1817. Cheffins auction, Cambridge, 10 July, #297, framed, illus. color online (£150). EB, Sept., framed (no bids on an aggressive minimum bid of $499.99); same impression, Sept.-Oct. (offered at the “buy it now” price of $595 or “best offer”).
“Sailors in Port,” engraved by Ward, 1798. EB, Jan., marginal stains and foxing (€68).
“Shakespeare’s Seven Ages of Man Illustrated,” engraved by Bromley. BNY, 5 April, #97, a series of 7 color-printed and hand-colored prints, 20th-century morocco, illus. color ($3000). EB, Sept., uncolored set, 19th-century half calf very worn, front cover detached ($177.50).
Bray, Life of Stothard, 1851, extra-illus. copies only. Donald Heald, Oct. online cat., #6120, extended to 10 vols. quarto, 19th-century morocco by Riviere, binding illus. color ($28,500). The copy that failed to sell at BNY, 24 Oct. 2007, #118 (estimate $20,000-30,000). For details, including a list of the pls. engraved by Blake, see Blake 41.4 (spring 2008): 162. John Windle, Nov. private offer, extended to 10 vols. quarto, extra-illus. with 10 autograph manuscripts, 69 drawings, and 759 prints (including a proof of Blake’s engraving for Chaucer’s Poetical Works, 1782—see appendix 1), 19th-century half morocco worn, some covers detached (acquired by Victoria University Library, Toronto).
A Companion to the Altar, Shewing the Nature and Necessity of a Sacramental Preparation, n.d. (c. 1794). EB, June, bound with A New Version of the Psalms of David, 1794, later quarter roan (no bids on a required minimum bid of £4.99). Includes 5 pls. after Stothard also published in The Book of Common Prayer, London, 1794.
Gray, Elegy Written in a Country Church-Yard, London: John Van Voorst, 1839. EB, Dec. 2007, contemporary calf ($65). Includes 1 wood engraving by Charles Gray after Stothard.
Mary Holland, The Modern Family Receipt Book, London: Thomas Tegg, 1825. EB, Sept., uncut in original printed boards worn ($175). Includes a frontispiece, divided into 3 vignettes, based on Stothard’s designs. Listed in Coxhead 217-18 only as a “Cookery Book” without author or title; see also Bennett 86. The book has very little to do with cooking but is concerned with a wide variety of domestic tasks, including “Brewing,” “Bleaching,” “Perfumes and Cosmetics,” and “Destroying Vermin.”
Swift, Gulliver’s Travels, London: H. McLean, n.d. (pls. dated 1823). EB, April, browning and staining, contemporary calf rebacked ($14.99). Includes re-engravings of 2 Stothard designs 1st published in Novelist’s Magazine, 1782.
VON HOLST, THEODOR
A Man with a Club. Pencil, 16.5 × 14.0 cm., signed and dated 1844. BH, 11 March, #24, illus. color (not sold; estimate £1500-2000).
Appendix 1: New Information on Blake’s Engravings
Listed below are substantive additions or corrections to Essick, The Separate Plates of William Blake: A Catalogue (1983), and Essick, William Blake’s Commercial Book Illustrations (1991). Abbreviations and citation styles follow the respective volumes. Newly discovered impressions of previously recorded published states of Blake’s engravings are listed for only the rarer separate plates.
The Separate Plates of William Blake: A Catalogue
“Job,” pp. 17-20. A previously unrecorded impression on laid paper, 41.1 × 59.0 cm., was on exhibit at Tate Britain, 3 Nov. 2007 through 22 June 2008, on loan from a private collection. It is reported to be a proof before letters, or at least before the signature immediately below the design, but with the image the same as in the first state. The only recorded impression of the first state is in the Keynes Family Trust, on deposit at the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge. I have not seen this newly discovered impression; the information given here is based on Martin Butlin and Robin Hamlyn, “Tate Britain Reveals Nine New Blakes and Thirteen New Lines of Verse,” Blake 42.2 (fall 2008): 52-54, illus. The print, framed, was “acquired by the present owner at a south London market” (52). See the important Butlin and Hamlyn essay for further information.
“Enoch,” p. 56. For the sale of impression 1D, see the prefatory essay and Separate Plates and Plates in Series, above.
