Volume 48 · Issue 4

Abbreviations

Illuminated Books

Songs of Innocence and of Experience, posthumous copy i. Forty-four pls. (BB pls. 1-14, 16-29, 33-36, 38-43, 46, 48, 49, 52-54) on 44 unbound leaves, 43 leaves approximately 24.1 x 19.8 cm., 17 leaves showing a J Whatman / 1831 watermark, last recorded in the collection of Lord Cunliffe. BHL, 18 June, #73, “plate 23 hand-coloured, plate 48 on a slightly smaller sheet of thinner paper (240 x 185mm.), pencilled numbers at upper right corners, occasional light dust-soiling at edges, a handful of spots, plates 6-7 and 13 with notch at one edge, plates 12-13 with nineteenth century pencil notes in margin, final plate bumped at fore-edge, preserved in red morocco pull-off box,” pls. 1, 3, 23, 42 illus. (£62,500 to the E. J. Pratt Library, Victoria University, Toronto). BB pp. 371, 380 exclude pl. 29, the title page to Experience, and include pl. 30, the “Introduction” to Experience, in the list of pls. in copy i, but BB p. 371 includes pl. 29 in the record of pls. with the watermark. Matthew Haley of Bonhams has assured John Windle that pl. 29 is present and pl. 30 is absent. BBS 129 states that copy i is in the Keynes Collection, Fitzwilliam Museum, but this is an error for copy l (lowercase L). Both the auction cat. and BB p. 371 describe the ink color as “grey,” but I suspect that this is black ink thinly applied. See illus. 1-3.

1. Title page to Songs of Innocence and of Experience, posthumous copy i, BB pl. 1 (see enlargement). Relief and white-line etching in black ink, 2^nd st., image and platemark 11.5 x 7.1 cm., leaf of wove paper approximately 24.1 x 19.8 cm. Printed c. 1831 or later by Frederick Tatham. E. J. Pratt Library, Victoria University, Toronto; photo courtesy of Bonhams London. For a description of this 2^nd (posthumous) st., see Blake 47.4 (spring 2014), caption to illus. 3.

2. Title page to Songs of Innocence in Songs of Innocence and of Experience, posthumous copy i, BB pl. 3 (see enlargement). Relief and white-line etching in black ink, image and platemark 12.0 x 7.4 cm., leaf of wove paper approximately 24.1 x 19.8 cm. Printed c. 1831 or later by Frederick Tatham. Inscribed “3” top right in pencil in an unidentified hand. E. J. Pratt Library, Victoria University, Toronto; photo courtesy of Bonhams London.

3. “Spring,” 2^nd pl., in Songs of Innocence and of Experience, posthumous copy i, BB pl. 23 (see enlargement). Relief and white-line etching in black ink with hand coloring in watercolors, image and platemark 10.5 x 7.7 cm., leaf of wove paper approximately 24.1 x 19.8 cm. Printed c. 1831 or later by Frederick Tatham. Like pl. 23 in posthumous copy h, the etching border was not inked or was wiped clean of ink. Inscribed “22” top right in pencil in an unidentified hand. E. J. Pratt Library, Victoria University, Toronto; photo courtesy of Bonhams London.

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The coloring of this impression is better, and more Blake-like, than one usually finds in tinted examples of posthumous copies of the Songs. The hand is distinct from the two coloring styles present in posthumous copy h. The thin, transparent washes in rose, blue, and yellow extending over the text and around the design are particularly unusual, perhaps unique, for a posthumous print and recall the presence of such tinting in lifetime impressions. Might Blake’s wife, Catherine, have been the colorist? Joseph Viscomi and I have speculated along those lines, but we have come to no firm conclusions. This leaf would appear to be the same Whatman 1831 paper used for all but pl. 48 in copy i. Mrs. Blake did not die until 18 Oct. 1831 (BR[2] 546), and thus it is possible for her to have worked on paper of that year. As William Michael Rossetti was the 1^st to point out, she was probably responsible for much of the coloring in Blake’s illus. to John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress of 1824-27 (Gilchrist 2: 235, Butlin #829). There are some similarities between the darker, thicker coloring on those designs and this impression of pl. 23. For example, the mottled green of the grassy ground below the child and sheep is similar to the handling of the same (or very similar) color in the background foliage in Christian Knocks at the Wicket Gate (Butlin #829.10).

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Drawings and Paintings

Pestilence, Probably the Great Plague of London. Watercolor, 13.9 x 18.7 cm., datable to c. 1779-80. Butlin #184. SL, 9 July, #185, illus. (£25,000; estimate £20,000-30,000). Previously offered SL, 8 July 1982, #102 (not sold; estimate £3000-5000). See illus. 4.

4. Pestilence, Probably the Great Plague of London (see enlargement). Watercolor, 13.9 x 18.7 cm., datable to c. 1779-80. Inscribed in pen and ink “WB,” bottom right, and on the door upper left, “Lord have / m^er on us” (the 2^nd line crudely written). A few pencil lines below this inscription may be fragments of 2 illegible words; below this is a pen and ink squiggle that might be the beginnings of a further inscription or simply a decorative flourish. The coloring has been rubbed off the surface of the work in numerous spots, with a particularly disturbing cluster upper left and a large patch on the prone figure’s arm, bottom center. The area just left of the bellman, extending from his face to his left hand, is also abraded. Provenance: as in Butlin #184 to c. 1980; “A. Stein” according to the SL cat. of 9 July, #185; sold to a private collector at the SL auction. Photo courtesy of Sotheby’s London.

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This 1^st recorded version of Blake’s Pestilence design may have been part of a series of watercolors illustrating English history, including Butlin #51, 52, 53, 57, 60, 62, 64, and 67, all of about the same size. Blake listed the subjects of 7 of these works in his Notebook, among a group of 20 designs based on English history (E 672). In turn, he may have engraved (or intended to engrave) some of these subjects for “The History of England, a small book of Engravings,” known only from its listing in his 1793 advertisement “To the Public” (E 692-93). Blake developed his Pestilence design in a slightly larger watercolor datable to c. 1780-84 (Butlin #185). This second version lacks the inscription on the door upper left but would still seem to take its subject and setting from the great plague of London in 1665. Blake used the couple lower left, a version of the bellman, and the inscription on the door for the full-page design on pl. 10 of Europe a Prophecy, 1794. For discussions of the Pestilence subject in Blake’s works, including later versions, see Shelley M. Bennett, “A Newly Discovered Blake at the Huntington,” Blake 18.3 (winter 1984-85): 132-39; Joseph Viscomi, “A Breach in a City the Morning after the Battle: Lost or Found?” Blake 28.2 (fall 1994): 44-61; and Stephen C. Behrendt, “The Evolution of Blake’s Pestilence,” Prophetic Character: Essays on William Blake in Honor of John E. Grant, ed. Alexander S. Gourlay (West Cornwall, CT: Locust Hill P, 2002) 3-26.

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Sketch for Newton. Pencil drawing, 20.4 x 26.3 cm., datable to c. 1795. Butlin #308. Bequeathed by Quentin Keynes to the Fitzwilliam Museum in 2005. Accession no. PD.35-2005.

Two Studies of a Baby’s Head, Possibly Hannah or Elizabeth Ann Linnell. Pencil and watercolor, 37.0 x 26.0 cm., inscribed “Portrait of some / Infant by William Blake / vouched by Fred.^k Tatham.” Butlin #788, dating the drawing to “c. 1820 (?).” SL, 9 July, #186, illus. (£11,250; estimate £4000-6000). Previously sold CL, 22 July 1949, #66 (£47.5s. to Mrs. Alastair Winterbottom); offered BHL, 6 Feb. 2007, #91, illus. (withdrawn; estimate £10,000-15,000); sold BHL, 11 March 2008, #27, illus. (£10,800 to the Welsh tenor and conductor Robert Tear). Tear died in 2011; the SL vendor may be an heir. For illus. and comments, see Blake 41.4 (spring 2008): 149.

The Virgin Hushing the Young Baptist, Who Approaches the Sleeping Infant Jesus. Tempera, 27.0 x 38.2 cm., inscribed “WB inv [in monogram] 1799.” Butlin #406. LL, Sept. private offer ($2,400,000); Dec., online cat., illus. (not priced). Previously offered by John Windle, Dec. 2002 cat., no entry #, illus. on the cover (not priced, “full details upon request”), Sept. 2003 cat. 36, #1, illus. (“price on application”), and Artemis Fine Arts, Jan. 2003 “Review 2002,” pp. 31-33, no entry #, with an essay on the painting by David Bindman, illus. (not priced). According to Martin Bailey, “From £1,000 to £10 Million in Two Years,” Art Newspaper no. 136 (May 2003): 42, the asking price in 2002 was $3,800,000. For illus., see Blake 37.4 (spring 2004): 119 and the William Blake Archive (Drawings and Paintings, Paintings, Illustrations to the Bible [c. 1799-1803], The Virgin Hushing the Young Baptist).