“George Cumberland’s Card,” pp. 111-22. For a previously unrecorded impression printed in brown, see under Separate Plates and Plates in Series, above.
“The Fall of Rosamond,” pp. 134-38. For a previously unrecorded impression, see under Separate Plates and Plates in Series, above.
William Blake’s Commercial Book Illustrations
Chaucer, Poetical Works, 1782, pp. 29-30. A proof before all letters of Blake’s single pl. is included in an extra-illus. copy of A. E. Bray, Life of Thomas Stothard (1851), now in the Victoria University Library, Toronto.
Hayley, Life of George Romney, 1809, pp. 94-95. Text leaves of large-paper copies show an “1807” watermark. Small-paper copies are watermarked “Rye Mill / 1807.”
Appendix 2: Ruskin on Blake
John Ruskin (1819-1900) made numerous references to Blake in his many books, essays, and letters. Those written (but not necessarily published) before 1863 (i.e., before the publication of Gilchrist’s Life of Blake) are listed in BB #1400, 2592-95. There are, however, many other comments by Ruskin on Blake and his works, including quotations from or allusions to his writings, outside the purview of BB because brief and post-1863. Given Ruskin’s prominence as Britain’s most important art critic of the Victorian era, all these passages (both listed and not listed in BB) are worthy of citation and brief quotation in the journal of record for Blake studies. Most of the texts quoted below are printed (some for the first time) in The Works of John Ruskin, ed. E. T. Cook and Alexander Wedderburn, 39 vols. (London: G. Allen; New York: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1903-12), cited hereafter as Works. Passages are arranged in chronological order to show Ruskin’s changing attitudes toward Blake’s life and art. There may be other references to Blake haunting Ruskin’s vast oeuvres, but these are all I have been able to find.
Letter to George Richmond, dated in Works 36: 32 to “[1843?].” First printed in Works 36: 32-33, from which the entire letter is quoted here. BB #2593.
My Dear Richmond,—Since I last saw you I have been looking very carefully over the portfolio of Blake’s drawings, and I have got nervous about showing them to my father when he comes home, in the mass. He has been very good to me—lately—with respect to some efforts which I desired to make under the idea that Turner would not long be able to work—and these efforts he has made under my frequent assurances that I should never be so captivated by any other man. Now I am under great fear that when he hears of my present purchase, it will make him lose confidence in me, and cause him discomfort which I wish I could avoid. If, therefore, I could diminish the quantity, and retain a few only of the most characteristic, I should be glad.
Now I feel the ungraciousness of saying this to you, but yet the purchase was so thoroughly of my own seeking and determination, in spite of all you could say, that I trust you will not see the smallest ground for finding fault with any one but me. I thought also that I should have hurt your feelings, if I had treated directly with Hogarth [the dealer Joseph Hogarth]—otherwise I would have wished not to trouble you on the subject; but I find the nervousness increasing upon me—not that I think less of the drawings than I did, but that several circumstances have since taken place, which you shall know of hereafter, which make me feel unwilling to ask my father for this sum at present to be so spent. Now, if I may treat with Hogarth, pray do not give one further thought to the affair—the purchase was entirely and is completely mine, and but for you I should probably have paid 150 [pounds?] instead of 100; but if you would rather that I should not speak directly to Hogarth, I wish you would see for me on what terms he would either receive back the portfolio, and also let me retain four of the Larger Drawings,—the Horse, the owls, the Newton, and the Nebuchadnezzar—or five including the Satan and Eve, and the Goblin Huntsman, and Search for the Body of Harold. Forgive me this. I do assure you I love the memory of your friend, and I shall love these drawings and never part with them, but I am afraid of giving pain to my Father. My hope is that you will leave it to ME to treat begin page 143 | ↑ back to top with Hogarth at once—but I thought you would have felt it unkind. I think it would have been wrong—taking your feelings towards Blake into consideration—to have done so without telling you.—Remember me most faithfully to Mrs. Richmond, and believe me, my dear Richmond, ever most affectionately yours, J. Ruskin.