Wat Tyler. Pencil, 24.2 x 19.2 cm., inscribed “Octr 30. 1819,” probably p. 66 from the larger Blake-Varley Sketchbook. Butlin #737, then in the collection of Edwin Wolf 2^nd. Described by Butlin as the original, but the discovery of the larger Blake-Varley Sketchbook revealed the original drawing, p. 65, of which this version is a counterproof. Bauman Rare Books, Nov. Boston Book Fair, marginal stains, framed ($65,000). Previously sold from Wolf’s collection, CL, 13 July 1993, #7, illus. (£4830 to a British dealer, probably acting for Bauman). Previously offered by Bauman, April 1994 “Blake” cat., unnumbered item on inside back cover ($38,000).

Separate Plates and Plates in Series

“Carfax Conduit, Oxford.” Signed “Blake sc.,” designer unknown, possibly intended as a book illus. Sanders of Oxford, Aug. online cat., no item #, “some surface dirt with crease to top right corner,” illus. (£310). For the attribution to William Blake, see Robert N. Essick, “A ‘New’ William Blake Engraving,” Print Quarterly 2 (1985): 42-47. “A View of Carfax Conduits, Oxford, drawn and engraved by Blake. 1s. 6d.” is listed under “New Publications” in the Quarterly Review 3 (May 1810): 518; see also the Edinburgh Review 16 (April-Aug. 1810): 253, and Edinburgh Annual Register for 1810 3 part 2 (1812): cviii. The style of engraving indicates that the pl. was engraved in the 1780s; “New Publications” probably means “new impressions” in 1810.

“Chaucers Canterbury Pilgrims.” Sotheran’s, April “Spring Miscellany” cat., #27, 5^th st., 1^st Colnaghi printing on thin laid “Japan” paper, the same impression offered by John Windle, March 2013 online cat., for $20,000, illus. (£15,000); Oct. “William Blake” cat., #92, SP impression 5ZZ, a Colnaghi printing on laid India, illus. (£9000); #93, another Colnaghi impression on laid India, “lightly cleaned and mounted,” illus. (£8500). Larkhall Fine Art, May private offer, 3^rd st., wove leaf trimmed on or just within the platemark, 10 cm. tear in left margin, apparently not the impression (SP 3W) available from Larkhall in 2007 for £17,500 (£22,000).

“Christ Trampling on Satan,” Butts after Blake. DW, 5 Feb., #69, laid paper, described as a “20th century printing,” framed, illus. (£130 to Donald Heald Books for stock). CSK, 4 Dec., #57, “on stiff wove paper, … some foxing,” illus. (£750).

Dante engravings. Sotheran’s, Oct. “William Blake” cat., #40-43, pls. 4, 5, 6, and 2 offered individually, probably the 1892 printing, pl. 2 foxed, all illus. (£9555, £6695, £4975, and £6505 respectively).

“Evening Amusement.” See “Morning Amusement,” below.

“George Cumberland’s Card.” Sotheran’s, Oct. “William Blake” cat., #52, black ink printed “on thick card,” illus. (£12,750). For information on this impression, see the 2013 sales review in Blake 47.4 (spring 2014).

Job engravings. Mallams auction, Oxford, 12 March, #49, pl. numbered 15 only, 1874 printing on laid India, illus. (£360). 19^th Century Shop, March online cat., complete set, 1826 “Proof” printing on laid India, scattered light foxing, printed label laid in loose, unbound but with “the original annotated paper wrapper noting the … Linnell family sale, Christie’s, 15 March 1918,” illus. ($135,000—a record asking price). Rulon-Miller, May online cat., complete set, 1826 printing on Whatman paper after removal of the “Proof” inscription but with slight indications of the word on a few pls., 19^th-century half morocco a little worn ($35,000). BHL, 18 June, #72, complete set, 1826 printing on Whatman paper after removal of the “Proof” inscription, from the collection of “Henry Cunliffe (1826-1894) …; thence by descent,” late 19^th-century morocco, illus. (£27,500 to John Windle for stock); same copy, Sotheran’s, Oct. “William Blake” cat., #51, illus. (£57,000; sold to Duke University).For materials removed from this copy after the auction and before the Sotheran’s cat., see L. Schiavonetti after T. Phillips, engraved portrait of Blake published in Robert Blair, The Grave, 1808, under Interesting Blakeana. CL, 16 July, #333, complete set, 1826 “Proof” printing on so-called “French” wove paper, “marginal spotting throughout, … original green cloth-backed drab card wrappers, printed paper label on the upper cover,” illus. (£17,500); same copy, Sims Reed, Oct. cat., #21, illus. (£57,500). EB, Sept., complete set, 1874 printing on laid India, foxed, India paper yellowed, later half morocco by Sangorski & Sutcliffe, illus. (offered at the “buy it now” price of $15,000 or “best offer”); same copy, Certain Books, Oct. online cat., illus. ($15,000). Swann, 23 Sept., #1, pl. numbered 10 only, 1874 printing on laid India, illus. ($3000); 29 Oct., #241, pl. numbered 16 only, 1874 printing on laid India, illus. ($2750), #242, pl. numbered 7 only, 1826 “Proof” printing on laid India, illus. ($1750), #243, pl. numbered 8 only, 1826 “Proof” printing on laid India, illus. ($1950). Duke’s auction, Dorchester, 25 Sept., #16, pl. numbered 5 only, 1826 “Proof” printing on laid India, illus. (£600). Cottone auction, Geneseo, New York, 27 Sept., #647, pl. numbered 9 only, probably 1826 printing on Whatman paper, illus. ($1600). Sotheran’s, Oct. “William Blake” cat., #32-39, pls. numbered 8, 13, 10, 17, 12, 5, 15, and 7 offered individually, 1826 “Proof” printing on laid India, all illus. (ranging between £2105 and £3025); #44-47, pls. numbered 8, 6, 7, and the title page offered individually, 1874 printing on laid India, all illus. (£1385, £1345, £1155, and £1345 respectively). Sophie Schneideman Rare Books, Nov. online “William Blake & His Followers” cat., no entry #, complete set, 1826 “Proof” printing on so-called “French” wove paper, some foxing, “in book mounts[?] and housed in a … clamshell box,” illus. (£65,000). CL, 3 Dec., #117, complete set, 1826 “Proof” printing on laid India, “probably the full sheets, some pale foxing in the margins,” unbound in a modern cloth portfolio, illus. (£62,500). SL, 9 Dec., #55, complete set, 1826 “Proof” printing on so-called “French” wove paper, from the collection of “General Archibald Stirling of Keir,” late 19^th-century morocco by Zaehnsdorf, worn, illus. (£37,500). BHL, 9 Dec., 1826 “Proof” printing on laid India in the following lots, each illus. and estimated at £2500-3500: #14, title page and pl. numbered 2 (£2875), #15, pls. numbered 4 and 12 (£3125), #16, pls. numbered 7 and 8 (not sold), #17, pls. numbered 9 and 17 (not sold), #18, pls. numbered 18 and 19 (not sold).

“Morning Amusement” and “Evening Amusement,” the pair after Watteau. Bamfords auction, Rowsley, Derbyshire, 16 April, #1121, black ink, “24.5cm x 29cm,” no description of condition, illus. (£200; estimate £40-60). Both the illus. and the measurements indicate that the pls. are trimmed slightly into the designs, particularly right and left. It is not possible to determine the sts. of these pls. when the inscriptions are trimmed off.

Letterpress Books with Engravings by and after Blake, Including Prints Extracted from Such Books

Adams, New Royal Geographical Magazine, c. 1793? September Books, March online cat., “bound” (£1000). For Blake’s pls. in this work, 1^st published c. 1784 in Seally and Lyons, Complete Geographical Dictionary, see BBS 251-53 and CB 35-36.

Allen, Roman History, 1798. Sotheran’s, Oct. “William Blake” cat., #1, pls. only, illus. (£965). Vintagepaperstore, Nov. online cat., pls. badly stained, contemporary calf very worn, spine missing, illus. ($370). 

Ariosto, Orlando furioso. EB, Dec. 2013, 1785 ed., 5 vols., contemporary calf worn, illus. (no bids on a required minimum bid of $35); Oct., 1799 ed., 5 vols., contemporary calf worn, illus. (£191.56); Dec., 1799 ed., 5 vols., contemporary calf, illus. (offered at the “buy it now” price of $1200). Argosy Book Store, March online cat., 1785 ed., 5 vols., contemporary calf repaired ($450). BL, 17 April, #170, 1799 ed., 5 vols., contemporary calf worn, with Tasso, Jerusalem Delivered, 1797, 2 vols. (£124). John Windle, Nov. online cat., 1799 ed., 5 vols., contemporary calf worn, probably the copy sold EB in Oct.—see above ($500). Blackwell’s, Dec. cat. B181, #3, 1785 ed., 5 vols., pls. browned, vol. 1 water stained, contemporary half calf (£450).

Blair, The Grave, 1808 folio. Sims Reed, April New York Book Fair, 2 pls. supplied from the 1808 quarto and thus in their 2^nd published sts., elaborate Victorian calf binding ($30,000—a record asking price). See also L. Schiavonetti, portrait of Blake published as the frontispiece to Blair’s Grave, 1808, under Interesting Blakeana.

Blair, The Grave, 1808 quarto. Carl Blomgren Books, Feb. Pasadena International Book Fair, uncut in modern half calf over older cloth-covered boards ($2000). John Windle, March online cat., #4, “later half calf over contemporary marbled boards, marbled edges,” illus. ($4750); same copy, Sotheran’s, Oct. “William Blake” cat., #72, illus. (£3000). BL, 17 April, #226, engraved title page cropped top and bottom, “some spotting,” contemporary half calf very worn, “lacking backstrip, covers detached,” illus. (£348). White Fox Books, July online cat., inscription by James Neagle (probably the engraver, 1765-1822), some marginal damp stains, uncut in original boards worn and rebacked with cloth tape, paper label on upper cover, quarter morocco slipcase, the copy offered BHNY, 25 June 2013, #3217, not sold ($2950). Bauman Rare Books, Aug. online cat., later morocco rebacked, illus. ($7500). Sotheran’s, Oct. “William Blake” cat., #26, pl. 11 only, illus. (£525). Caliban Book Shop, Nov. online cat., marginal foxing, later half calf ($2750). 

Blair, The Grave, 1813 quarto. Great Modern Pictures, Aug. online cat., pl. 10 only, “platemark intact,” illus. ($475). Cobbs auction, Peterborough, New Hampshire, 11 Oct., #243, scattered foxing, later quarter calf very worn, part of spine missing, illus. ($425). Sotheran’s, Oct. “William Blake” cat., #27-31, pls. 6, 11, 7, 2, and 10 offered individually, all illus. (£385 for pl. 11, £305 each for the others). BG, 6 Nov., #174, stained, modern half morocco, illus. (£380). Staniland Books, Nov. online cat., later quarter calf “with original wrappers laid down … the publisher’s printed label on upper board” (£850).

Blair, The Grave, “1813” [actually 1870] folio. Brick Row Book Shop, Nov. online cat., rebound in half calf ($900). Jarndyce, Dec. online cat., publisher’s cloth with replacement spine (£250).

Blair, The Grave, [1870] portfolio of pls. only. EB, Nov., stains at edges of the leaves, publisher’s portfolio (no bids on a required minimum bid of $795); same copy, Dec., same result. DW, 12 Nov., #551, marginal stains, publisher’s portfolio worn (not sold; estimate £150-250).

Blair, The Grave, 1926 Phoenix Press restrikes of the pls. only (BB #435J). EB, July, original folder worn, illus. (no bids on a required minimum bid of $550).

Boydell’s Graphic Illustrations … of Shakspeare, c. 1803. Eveleigh Books, March online cat., “heavy [foxing] on some plates,” last few pls. damp stained, contemporary calf rebacked ($2250). BHO, 25 June, #414, some pls. damp stained, contemporary calf very worn, illus. (£812). Literary Lion, Nov. online cat., contemporary (publisher’s?) morocco slightly worn, illus. ($6500). Subun-So Book Store, Nov. online cat., contemporary half calf “slightly worn” ($2247).

Cumberland, Thoughts on Outline, 1796. Jarndyce, March online cat., unbound text gatherings and 23 (of 24) unbound pls., lacking Blake’s pl. 6, “one of the 94 copies which remained unbound and probably unsold (most likely it was given away) following complications with the booksellers” (£690). The statement about unbound copies is based on the “94” remainder copies in “Sheets” sent to the bookseller Longman between Jan. 1804 and June 1807 (BB p. 543).

Darwin, Botanic Garden. EB, March, 1^st ed. of Part 1, 1791, 2^nd ed. of Part 2, 1790, large-paper issue, leaves uncut, scattered light foxing, modern half calf, illus. (£480); July, 3^rd ed. of Part 1, 1795, 4^th ed. of Part 2, 1794, scattered foxing, contemporary calf rebacked, illus. (£265); Oct., 1^st ed. of Part 1, 3^rd ed. of Part 2, both 1791, large-paper issue, leaves trimmed, contemporary calf worn, illus. (£215.91); another copy, same eds., small paper, boards very worn, front cover loose, illus. (£565.55); Oct.-Nov., 1799 ed., 2 vols., foxed and stained, contemporary calf very worn, illus. ($179.99). Chiswick auction, London, 26 March, #44, 3^rd ed. of Part 1, 1795, 4^th ed. of Part 2, 1794, occasional light spotting, 19^th-century calf rebacked and worn, the copy reportedly sold for £270, 27 Nov. 2013, #74, with Darwin, Phytologia, 1800, Blake’s pl. 6 in Botanic Garden illus. (£190); same copy(?) of Botanic Garden, 25 June, #37 (not sold; estimate £100-150). Bow Windows Bookshop, May cat. 195, #28, 1^st ed. of Part 1, 3^rd ed. of Part 2, both 1791, “occasional light spotting,” 19^th-century half vellum, illus. (£800). TJ, 11 June, #149, 3^rd ed. of Part 1, 1795, 4^th ed. of Part 2, 1794, later “anglaise” binding (€746). BHO, 16 Sept., #264, 1^st ed. of Part 1, 3^rd ed. of Part 2, both 1791, 2 vols., later cloth, with another botanical book unrelated to Blake, illus. (£600). Sotheran’s, Oct. “William Blake” cat., #66, 3^rd ed. of Part 1, 1795, 4^th ed. of Part 2, 1794, “occasional light spotting as usual,” modern calf (£2395).

Earle, Practical Observations on the Operation for the Stone, 1803 reissue of the 2^nd ed. William Dailey Books, Feb. Pasadena International Book Fair, with the appendix 1^st published in 1796, lacking the title page to the appendix (as issued?), 2^nd st. of the pl. in the appendix (CB pl. 3), 20^th-century cloth ($1500 to Essick). The only copy of the 1803 issue I’ve ever seen on the market. See my appendix, below, and illus. 5.

5. Unsigned folding pl. in James Earle, An Appendix to a Treatise on the Operation for the Stone (London: J. Johnson, 1796) (see enlargement). This impression from the Appendix included with the 1803 reissue of Earle’s Treatise, Essick collection. Etching/engraving, 2^nd st. of 2, platemark 16.1 x 29.9 cm., leaf of wove paper without watermark 21.3 x 32.8 cm. The inscription top left, present in both sts. of the pl., is by an anonymous writing engraver; the inscriptions bottom center and lower right, added in this 2^nd st., are in Blake’s hand. The letter forms, particularly the “g,” are characteristic of his engraved lettering—compare his inscriptions in George Cumberland, Thoughts on Outline, 1796. The barely visible blurred form top center is a weak impression of the collection stamp of the Birmingham Medical Institute, a former owner of the volume. I am grateful to Alexander Gourlay for his assistance in attributing the 2^nd st. inscriptions to Blake. For another copy of the Appendix and comments on this pl., see “Blake in the Marketplace, 2013,” Blake 47.4 (spring 2014).

Flaxman, Hesiod designs, 1817. BG, 23 Jan., #132, 2 copies, “occasional spotting,” original boards with label, worn, with Flaxman’s Iliad designs, 1805, 34 (of 39) pls. only, foxed and damp stained, many pls. “loose,” the same 3 vols. unsold at BG, 14 Nov. 2013, #51 (£20). EB, Jan., bound with the Iliad, 1805, Odyssey, 1805, and Aeschylus, 1831, designs, some pls. loose, 19^th-century morocco, illus. (no bids on a required minimum bid of $2000); same copy, Jan.-Feb., illus. (no bids on a required minimum bid of $1800); same copy, Feb., illus. (no bids on a required minimum bid of $800); same copy, Feb., illus. (no bids on a required minimum bid of $500). Peter Keisogloff, March online cat., bound with the Iliad, 1805, Odyssey, 1805, and Aeschylus, 1831, designs, 19^th-century morocco by J. Wright, binding illus. ($2500); the same or a very similar copy also bound by J. Wright, DW, 9 April, #362 (not sold; estimate £250-350); same copy, DW, 14 May, #427 (£140). PBA, 5 June, #381, with the Iliad, 1805, and Odyssey, 1805, designs, many pls. badly stained and foxed, 3 vols. in publisher’s boards with title labels, illus. (not sold; estimate $700-1000). Pls. offered individually are not listed. For the misattribution of the Hesiod pls. to “Blake (John),” see Le Blanc, 1854-90, under Interesting Blakeana.

Flaxman, Iliad designs. EB, Dec. 2013, 1805 ed., scattered light foxing and a few stains, contemporary half calf very worn, illus. (£102). John Windle, March online cat., 1870 ed., most pls. loose, publisher’s printed boards with stains ($175). Pls. offered individually are not listed. See also Hesiod designs, above.