The works Ruskin mentions are probably either God Judging Adam or Pity (“the Horse,” Butlin #295, Metropolitan Museum of Art; 312, Yale Center for British Art), Hecate or The Night of Enitharmon’s Joy (“the owls,” Butlin #318, Huntington Library), Newton (Butlin #307, Lutheran Church in America, on deposit at the Philadelphia Museum of Art), Nebuchadnezzar (Butlin #304, untraced since 1887), Satan Exulting over Eve (Butlin #292, J. Paul Getty Museum), probably Nimrod or “Let Loose the Dogs of War,” Possible Study for “Night Thoughts” (“the Goblin Huntsman,” Butlin #331, Nelson Art Gallery, Atkins Museum of Fine Arts), and The Search for the Body of Harold (Butlin #61, untraced since Ruskin’s letter).
The editors of Works add in a footnote (36: 33) the following “subsequent note” showing “that the matter was arranged”:
Dear Richmond,—Best thanks for your kind note. I have spoken to Hogarth, who says he will think over it, and arrange it to my satisfaction. After I hear his proposals I will make mine. Remember me to Mrs. Richmond, Mary, and Julia [two of Richmond’s daughters].—Ever most affectionately yours, J. Ruskin.
Among the works Ruskin names as those he wished to “retain,” only Nimrod is recorded by Butlin as once in Ruskin’s collection. He may have acquired some of the others and kept them for a few years, but there is no record of his ownership. Newton, Nebuchadnezzar, and Satan Exulting were sold at auction in 1854; Pity and Hecate were acquired by Arthur Burgess c. 1878-80; Mrs. Gilchrist owned God Judging Adam by 1863. See the diary entry for 22 Feb. 1878, below, for another of Blake’s large color prints Ruskin apparently owned at that time. Most of the first letter is reprinted in Raymond Lister, George Richmond: A Critical Biography (London: Robin Garton, 1981) 64; the Blake references are quoted in Butlin 1: 157. See also Century Guild Hobby Horse (1887), below, for another description of the same episode.
The manuscript of The Seven Lamps of Architecture (1st ed., 1849), a passage first printed in Works 8: 256, from which quoted here. BB #2595.
We have had two [men of genius] in the present century, two magnificent and mighty—William Blake and J. M. W. Turner. . . . two men who if they had been given to us in a time of law, and of recognized discipline, if they had had either teaching in their youth, or reverence in their manhood, might have placed our age on a level with the proudest periods of creative art. But what have they done for us? The influence of the one [Blake] is felt as much as the weight of last winter’s snow: and that of the other [Turner] has been so shortened by our dulness [sic], and distorted by our misapprehension, that it may be doubted whether it has wrought among us more of good or of evil.
Letter to the artist Mrs. Hugh Blackburn (née Jemima Wedderburn) dated “27 May.” First printed in Ellen C. Clayton, English Female Artists, 2 vols. (London: Tinsley Brothers, 1876) 2: 406, from which quoted here. BB #1400, 2593. No year is given for the letter, but the context of other letters and references in Clayton’s book suggests 1855. Works 36: 109 dates the letter “[1850].”
I think this love of horror generally, in us British people, rises out of distress of mind, mixed with (I pray your pardon) some slight affectation, and love of surprising people. But it seems to be natural to you, and to some of the Germans. You and [Gottfried Augustus] Bürger [German poet, 1748-94] would have trumped each other’s best tricks to some purpose. We have had one grand man of the same school—William Blake—whose “Book of Job” fail not to possess yourself of—if it comes in your way; but there is a deep morality in his horror—as in Dante’s: in yours there is little but desperation.
Reprinted in Works 36: 109-10 (with some differences in wording and punctuation).
Modern Painters, vol. 3, part 4 (London: Smith, Elder, 1856) 103, 259n1. BB #2594A.
Blake, perfectly powerful in the etched grotesque of the book of Job, fails always more or less as soon as he adds colour; not merely for want of power (his eye for colour being naturally good), but because his subjects seem, in a sort, insusceptible of completion; .... (103)
Blake was sincere, but full of wild creeds, and somewhat diseased in brain. (259n1)
Reprinted in Works 5: 137-38, 323.
The Elements of Drawing (London: Smith, Elder, 1857), “Appendix: Things to Be Studied,” 342. BB #2592A.
6. Blake.
The “Book of Job,” engraved by himself, is of the highest rank in certain characters of imagination and expression; in the mode of obtaining certain effects of light it will also be a very useful example to you. In expressing conditions of glaring and flickering light, Blake is greater than Rembrandt.
Reprinted in Works 15: 223.