Gay, Fables. EB, Dec. 2013-Jan., 1793 ed., 2 vols., scattered foxing, some leaves damp stained, contemporary vellum, illus. (£180); Jan., 1793 ed., 2 vols., later vellum, illus. (offered at the “buy it now” price of $2500 or “best offer”); Feb., [1811] ed., 2 vols., uncut in 20^th-century morocco, illus. (offered at the “buy it now” price of $2500 or “best offer”); July, 1793 ed., 2 vols., 6 unidentified pls. partly hand colored, foxed, three-quarter calf, illus. ($350); Aug.-Sept., 1793 ed., 2 vols., contemporary calf rebacked, illus. (offered at the “buy it now” price of $1600 or “best offer”). A Book by Its Cover, March online cat., 1793 ed., 2 vols. in 1, scattered light foxing, “leather” rebacked ($1200). Wittenborn Art Books, March online cat., 1793 ed., 2 vols., some foxing, “contemporary leather” very worn, illus. ($1100). St. Mary’s Books, March online cat., 1793 ed., 2 vols. in 1, some foxing, “original full leather” worn, illus. (£395). Bearnes Hampton & Littlewood auction, Exeter, 19 March, #229, 1793 ed., 2 vols., later calf, binding illus., probably the same copy offered 21 Aug. 2013, #147, reportedly sold for £310 but perhaps not sold (£260). Sotheran’s, Oct. “William Blake” cat., #63, 1793 ed., 2 vols., “a very tall copy, possibly large-paper,” some “browning and offsetting,” contemporary calf, bindings illus. (£965). McConnell Books, Nov. online cat., [1811] ed., 2 vols., later morocco, illus. (£2000). John Taylor Books, Nov. online cat., 1793 ed., 2 vols., later calf, bindings illus. (£800). James Cummins, Nov. online cat., [1811] ed., 2 vols., later calf ($1250). By the Way Books, Nov. online cat., 1793 ed., 2 vols. in 1, 6 unidentified pls. hand colored, scattered foxing, three-quarter buckram, probably the copy sold EB in July (see above) rebound, illus. ($1161.16). Pls. offered individually are not listed. Some of the 1793 eds. may be the [1811] issue.

Hartley, Observations on Man, quarto issue, 1791. BL, 19 May, #91, Blake’s pl. spotted, modern half calf over very worn contemporary boards, illus. (£806).

Hayley, Ballads, 1805. TJ, 11 June, #151, contemporary calf, illus. (€1243). Sotheran’s, Oct. “William Blake” cat., #70, 1^st sts. of the pls., original boards rebacked, earlier (original?) spine label preserved, illus. (£6595). Skinner auction, Boston, 16 Nov., #145, sts. of pls. not recorded, contemporary calf very worn, with Lavater, Aphorisms, 1789, contemporary calf rebacked, and Hayley, Triumphs of Temper, 1803, contemporary boards rebacked, bindings illus. ($1476). 

Hayley, Life of Cowper, 1803-04. Second Life Books, Jan. online cat., 1^st ed., 3 vols., scattered foxing, contemporary calf rebacked ($694.40). EB, Jan., 2^nd ed., vols. 1-2 only, contemporary calf worn, illus. (offered at the “buy it now” price of £200); same copy, Feb., illus. (offered at the “buy it now” price of £145). Sotheran’s, Oct. “William Blake” cat., #69, 2^nd ed., 3 vols., some foxing, contemporary half calf, illus. (£800).

Hayley, Life of Romney, 1809. Roe and Moore, March online cat., scattered foxing, pl. margins stained, 20^th-century buckram (£120). Le-Livre, March online cat., “intérieur acceptable,” half leather, illus. (€105). BG, 19 June, #321, contemporary half calf worn (£156). EB, Aug., imprint on Blake’s pl. trimmed in half, modern half calf over contemporary boards, illus. ($305). WestField Books, Nov. online cat., lacking 1 pl., “Sensibility” engraved by Watson, foxed, later half calf (£60). 

Hayley, Triumphs of Temper, small-paper issue unless noted otherwise, 1803. DW, 29 Jan., #547, contemporary calf worn, illus. (£250). GO, 26 March, #1022, contemporary calf rebacked, illus. (£100). TJ, 11 June, #150, contemporary morocco, illus. (€746). EB, Sept.-Oct., marginal stains, contemporary calf very worn, illus. (offered at the “buy it now” price of $395 or “best offer”); same copy, Oct.-Nov., illus. (no bids on a required minimum bid of $395). Sotheran’s, Oct. “William Blake” cat., #67, 19^th-century calf rebacked, modern slipcase, illus. (£625); #68, large-paper issue, modern half morocco, illus. (£1750). See also Hayley, Ballads, above.

Hogarth, Works. Barnes auction, London, 8 Feb., #95, Blake’s pl. only, probably 2^nd published st. from the 1790 ed., light stains in the lower margin, framed, illus. (£100). Emanuel von Baeyer, March cat., #31, Blake’s pl. only, 1^st proof st. with the scratched imprint present, leaf 45.7 x 58.6 cm., illus. (price on request). John Windle was informed by Baeyer on 5 May that the price was £18,500—a record asking price for any commercial copy engraving by Blake and possibly a record for a copy engraving by a British artist. Acquired May by Windle for the E. J. Pratt Library, Victoria University, Toronto. EB, May-June, Blake’s pl. only, probably 5^th published st., lower margin partly torn off but with the imprint intact, illus. (€51). SL, 15 July, #518, The Original and Genuine Works of William Hogarth, usually dated to c. 1795 but this copy on paper with an 1809 watermark, 108 pls. on 89 leaves, presumably including the 3^rd published st. of Blake’s pl., creases and stains, contemporary half calf very worn, illus. (£3000). Swann, 4 Dec., #220, undated Baldwin and Cradock issue, lacking text pages 23-24, 97 pls., tears and foxing, half morocco worn, illus. ($2080).

Hunter, Historical Journal, 1793, quarto issue. BHO, 25 June, #254, “some spotting,” imprint on title page trimmed off, modern half calf, illus. (£1250). SL, 30 Sept., #657, contemporary calf, illus. (£6875).

Josephus, Works, c. 1787-88. EB, Oct., issue between BB issues A and B (apparently issue “Ab” in BBS 228), Blake’s pls. 2 and 3 illus. and his pl. 1 presumably present (2^nd sts.), marginal tears, contemporary calf very worn, covers detached ($134.50); Dec., BB issue C, scattered foxing and stains, contemporary morocco worn, illus. (offered at the “buy it now” price of £475). 

Lavater, Aphorisms. EB, July, 1789 ed., 1^st st. of Blake’s pl., water stained lower left, apparently disbound, illus. with a YouTube video (£51). E. M. Lawson, July cat. 340, #8, 1788 ed., 1^st st. of Blake’s pl., with Douglas Cleverdon’s book label designed by Eric Gill, contemporary calf, previously offered at the same price in Lawson cat. 329 of June 2010, #19 (£320). See also Hayley, Ballads, above.

Lavater, Essays on Physiognomy. EB, Feb., vol. 1 only, 1789, with all 4 Blake pls., scattered foxing, contemporary calf very worn, illus. ($227.87); May-June, a mixed set, vols. 1-2 dated “1792” (actually c. 1818), vol. 3 dated 1798, 3 vols. in 5, scattered foxing, contemporary morocco worn and repaired, illus. ($2245); Sept., pl. 3 only, full leaf with letterpress text, illus. (£29.99). BHNY, 22 Oct., 1789-98 ed., 3 vols. in 5, contemporary half morocco worn, illus. (not sold; estimate $1000-1500). Heritage Book Shop, Nov. online cat., 1789-98 ed., 3 vols. in 5, contemporary calf rebacked ($2750).

Malkin, Father’s Memoirs, 1806. Sotheran’s, Oct. “William Blake” cat., #71, modern half morocco, illus. (£1200).

Rees, Cyclopædia, 1820. EB, Oct.-Nov., Blake’s pl. 4 only, illus. (no bids on a required minimum bid of €2). 

Salzmann, Elements of Morality. EB, Jan.-Feb., 1791 ed., vol. 2 (of 3) only, scattered foxing and marginal stains, contemporary calf very worn, illus. (£24). Round Table Books, Feb. online cat., 1792 ed., vol. 1 (of 3) only, lacking 1 unspecified pl., foxed, contemporary calf worn and rebacked, binding illus. ($400).

Shakespeare, Plays, 1805. EB, Dec. 2013, Blake’s pl. 1 only, illus. with a video and surprisingly insightful spoken commentary (£25.99); March, 9 vol. issue lacking vol. 1 but with Blake’s 2 pls. in vols. 6 and 9, contemporary calf worn, illus. (£92). Thornton’s Bookshop, March online cat., vols. 1-8 only of the 9 vol. issue and thus lacking Blake’s pl. 2, contemporary calf very worn (£300). Auction Gallery of the Palm Beaches, Florida, 1 April, #490, 10 vol. issue, foxed, contemporary morocco worn, bindings illus. ($650).