“The Cestus of Aglaia: Prefatory,” Art-Journal ns 4 (1 Jan. 1865): 6.
. . . one who might have been among the best of them, the last we heard of, finding refuge for an entirely honest heart from a world which declares honesty to be impossible, only in a madness nearly as sorrowful as its own;—the religious madness which makes a beautiful soul ludicrous and ineffectual; and so passes away, bequeathing for our inheritance from its true and strong life, a pretty song about a tiger, another about a bird-cage, two or three golden couplets, which no one will ever take the trouble to understand,—the spiritual portrait of the ghost of a flea,—and the critical opinion that “the unorganised blots of Rubens and Titian are not Art.”
Reprinted in Works 19: 56. Ruskin alludes to three identifiable texts by Blake, “The Tyger” (E 24-25), “Auguries of Innocence” begin page 144 | ↑ back to top (E 490, “A Robin Red breast in a Cage / Puts all Heaven in a Rage”), and “A Public Address” (E 576, “The unorganized Blots & Blurs of Rubens & Titian are not Art . . .”). The “two or three golden couplets” may be other lines from “Auguries of Innocence,” such as those Ruskin quotes elsewhere in his writings (see below). For another reference to Blake’s criticism of Titian, see the diary entries for 22 Feb. 1878, below. Ruskin probably learned of the engraving of Blake’s “Ghost of a Flea” in John Varley’s Zodiacal Physiognomy (1828) from the description and reproduction in Alexander Gilchrist, Life of William Blake (London: Macmillan, 1863) 1: 254-55. Gilchrist 2: 148 is probably the source for Ruskin’s quotation from “A Public Address”; Gilchrist also prints “Auguries of Innocence” (2: 94-97). The “editorship” of these selections from Blake’s writings was “performed by Mr. Dante Gabriel Rossetti” (Anne Gilchrist’s preface, 1: v-vi).
“The Cestus of Aglaia: Chapter V”, Art-Journal ns 4 (1 June 1865): 178.
Our imagination is slower and clumsier than the French—rarer also, by far, in the average English mind. The only man of power equal to [Paul Gustave] Doré’s [French artist, 1832-83] whom we have had lately among us, was William Blake, whose temper fortunately took another turn.
Reprinted in Works 19: 117.
“The Cestus of Aglaia: Chapter VI,” Art-Journal ns 4 (1 July 1865): 199.
These are the opposite effects of Law and of Liberty on men of the highest powers. In the case of inferiors the contrast is still more fatal. . . . But the inferiors under a system of license for the most part perish in miserable effort; a few struggle into pernicious eminence—harmful alike to themselves and to all who admire them; many die of starvation; many insane, either in weakness of insolent egotism, like [Benjamin Robert] Haydon [English artist, 1786-1846], or in a conscientious agony of ignorant purpose and warped power, like Blake.
The passage is reprinted in Ruskin, The Queen of the Air (London: Smith, Elder & Co., 1869) 183-85, with “ignorant purpose” changed (apparently by Ruskin) to “beautiful purpose” in the final sentence. The reprint in Works 19: 132-33 follows the 1869 text.
The Eagle’s Nest (Keston, Kent: Smith, Elder, 1872) 23-24 (Lecture 2, “Of Wisdom and Folly in Science,” delivered at Oxford, 10 Feb. 1872).
You must have nearly all heard of, many must have seen, the singular paintings; some also may have read the poems, of William Blake. The impression that his drawings once made is fast, and justly, fading away, though they are not without noble merit. But his poems have much more than merit; they are written with absolute sincerity, with infinite tenderness, and, though in the manner of them diseased and wild, are in verity the words of a great and wise mind, disturbed, but not deceived, by its sickness; nay, partly exalted by it, and sometimes giving forth in fiery aphorism some of the most precious words of existing literature. One of these passages I will ask you to remember; it will often be serviceable to you—
“Doth the Eagle know what is in the pit,
Or wilt thou go ask the Mole?”
It would be impossible to express to you in briefer terms the great truth that there is a different kind of knowledge good for every different creature, and that the glory of the higher creatures is in ignorance of what is known to the lower.
Reprinted in Works 22: 138. The quotation is from The Book of Thel (E 3), with the first word changed from “Does.” See also the letter of c. 1877, below.