Stedman, Narrative. EB, Dec. 2013-Jan. and again in Aug. and Nov., 1796 ed., 2 vols., lacking Blake’s pl. 14, scattered foxing, contemporary calf rebacked, illus. (offered at the “buy it now” price of $5500); Dec. 2013-Jan., 1813 ed., 2 vols., scattered light foxing, modern quarter calf, illus. (offered at the “buy it now” price of £1950 or “best offer”); May, 1796 ed., vol. 1 only, some pls. damp stained and foxed, contemporary calf worn, illus. (no bids on a required minimum bid of $1000); same copy, June, illus. ($535). Swann, 27 March, #37, 1796 ed., 2 vols., scattered light foxing, contemporary calf worn and rebacked, illus. ($3750). Heritage Book Shop, April online cat., 1796 ed., 2 vols., contemporary calf, vol. 2 rebacked, illus. ($6500); same copy and price, Aug. cat., #178, illus. BHL, 18 June, #71, the title-page vignette for both vols., an unrecorded proof, illus. (£5625 to the E. J. Pratt Library, Victoria University, Toronto; estimate £1000-1500). Sotheran’s, Oct. “William Blake” cat., #2, Blake’s pl. 15 only, illus. (£385); #3, Blake’s pl. 10 only, illus. (£295). For the title-page vignette, now attributable to Blake, see the prefatory essay and illus. 6-10.

6. Etched and engraved title-page vignette for John Gabriel Stedman, Narrative, of a Five Years’ Expedition, against the Revolted Negroes of Surinam, 1796 (see enlargement). Pre-publication proof impression, signed in scratched drypoint letters lower left, just above the cannon barrel, “Blake” (as the engraver); inscribed “cuncta mea mecum” on the flag draped over the top of the oval vignette. Design 5.6 x 7.5 cm. on leaf of wove paper trimmed within the platemark to 25.0 x 19.0 cm. The copperplate, at 26.9 x 19.9 cm., had to be large enough to contain the text of the title page, subsequently executed by a writing engraver (see illus. 7). Inscribed in pencil lower right, “Blake,” in an unidentified hand. E. J. Pratt Library, Victoria University, Toronto, call no. Blake Suppl. no. 566; photo courtesy of the Pratt Library.

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The newly discovered signature makes it certain that Blake engraved this vignette. His signature appears on 13 other pls. in Stedman’s book; 3 unsigned pls. have also been attributed to Blake’s hand (see BB #499 and CB 71-75). For records concerning Blake’s contacts with Stedman, see BR(2) 61-62, 66-70. Blake’s involvement with Stedman and his publication makes it highly unlikely that some other engraver named “Blake” executed this vignette.

The Latin inscription (the Stedman family motto, “my all is with me”) was executed in drypoint by Blake, not by a writing engraver. Like the other pls. in the book, this vignette was probably based on a drawing by Stedman. In comparison to the 1^st published st. (illus. 7-9), this proof lacks the large flags attached to poles or aft masts on the sterns of the ships 1^st and 4^th from the left. Oddly, in the published st. the anchor lower right and the cannon barrel lower left have been recut to eliminate the crosshatching appearing in this proof. A small patch of crosshatching has also been deleted from the right extension of the flag dangling lower left.

According to Anon., The Book of Family Crests, 13^th ed. (London: Reeves and Turner, 1882) 2: 442, “an anchor and cable,” traditional emblems of steadfastness, are part of the Stedman family crest. For a version of this crest, see <http://​www.​myfamilysilver.​com/​pages/​crestfinder-​crest.​aspx?id=176165&name=Stedman>.

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7. Etched and engraved title page for John Gabriel Stedman, Narrative, of a Five Years’ Expedition, against the Revolted Negroes of Surinam, small-paper copy, vol. 1, 1796 (see enlargement). First published st., image (including all lettering) 24.1 x 17.5 cm., platemark 26.9 x 19.9 cm., leaf of wove paper 28.0 x 22.1 cm. Essick collection. The lettering (except for the inscriptions within the vignette) is by an unidentified writing engraver, but the oval vignette can now be attributed to Blake (see the caption to illus. 6). See also illus. 8 (vignette, 1^st published st.), 9 (detail of signature), and 10 (vignette, 2^nd published st.).

8. Title-page vignette for Stedman’s Narrative, small-paper copy, vol. 1, 1796 (see enlargement). Etching/engraving, 1^st published st., image 5.6 x 7.5 cm. Essick collection. Signed in scratched drypoint letters lower left, just above the cannon barrel, “Blake”; see also illus. 6. The clouds above the ships were etched very lightly and are poorly printed in this impression. G. E. Bentley, Jr., has kindly pointed out to me that the flags on the sterns of 2 ships, added in this 1^st published st., are those of Holland, the horizontal stripes properly tinted red, white, and blue (top to bottom) in hand-colored copies of Stedman’s book. The large Dutch flag upper left is also appropriately tinted in colored copies. See also illus. 7 (complete title page, vol. 1), 9 (detail of signature), and 10 (vignette, 2^nd published st.).

9. Detail showing the drypoint “Blake” signature lower left on the title-page vignette for Stedman’s Narrative, small-paper copy, vol. 1, 1796. Etching/engraving, 1^st published st. Area shown approximately 5 x 7 mm. Essick collection. In comparison to the proof (illus. 6), the signature is worn but still visible under magnification. This image has been cleaned in Photoshop to eliminate patches of foul inking around the signature. See also illus. 7 (complete title page, vol. 1), 8 (vignette, 1^st published st.), and 10 (vignette, 2^nd published st.).

10. Title-page vignette for Stedman’s Narrative, small-paper copy, vol. 2, 1796 (see enlargement). Etching/engraving, 2^nd published st., image 5.6 x 7.5 cm. Essick collection. In this 2^nd st., the rope dangling on the right has been extended upward beyond the lower tip of the flag to touch the outer frame of the vignette. A few crossing strokes have been added to the rope on the left where it hangs above the cannon. The clouds above the ships have been recut in a very different pattern. Diagonal hatching, apparently representing a cloud, has been cut into the space between the frame of the vignette and the flag upper left, just above and to the left of “mea” in the inscription. Many lines have been cut more deeply in the ocean, the ring fastening upper left, the lower tip of the anchor, and the Latin inscription. Blake’s signature, lower left, shows considerable wear, but fragments are still visible under magnification.

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Identical letter forms, sizes, and positions indicate that the same copperplate was used for both title pages. The hand-colored, large-paper copy of the 1796 ed. in the Huntington Library has the same combination of sts.—vol. 1, 1^st st., vol. 2, 2^nd st.—found in all small-paper copies examined. In a hand-colored, large-paper copy in my collection, the title page to vol. 1 has the vignette in its 2^nd st. Apparently the vignette was revised prior to the change in vol. number and at least this 1 impression pulled. It would not be surprising, however, to find this st. of the vol. 1 title in other copies, large and small paper. Next, a 2^nd “I” was squeezed into the space between the first “I” in the vol. number and the following ruled line to create the title page for vol. 2 present in both large- and small-paper copies. This procedure is more efficient and cost effective than creating two distinct copperplates with only minor differences between them. The publishers of the 1796 ed. were probably not sufficiently prescient to know that there would be 2 further printings of the book and thus they anticipated only 1 required alteration in the title-page pl., from vol. 1 to vol. 2. For the 1806 ed., the date was changed, “J. Edwards” was replaced with “Th. Payne” as one of the publishers named in the imprint, and “Second Edition corrected.” was added below the volume designation. Impressions for the 1806 vol. 2 may have been pulled 1^st, since the pl. presumably bore the “Vol. II” inscription remaining from the 1796 printing, and then the 2^nd “I” in the volume number was deleted before printing the title page for vol. 1. The vignette is still in its 2^nd st., but the clouds above the ships are worn and Blake’s lightly scratched signature has completely worn away. The reverse procedure probably occurred for the production of the 1813 title pages, with the pl. for vol. 1, only the date having been changed, printed first and then converted to its vol. 2 st. Technically, these are all different sts. of the copperplate on which Blake etched and engraved his vignette, but only the early, 2-step change in the vignette itself—from the proof to the 1^st published st., and from the 1^st published st. to the 2^nd—involved his work. See also illus. 6 (proof of the vignette), 7 (complete title page, vol. 1), 8 (vignette, 1^st published st.), and 9 (detail of signature).

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Tuer, Follies and Fashions of Our Grandfathers, 1886-87. BL, 11 June, #466, large-paper copy, publisher’s boards, and another book, Victorian Illustrated, not dated (£100). Michael Thompson, Nov. online cat., large-paper copy, publisher’s boards, illus. ($650). Missing Books, Nov. online cat., large-paper copy, publisher’s boards (£250). Antiquarianbooksellers Gemilang, Nov. online cat., small-paper copy, publisher’s boards damaged but repaired (€1850). Knickerbocker Books, Nov. online cat., small-paper copy, publisher’s boards, illus. ($450). G. J. Askins, small-paper copy, publisher’s boards ($200). Includes a restrike of Blake’s pl. 3 from Hayley’s Essay on Sculpture, 1800.

Vetusta Monumenta, vol. 2, c. 1789. Andersens Antikvariat, March online cat., vols. 1-5, 1747-c. 1827, modern half calf ($11,534).