Letter 27, dated 27 Jan. 1873, published in Fors Clavigera, vol. 3 (Sunnyside, Orpington, Kent: George Allen, 1873) 8.
I lost great part of my last hour for reading, yesterday evening, in keeping my kitten’s tail out of the candles,—a useless beast, and still more useless tail—astonishing and inexplicable even to herself. Inexplicable, to me, all of them—heads and tails alike. “Tiger—tiger—burning bright” [“The Tyger,” E 24]—is this then all you were made for—this ribbed hearthrug, tawny and black?
Reprinted in Works 27: 495, where letter 27 is dated March 1873 and the concluding punctuation changed from a question mark to an exclamation mark. See also Proserpina, 1879, below.
Ariadne Florentina: Six Lectures on Wood and Metal Engraving, with Appendix [part 7] (Sunnyside, Orpington, Kent: George Allen, 1876), appendix, article 1, “Notes on the Present State of Engraving in England,” 239-40.
The few who have sense and strength to assert their own place and supremacy, are driven into discouraged disease by their isolation, like Turner and Blake; the one abandoning the design of his “Liber Studiorum” after imperfectly and sadly, against total public neglect, carrying it forward to what it is,—monumental, nevertheless, in landscape engraving; the other producing, with one only majestic series of designs from the book of Job, nothing for his life’s work but coarsely iridescent sketches of enigmatic dream.
Reprinted in Works 22: 470.
Letter of 8 May 1876 to Richard Herne Shepherd, first printed in Sotheby’s auction catalogue of 21 May 1890, #98. Quoted here in full from Works 34: 521-22. According to the editors of Works, the “little book” sent to Ruskin was Blake, Songs of Innocence and of Experience, ed. Shepherd (London: Pickering, 1868). Perhaps we can exclude the possibility that the volume was The Poems of William Blake, ed. Shepherd (London: Pickering, 1874), since that work contains an “introduction” rather than the “preface” referred to by Ruskin.
My dear Sir,—Putting my books in order after a long interval, I find to-day your gift of Aug. 6th, 1874, never before seen by me. It came when I was in Italy, and I have never got my books sifted since! I am very sorry, for I would fain have begin page 145 | ↑ back to top thanked you at once for the precious little book, of which you must have thought me so careless. But, as I now glance through it, I am a little pained by what, I suppose, is its truth of text, but is nevertheless not satisfactory after Rossetti’s emendations. You do not, I think, make clear enough in your preface the authority for your readings. In the tiger, for instance, Rossetti’s “What dread hand made thy dread feet?” is far more striking (to me) than your “What dread hand and what,” etc., which is forced and unintelligible.
Will you kindly tell me more clearly the relations of your text to Rossetti’s in such particulars? and believe me already, very faithfully yours,
J. Ruskin.
Shepherd’s version of the line from “The Tyger” follows Blake’s relief-etched text, except for the change of “&” to “and” (E 24). Ruskin misquotes D. G. Rossetti’s version, which reads “What dread hand formed thy dread feet?” (Gilchrist 2: 59). Rossetti’s reading accords with a pen and ink emendation, probably written by Blake, in copy P of Songs of Innocence and of Experience (“Formd thy”). Rossetti may have seen copy P or one of the two early facsimiles made from it, although the provenances of these works offer no direct link to the Pre-Raphaelite or Gilchrist circles.
Letter dated 3 Sept. 1876, first published in an appendix to Fors Clavigera, Works 29: 577.
Religion, without love of man, becomes madness; love of man, without tenderness to the lower creature, becomes insolence; and as
“The bat that flits at close of eve
Has left the brain that won’t believe,”
[“Auguries of Innocence,” E 490]
so also Religion, without love of man,—is that possible?
Letter 74, dated to “Christmas Day, 1876,” published in Fors Clavigera, vol. 7 (Sunnyside, Orpington, Kent: George Allen, 1877) 32-33.
Finally, here are four of the grandest lines of an English prophet, sincere as [Vittore] Carpaccio [Venetian painter, c. 1460-1525], which you will please remember:
“The bat that flits at close of eve,
Hath left the brain that won’t believe.”
“Hurt not the moth, nor butterfly,
For the Last Judgment draweth nigh.”