Virgil, Pastorals, 1821. Sophie Schneideman Rare Books, online cat. for the July Melbourne Book Fair, no entry #, 2 vols., “original contemporary sheep, skilfully [sic] rebacked, Great copy,” illus. (£24,000); same copy, Nov. online “William Blake & His Followers” cat., no entry #, illus. (£25,000).

Wit’s Magazine, 1784. Davidson auction, Annandale, Australia, 2 Aug., #1168, Jan. 1784 through May 1785 issues, with the 1^st version of Blake’s frontispiece (BB pl. 1, CB pl. 1A), half morocco, illus. ($800 Australian). Sotheran’s, Oct. “William Blake” cat., #65, 1784-85, with the 2^nd version of Blake’s frontispiece (BB pl. 2, CB pl. 1B), contemporary boards rebacked with calf, illus. (£3665). 

Wollstonecraft, Original Stories, 1791. Fine Editions, Aug. online cat., modern vellum, pls. 2 and 5 in their 2^nd sts., sts. of other pls. not indicated but probably 2^nd, illus. ($4865).

Young, Night Thoughts, 1797. Sophie Schneideman Rare Books, online cat. for the July Melbourne Book Fair, no entry #, no mention of the “Explanation” leaf, “generously-margined copy in 20th century brown half morocco by Riviere” (£12,500); same copy and price, Nov. online “William Blake & His Followers” cat., no entry #, illus. Sotheran’s, Oct. “William Blake” cat., #5-25, a selection of 21 pls. offered individually, illus. (ranging between £385 and £965 each); #64, modern morocco, no mention of the “Explanation” leaf, with the bookplate of “Bernard, Lord Coleridge,” illus. (£11,150; sold to Duke University).

There has been some uncertainty about which matrix was printed first in this ed., the letterpress texts or the engravings. Moss states that the “engravings were printed off first”; Easson and Essick claim that the letterpress came first.W. E. Moss, “The Coloured Copies of Blake’s ‘Night Thoughts,’” Blake 2.2 (Sept. 1968): 19. Roger R. Easson and Robert N. Essick, William Blake: Book Illustrator, vol. 1 (Normal, IL: American Blake Foundation, 1972) 13. Although it makes no mention of Blake or Young, Gaskell’s 2004 essay on the coordination between letterpress and copperplate printing offers important information on standard 17^th- and 18^th-century practices. He states unequivocally that, “whatever method was used to register the engravings in the text, the key bibliographical point is that the letterpress was printed first, and printed sheets with blank spaces would be delivered to the rolling press printer.”Roger Gaskell, “Printing House and Engraving Shop,” Book Collector 53.2 (summer 2004): 231 (complete essay 213-51). Gaskell supports his conclusion with a reference to Martin Dominique Fertel, La science pratique de l’imprimerie (Saint-Omer: Fertel, 1723). The relevant passage, not quoted by Gaskell, is probably the following: “Quand on veut mettre quelques Vignettes, Fleurons, ou Armoiries en taille douce dans l’impression d’un Livre, on doit observer de prendre leur juste grandeur, pour ne pas laisser moins de blanc, aux endroits où elles doivent être placées, qu’elles en contiendroient, afin que le Tailledoucier puisse imprimer ces Planches avec plus de facilité” (54-55). Rough literal translation: “When one wishes to place some vignettes, rosettes, or escutcheons on an impression of a book, one must keep their proper size by not leaving less blank space [than necessary] where they must be placed, which will contain them, so that the engraver [plate printer] is able to print those plates with the most facility.” Gaskell’s discussion pertains to the printing of vignettes, headpieces, and other relatively small pls., not to the format of the 1797 Night Thoughts with the engravings surrounding the letterpress texts, but it seems likely that the customary sequence would nonetheless have been followed for this ed. Plate printers, according to Gaskell 230-31, habitually placed the leaf or leaves bearing letterpress face up on the bed of the rolling press to facilitate registration of engraved pls. face down on top of the paper. This procedure would not help to align Blake’s Night Thoughts pls. since they are about the same size as the leaves to be printed and thus the text would not be visible in the final stages of bringing copper and paper together. A plate printer’s normal method, with the pl. face up on the bed of the press and the paper placed over it, was probably followed for Night Thoughts. Given these unusual circumstances, it is not surprising that a line of the text sometimes appears above or below the outlined box meant to contain it.

Interesting Blakeana

Horse Puzzle Sketch attributed to Blake. Pen and ink, leaf 16.8 x 18.8 cm., inscribed “WB.” EB, April, illus. (offered at the “buy it now” price of £70,000 or “best offer”); relisted in the same month, illus. (no bids on a required minimum bid of £10,000); twice in Aug., illus. (no bids on a required minimum bid of £1000); twice in Sept. and once in Oct., illus. (same minimum and result); Oct., illus. (no bids on a required minimum bid of £499.99). Not by Blake, but the vendor deserves credit for persistence.

W. Cowper, The Negro’s Complaint. Broadside, no place or publisher, c. 1788. Blackwell’s, Sept. cat. B180, #9, approximately 37.5 x 9.5 cm., “woodcut” headpiece of “‘am I not a Man and a Brother,’ … laid down on a card, … a little browned,” 1 of several broadside versions, illus. (£4000). The success of Cowper’s poem, commissioned in 1788 by the Committee for the Abolition of the Slave Trade, may have influenced William Hayley’s decision to have Blake etch the broadside of Little Tom the Sailor in 1800.

W. Blake, Europe, title page, 1794. A cartoonish watercolor copy of a touched proof now in the Morgan Library and Museum (Butlin #274A). Laid paper, leaf approximately 9.0 x 6.0 cm. EB, Dec. 2013, stains and surface dirt, illus. ($135). The design is Blake’s, but the style reminds me of Robert Crumb.

John Payne, Universal Geography Formed into a New and Entire System, vol. 1, printed by Zachariah Jackson, Dublin, 1794. EB, Aug., 1 pl. only, a re-engraving, with right and left reversed, of Blake’s pl. 2 in Fenning and Collyer, A New System of Geography, 1785-86, inscribed “P. Maguire sculp.” lower left and “Engraved for Jackson’s Editions of Payne’s new System of Universal Geography” bottom center, design 20.3 x 16.9 cm., platemark 23.2 x 19.2 cm., leaf of wove paper 26.5 x 20.3 cm., stained, illus. ($20 Australian to Essick). The Irish engraver Patrick Maguire was active in Dublin c. 1790-1820. He also re-engraved Blake’s frontispiece pl. for Lavater’s Aphorisms on Man for the Dublin 1790 ed. For a previously unrecorded 3^rd st. of Blake’s Fenning and Collyer pl. 2, published in Payne’s Universal Geography, London, 1791, see the 1^st entry under William Blake’s Commercial Book Illustrations in the appendix. See also Cook, A Voyage to the Pacific Ocean, under Basire, James, below.

W. Owen, The Cambrian Biography: or Historical Notices of Celebrated Men among the Ancient Britons, 1803. Madoc Books, Sept. online cat., contemporary calf worn, illus. (£200). Three Geese in Flight Celtic Books, Sept. online cat., “hardcover” ($284.63). Castle Hill Books, Sept. online cat., later cloth worn (£120). William Owen (or William Owen Pugh) commissioned Blake’s untraced painting The Ancient Britons (Butlin #657; see BR[2] 308 for the commission). This book may have influenced Blake’s comments on the painting in his 1809 Descriptive Catalogue. Owen states that “Arthur is the Great Bear, as the epithet literally implies: and perhaps, this constellation, being so near the pole, and visibly describing a circle in a small space, is the origin of the famous round table” (15). In a similar vein, but also mistaking a star for a constellation, Blake writes that “Arthur was a name for the constellation Arcturus, or Bootes, the Keeper of the North Pole” (Descriptive Catalogue, E 542). The constellation Boötes (sometimes confused with Ursa Major—Owen’s “Great Bear”) includes the star Arcturus, its name derived from a Greek word meaning guard of the bear.

L. Schiavonetti after T. Phillips, engraved portrait of Blake published in Robert Blair, The Grave, 1808. A pre-publication proof lacking all letters and before considerable finishing work in the design, India paper laid on heavy wove without watermark, leaf trimmed inside the platemark to 33.6 x 24.3 cm. John Windle, July private offer (acquired by Essick). Formerly bound with a set of Blake’s Job engravings sold BHL, 18 June, #72, from the collection of “Henry Cunliffe (1826-1894) …; thence by descent,” illus. (see Job under Separate Plates and Plates in Series, above). The Blake portrait is in the same early st. as the proof, on heavy laid paper, in the Keynes Collection, Fitzwilliam Museum, reproduced in Geoffrey Keynes, The Complete Portraiture of William and Catherine Blake (London: Trianon Press for the William Blake Trust, 1977), pl. 8a. These 2 proofs may be those sold CL, 22-23 July 1814, “works of those very distinguished engravers, Messrs. Louis and Nicholas Schiavonetti,” #250, “two ditto [a reference to #249, “portrait of Blake”] unfinished.”Known to me only from the transcription of this cat. in G. E. Bentley, Jr., “Sale Catalogues of Blake’s Works: 1791–2013,” <http://​library.​vicu.​utoronto.​ca/​collections/​special_​collections/​bentley_​blake_​collection/​sale_​catalogue/​1800.​html>, accessed 17 Aug. The impression in my collection may be the “unfinished proof” before all letters on “india paper” sold from the collection of James Anderson Rose, SL, 27 June 1876 and 10 following days, #1810 on the 10^th day, with a finished impression on laid India (£1.1s.).