Reprinted in Works 29: 36. The couplets are quoted from “Auguries of Innocence” (E 490-91). Blake wrote “Has” at the beginning of the second line in the first quotation and “Kill” at the beginning of the first line in the second quotation. Neither variant appears in Gilchrist 2: 95 (see “Cestus,” 1 Jan. 1865, above) nor in the Pickering and Rossetti editions of 1874.
Bibliotheca Pastorum, ed. Ruskin, vol. 2, Rock Honeycomb. Broken Pieces of Sir Philip Sidney’s Psalter. . . . With a Preface and Commentary by the Editor (London: Ellis and White; Sunnyside, Orpington, Kent: George Allen, 1877).
Even his feet have reigned over the works of Thy hands. God makes the worm, and moth, and the wild beast; and we tread on them, or subdue. Compare Blake, of the tiger:—
“And what shoulder, and what art,
Could twist the sinews of thy heart.” [“The Tyger,” E 24]
Quoted from Works 31: 158.
Compare Blake, of “ill meaning sound [Sidney, psalm 17],”
“A truth that’s told with bad intent
Beats all the lies you can invent.”
[“Auguries of Innocence,” E 494]
Quoted from Works 31: 187.
Letter of c. 1877 to Susan Beever, first published in Works 37: 224.
But you may tell her I should be very sorry if my eyes were no better than eagles’! “Doth the eagle know what is in the pit?” I do.
The quotation is from The Book of Thel (E 3), with the first word changed from “Does.” See also The Eagle’s Nest, 1872, above.
Diary entries, 22 Feb. 1878, as printed in The Brantwood Diary of John Ruskin, ed. Helen Gill Viljoen (New Haven: Yale UP, 1971) 100-01.
—And on my chimney piece, Turners Jerusalem—and Blake’s Ruth. Left there also ....
I have not looked back, nor took my hand from the Jason plough.
And when Gold and Gems adorn the plough!
Oh—you dear Blake—and so mad too—
Do you know what Titians good for now you stupid thing?
Ruskin owned Turner’s watercolor, Jerusalem—The Pool of Bethesda, at this time; see Notes by Mr. Ruskin on His Collection of Drawings by the Late J. M. W. Turner, R A. Exhibited at the Fine Art Society’s Galleries (London: Fine Art Society, 1878) 47, #51. He apparently also owned “Blake’s Ruth”—possibly the large color print Naomi Entreating Ruth and Orpah to Return to the Land of Moab (Butlin #300, Keynes Collection, Fitzwilliam Museum). Butlin gives no provenance record for this work prior to 1901, when J. W. Pease bequeathed it to Miss S. H. Pease. J. W. Pease did not acquire two of his other Blake color prints, Pity and Hecate (or The Night of Enitharmon’s Joy), until 1887 at the earliest (Butlin #312, 318). Both Pity and Hecate were among the works by Blake Ruskin purchased, or at least came close to purchasing, from the dealer Joseph Hogarth; see the letter to Richmond of c. 1843, above. Perhaps Naomi Entreating Ruth came from the same source.
In the second diary entry, Ruskin alludes to lines from Blake’s “Auguries of Innocence”: “When Gold & Gems adorn begin page 146 | ↑ back to top the Plow / To peaceful Arts shall Envy Bow” (E 495). The reference to Titian alludes to Blake’s criticism of his art—see “The Cestus of Aglaia: Prefatory,” 1 Jan. 1865, above.
Proserpina: Studies of Wayside Flowers, vol. 1 (Sunnyside, Orpington, Kent: George Allen, 1879), chapter 11, “Genealogy,” quoted here from Works 25: 361.
. . . still the fifth sweet leaf unfold for the Rose, and the sixth spring for the Lily; and yet the wolf rave tameless round the folds of the pastoral mountains, and yet the tiger flame through the forests of the night!
“Wolf rave” and “round the folds” allude to Blake’s “Night”: “When wolves and tygers howl for prey” and “. . . walking round the fold” (E 14). The allusion at the end of the sentence is to the opening lines of Blake’s “The Tyger”: “Tyger Tyger, burning bright, / In the forests of the night” (E 24). See also letter 27 of 1873 in Fors Clavigera, above.
Letter of 27 March 1881 to Alexander Macdonald, as printed in Tim Hilton, John Ruskin: The Later Years (New Haven: Yale UP, 2000) 425.