The flat appearance of this impression, with no sense of relief to the printed lines when touched, suggests that it was subject to heavy pressure, possibly after having been cleaned by soaking in water, or that it is a true-size lithographic reproduction. I think it unlikely that someone would make such a convincing lithographic facsimile of this proof st., one that captures even the smallest scratches visible in impressions on laid India published in the 1808 folio issue of The Grave. Like the Keynes proof, however, this print does not contain some pitting of the copperplate, right of Blake’s upper left arm, that apparently occurred between the proof and published sts. The preponderance of the visual evidence, combined with the record of sales of unfinished proofs noted above, indicates that this is an impression from Schiavonetti’s copperplate.

Windle also removed the following materials, now in my collection, from the Cunliffe set of Job engravings: an advertisement for Gilchrist’s Life of Blake from the Quarterly Literary Advertiser, Jan. 1865; clipping of a brief announcement (from the same journal?) of the 2^nd ed. of Gilchrist’s biography, 1880; 3-pp. manuscript (by Cunliffe?) about Blake’s life and Gilchrist’s biography; 2 wood-engraved portraits of John Linnell and an obituary of Linnell from the Athenæum no. 2831 (28 Jan. 1882).

Cameos from the Antique; or, the Cabinet of Mythology … Intended as a Sequel to the Poetical Primer by Mrs. [Rose] Lawrence. Liverpool: Evans, Chegwin and Hall; London: Longman, Rees and Co., 1831. Malcolm Books, July online cat., publisher’s quarter calf detached, spine missing and replaced with plastic tape, “contents otherwise fair” (£52 to Essick). Includes Blake’s “To the Muses” from Poetical Sketches, retitled “The Poet Complains to the Muses of the Decline of Poetry,” pp. 75-76. “Blake” is given as the author on p. xii of the table of contents. Not in BB or BBS; the “Second Edition, Revised” of 1849 is recorded in G. E. Bentley, Jr., “William Blake and His Circle: A Checklist of Publications and Discoveries in 2009,” Blake 44.1 (summer 2010): 12. Lawrence’s Poetical Primer; Consisting of Short Extracts from Ancient and Modern Authors was 1^st published in 1808. The 1849 ed. of Cameos appears to have been printed as a supplement to the 5^th ed. of Poetical Primer, also 1849. The British Library online cat. includes an 1834 issue of Cameos and WorldCat lists an 1842 issue, but I have not seen these.

How did Lawrence, or anyone else involved in the production of Cameos, come upon a copy of “To the Muses” no later than 1831? Perhaps Lawrence knew Henry Crabb Robinson or his 1811 essay on Blake published in Vaterländisches Museum in which “To the Muses” is reprinted (BB #2538; see also BR[2] 585). In the 5^th line of the poem, Blake’s “Heav’n” (E 417) is replaced by “heaven” in both Cameos and Robinson’s essay. Blake’s “chrystal,” line 9, is printed as “christal” by Robinson and “crystal” by Lawrence. The reprints substitute a comma and a period, respectively, for Blake’s exclamation marks as the terminal punctuation in the final 2 lines. Lawrence adds 2 unique variants, “bottom” for “bosom” (line 10) and “poesie” for “Poetry” (line 12). Based on these rather random variants, it is difficult to conclude that Lawrence’s version was based on the text in Vaterländisches Museum. G. E. Bentley, Jr., has pointed out to me that both Poetical Sketches and Cameos indent every other line of “To the Muses,” beginning with the 2^nd, whereas Robinson does not. This is the best evidence that Lawrence had access to Blake’s book, possibly one of Crabb Robinson’s copies (see copies A and O, BB pp. 347, 351). There are no references to “Mrs. Lawrence” or “Rose Lawrence” in Robinson’s published diaries and correspondence, but he does refer to “Miss Lawrence” in 1821 and 1839; see Henry Crabb Robinson on Books and Their Writers, ed. Edith J. Morley, 3 vols. (London: Dent, 1938) 1: 265, 2: 572. Lawrence reprinted Blake’s “The Tiger [sic],” stripped of its final stanza and with several odd changes in wording (for example, “favour” for “fire,” line 6), in another edited collection, Pictures, Scriptural and Historical, or, the Cabinet of History, 1831.

W. Blake, Songs of Innocence and of Experience, Pickering ed., 1839. Paul Foster, Jan. online cat., issue without “The Little Vagabond,” publisher’s cloth a little worn (£8500). BL, 19 May, #99, issue without “The Little Vagabond,” presentation inscription from W. M. Wilkinson to Elizabeth R. Wilkinson (apparently relatives of the editor, James Garth Wilkinson) dated 4 Jan. 1839 (6 months earlier than the printed date of the preface), publisher’s cloth rebacked (not sold; estimate £1000-1500); same copy, BG, 10 July, #452 (£1054). Blackwell’s, Aug. Short List 26, #1, issue without “The Little Vagabond,” some “light browning and finger-soiling,” publisher’s cloth worn, illus. (£5500); same copy and price, Sept. cat. B180, #5 (acquired by John Windle for stock).

Job’s Sacrifice, watercolor copy of Blake’s design, 1840s? See under Linnell, John, below.

Ch. Le Blanc, Manuel de l’amateur d’estampes. 4 vols. Paris: P. Jannet [vols. 1-3], Vieweg and Bouillon [vol. 4], 1854-90. Daniel Thierstein, 4 vols. in 3, Feb. online cat., half morocco ($1593). Bojara & Bojara-Kellinghaus, Feb. online cat., contemporary half calf (€450). Poor Man’s Books, Feb. online cat., three-quarter morocco, illus. ($550). Oak Knoll Books, Feb. online cat., quarter “leather” worn, illus. ($540). The Blake entry is in vol. 1 (1854), p. 354 (BB #2107). It is surprising to find a Continental publication of the 1850s listing Blake’s Songs of Innocence and of Experience, America, and Europe. Le Blanc also includes an entry for “Blake (John),” the “frère de W. Blake” who engraved pls. for “la Théogonie d’Hésiode: John Flaxmann. 1817” (1: 354). Blake had 2 brothers named John, but neither was an engraver (BR[2] xxx). Le Blanc indicates that his source for this misinformation is “Nagler, I, 522”—see BB #2267A, G. K. Nagler, Neues allgemeines Künstler-Lexicon (1835) 1: 522, “Blake, John, Bruder Williams.” The misattribution of the Hesiod pls. to John is probably based on mistaken announcements that Flaxman’s designs were to be engraved by “J. Blake”—see the New Monthly Magazine 2 (1 Jan. 1815): 537 and 7 (1 April 1817): 246, the Edinburgh Review 28 (March 1817): 261 (latter 2 listed in BB p. 560), and the Feb. 1817 prospectus, New Works Preparing for Publication, by Longman, Rees, Orme, and Brown, p. 2. The “J. Blake” error is repeated, without his identification as William’s brother, in Friedrich Adolf Ebert, Allgemeines bibliographisches Lexikon (1821) 1: 605, and Ebert, A General Bibliographical Dictionary (1837) 1: 579 (BB #535A-B), entries on “Flaxman, J.”

Le Blanc, 1: 354, misattributes Blake’s portrait engraving of David Hartley, published in Hartley’s Observations on Man (1791), to “Blake (C. J.). Grav[eur]., Amateur.” The entry on this “Blake” notes that it is based on “Heineken, III, 2”—see BB #1823, [Karl Heinrich von Heinecken], Dictionnaire des artistes, dont nous avons des estampes, 4 vols. (Leipzig: Jean Gottlob Immanuel Breitkopf, 1778-90). Vol. 3 of Heinecken, published in 1789, does not of course make any mention of the portrait of Hartley, but it includes the following entry: “C. J. Blake. Dame de distinction, qui a gravé en 1775 Le Portrait de son oncle, Sir Francis Blake Delaval” (p. 2). I have not found any later ed. of Heinecken; perhaps Le Blanc, who also lists the portrait of “Laval (Sir Francis de)” in the entry on C. J. Blake, is the origin of this erroneous attribution of the Hartley portrait.

A. Gilchrist, Life of Blake, 1863, extra-illus. copies only. Sotheran’s, Oct. “William Blake” cat., #87, 2 vols., with an additional 34 pls. by or after Blake, 19^th-century calf rebacked, illus. (£2235). For a list of the added pls., see the 2012 sales review, Blake 46.4 (spring 2013). The 2012 review is wrong in stating that all 13 pls. from Mora’s Meditaciones Poeticas are present; the title page is not included.