. . . the doctors know really nothing about the conditions of insanity which attack men like Blake or Turner or me . . . The Doctors enrage me more and more the longer I live.
Letter of 20 May 1881 to George Richmond, first published in Works 37: 361.
. . . a course of saintly studies for Amiens, which I fancy the Devil objected to;—but I’m getting quietly into work again, for all that, and hope he’ll get the worst of it, at last—nor even now has he done me much harm, in teaching me what kind of temper Blake worked in—and one or two more in old days—leaving me, now, just as practical and rational a person as ever I was!
A lecture delivered at Oxford, 26 and 30 May 1883; first published as “Lecture IV, Fairy Land,” in 1883. Quoted here from the first collected edition of the lecture series, The Art of England: Lectures Given in Oxford (Sunnyside, Orpington, Kent: George Allen, 1884), Lecture IV, “Fairy Land. Mrs. Allingham and Kate Greenaway,” 131.
You must, however, always carefully distinguish these states of gloomy fantasy, natural, though too often fatal, to men of real imagination,—the spectra which appear, whether they desire it or not,—to men like Orcagna [Florentine painter, 1308-68], Durer [Albrecht Dürer], Blake, and Alfred Rethel [German painter, 1816-59],—and dwelt upon by them, in the hope of producing some moral impression of salutary awe by their record—as in Blake’s Book of Job, in Durer’s Apocalypse, in Rethel’s Death the Avenger and Death the Friend, ....
Reprinted in Works 33: 334-35.
Proserpina: Studies of Wayside Flowers, a passage first published in part 10 (1886), quoted here from Works 25: 514-15 (in the first collected edition of Proserpina vol. 2, this passage is placed in chapter 9, “Salvia Silvarum”).
The dark blossom . . . is an entirely innocent and pleasant flower, the white variety of it so full of honey, that children, as well as bees, enjoy it: whence Proserpina’s name for it, “Melitta dulcissima”; called “Archangel” in old English—by some corruption of Latin, I fancy, but my wisely fanciful botanical friend writes: “The blossoms do seem to stand in solemn order like Blake’s angels in the Book of Job.”
Letter of 28 Aug. 1886 to Charles Eliot Norton, first printed in Works 37: 569.
How many wiser folk than I go mad for good and all, or bad and all, like poor Turner at the last, Blake always, [Walter] Scott in his pride, [Edward] Irving [preacher, 1792-1834] in his faith, and [Thomas] Carlyle, because of the poultry next door.
The letter is also printed, with minor differences in punctuation, in The Correspondence of John Ruskin and Charles Eliot Norton, ed. John Lewis Bradley and Ian Ousby (Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1987) 494.
“Arthur Burgess,” Century Guild Hobby Horse no. 6 (April 1887): 51-52.
He [Burgess] was again in London . . . and possessed himself of some of Blake’s larger drawings—known to me many and many a year before. George Richmond had shown them to me—with others—I suppose about 1840,—original studies for the illustrations to Young’s Night Thoughts—and some connected with the more terrific subjects etched for the Book of Job. I bought the whole series of them at once;—carried it home triumphantly—and made myself unhappy over it—and George Richmond again delivered me from thraldom of their possession.
They were the larger and more terrific of these which poor Arthur had now again fallen in with—especially the Nebuchadnezzar [Butlin #304, untraced since 1887]—and a wonderful witch with attendant owls and grandly hovering birds of night unknown to ornithology [Hecate or The Night of Enitharmon’s Joy, Butlin #318, Huntington Library].
No one at the time was, so far as I know, aware of the symptoms of illness which had been haunting me for some days before, and I only verify their dates by diary entries,—imaginative, then beyond my wont, and proving that before the Blake drawings came, my thoughts were all wandering in their sorrowful direction,—with mingled corruscations [sic] of opposing fancy, too bright to last.
Reprinted in Works 14: 354-55 and quoted in part in Butlin 1: 157. Burgess, who died in 1887, was a wood engraver and friend of Ruskin’s. In addition to the two works by Blake to which Ruskin refers, Burgess may have owned a third large color print, Pity (Butlin #312, Yale Center for British Art). Butlin dates Burgess’s acquisition of these works to c. 1878-80. See also the letter of c. 1843, above, for more information on Ruskin’s attempted purchase of works by Blake.