[John Keble], The Christian Year. Boston: Lee and Shepard; New York: Lee, Shepard, and Dillingham, 1875. EB, Aug., 2 pls. damp stained, publisher’s cloth, illus. (acquired by Essick at the “buy it now” price of $29.95). Includes an unsigned wood engraving, 14.0 x 8.5 cm., of Blake’s “Death’s Door,” 1^st engraved by Schiavonetti and published in Blair’s Grave, 1808. Facing p. 353 and captioned “Burial of the Dead”; no mention of Blake. This illus. may appear in other eds. of this immensely popular work, 1^st published without illus. in 1827. “Death’s Door” remained Blake’s best-known pictorial image until the mid-20^th century, when “The Ancient of Days” (the frontispiece to Europe) captured the top spot. See also the essay by Kitton, 1891, below.

W. Muir facsimiles of Blake’s illuminated books, 1885-86. Bauman Rare Books, Aug. online cat., Songs of Innocence, 1885, “copy numbered ‘0’ and one of only five reserved for review,” inscribed “to the Academy with compliments of the Editor,” with a letter by Muir “describing his labor of love in producing this facsimile,” the copy offered privately by Carpe Diem Books, April 2013, for $8500, original wrappers, later slipcase, illus. ($12,000). Sotheran’s, Oct. “William Blake” cat., #55, The Book of Thel, 1885, copy number 21, original wrappers, cloth slipcase, illus. (£2895); #56, Songs of Experience, 1885, copy number 32, original wrappers worn, illus. (£6500); #57, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, 1885, copy number 35, original wrappers worn, illus. (£2875); #58, Songs of Innocence, 1885, copy number 35, with Songs of Experience, 1885, copy number 50, 2 vols., 20^th-century half morocco with original wrappers bound in, illus. (£6850); #59, Visions of the Daughters of Albion, 1885, copy number 34, 20^th-century half morocco with original wrappers bound in, illus. (£2875); #60, There is No Natural Religion, 1886, copy number 34, original wrappers worn, illus. (£1750).

W. Blake, The Poems, prefatory notice by Joseph Skipsey, 1885. EB, April, publisher’s faux-vellum boards, with a printed label pasted to the inside front cover reading “FROM THE LIBRARY OF / EDWARD BURNE-JONES / THE GRANGE NORTH / END ROAD FULHAM,” illus. (£54.53). The Victorian artist Edward Coley Burne-Jones (1833-98) knew the coal miner and poet Skipsey (1832-1903) and sponsored his selection in 1889 as custodian of Shakespeare’s house in Stratford-upon-Avon—see John Langton’s biography of Skipsey in ODNB.

Fred. G. Kitton, “William James Linton, Engraver, Poet, and Political Writer,” extracted from the English Illustrated Magazine 8, no. 91 (April 1891): 491-500. EB, Nov., illus. (acquired by Essick at the “buy it now” price of £5.99). Includes an impression of Linton’s wood engraving of Blake’s “Death’s Door,” version with square top 1^st published in Thirty Pictures by Deceased British Artists Engraved Expressly for the Art-Union of London by W. J. Linton, 1860. See also the book by Keble, 1875, above.

E. Cobham Brewer, Character Sketches of Romance, Fiction and the Drama, ed. Marion Harland, 4 vols., 1892. Heldfond Book Gallery, Sept. online cat., half calf worn, bindings illus. ($525). Mullen Books, Sept. online cat., half calf worn ($250). Northshire Bookstore, Sept. online cat., vol. 1 only, half calf very worn ($24 to Essick). Vol. 1 contains a “typogravure” reproduction of Blake’s engraving “Chaucers Canterbury Pilgrims,” 3^rd st., accompanied by Stothard’s version.

W. Blake, Songs of Innocence, Frederick Hollyer facsimile, 1923. Lawrences auction, Crewkerne, 31 Jan., #2149, no. 7 of 50 copies, publisher’s “full seal-skin,” illus. (£250); same copy, Justin Schiller Books, April New York Antiquarian Book Fair ($3500); same copy and price, Battledore Books (Schiller’s firm), Sept. online cat., illus.

Strand Magazine, vol. 82, July-Dec. 1931. M. G. Manwaring, April online cat., “hardcover” (£50). Joe McKernan, April online cat., cloth ($284). The Dec. issue, pp. 549-58, includes Winston Churchill, “Fifty Years Hence.” In the penultimate paragraph of the essay, he states that “the busy hands of the scientists are already fumbling with the keys of all the chambers hitherto forbidden to mankind. Without an equal growth of Mercy, Pity, Peace and Love, Science herself may destroy all that makes human life majestic and tolerable” (558). Churchill is borrowing from the opening lines of Blake’s “The Divine Image” in Songs of Innocence: “To Mercy Pity Peace and Love, / All pray in their distress” (E 12).

James Rimell & Son, 1933 cat. 288, Illustrated Catalogue of Rare Books. EB, Aug., replacement wrappers, illus. (acquired by Essick at the “buy it now” price of $26.25). Includes Hayley’s Designs to a Series of Ballads, 1802, ballads 1-2 only (#63, £21), the manuscript of Blake’s “A Fairy leapt upon my knee” (BB #37, transcribed as “A fairy skipd upon my knee” in E 481-82), with the pencil sketch of The Infant Hercules Throttling the Serpents (Butlin #253) on the verso, and with, on another leaf, the pencil sketch of Queen Katharine, Awakening from Her Dream, after Fuseli (Butlin #561), with Sketch for Jerusalem Plate 6: Los and His Spectre on the verso. The manuscript and the Queen Katharine drawing are offered together as #64 for £225; the manuscript and the sketch for Jerusalem pl. 6 are illus. Both leaves are now in the National Gallery of Art, Washington.

H. C. Whaite, wood engraving of Blake’s “Jerusalem” lyric from Milton, 1963(?). EB, Feb., illus. (£40 to Essick). See illus. 11.

11. Blake’s “Jerusalem” lyric “From William Blake’s ‘Milton.’” Wood-engraved broadside, the text in white line, signed “H. C. Whaite” in the block lower right, signed “Henry Clarence Whaite” (British artist, 1895-1978) in pencil just above the bottom edge of the leaf (not shown) and dated “1963”(?). Image 18.4 x 11.9 cm., leaf of laid paper 30.7 x 24.4 cm. Essick collection. In the 2^nd line, “mountains” in Blake’s text has been changed (inadvertently?) to “mountain.” Whaite’s landscape may be a response to the last line in the poem and the command “O clouds unfold!” (E 95), transformed into a performative utterance in the design. The broken forms on the horizon recall the cromlechs pictured in Milton, pl. a. The vegetation leans sharply left, as though blown by a wind coming from the right. Might this be a meteorological metaphor for “mental fight”?

Allen Ginsberg, autograph letter signed, 1 p., to “Mr. Simmons,” dated 7 Feb. [1970?], concerning Ginsberg’s recording of Blake’s Songs of Innocence and of Experience. RR online auction, 16 July, #719, illus. (no bids on a required minimum bid of $200).

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 pls., books by (or with pls. by) the artist.

BARRY, JAMES

The Education of Achilles. Pen and ink over pencil, 35.0 x 27.0 cm., datable to 1772 and signed “J Barry inv.” LL, Jan. cat., pp. 12-14, illus. (not priced; sold by Oct. to a “private collection, USA”). Previously sold, with another drawing by Barry, SL, 5 July 2013, #354, illus. (£27,500). A study for the painting of the same title now in the Yale Center for British Art, accession no. B1978.6.

“Eastern Patriarch,” lithograph, 1803. See Fuseli, “Evening Thou Bringest All.”

“Elysium & Tartarus,” etching/engraving, 1792. Galerie Bassenge auction, Berlin, 29 May, #5275, 5^th st., illus. (€5000).

“Mercury Inventing the Lyre,” mezzotint by John Raphael Smith, 1775. Emanuel von Baeyer, March cat., #30, 2^nd st., leaf 32.5 x 38.2 cm., illus. (price on request). Upon inquiry, John Windle was told that the price is £7500.

“Orpheus,” etching/engraving, 1792. Galerie Bassenge auction, Berlin, 29 May, #5274, 2^nd st., illus. (€16,000; estimate €4500).

BASIRE, JAMES

“Le Champ de Drap d’Or,” imprint dated 10 Nov. 1774, engraved by Basire after a watercolor by Edward Edwards of 1771, in turn based on the anonymous original painting now in the Royal Collection, Hampton Court. Grand online auction, Folkestone, 11 June, #323, “1988 edition,” illus. (no price information; estimate £400-700). Apparently a restrike by Alecto Historical Editions.

“Sir George Savile Bar^t,” engraved by Benjamin Wilson and Basire after Wilson’s portrait, 1770. EB, Jan.-Feb., imprint trimmed off and trimmed close to the image on sides and top, wormhole lower right in the image, illus. (£8).

“Sir James Burrow,” engraved by Basire after Arthur Devis, 1780. GP, Sept. online cat., illus. (£260).

“South West View of the Steeple & Church of Louth,” 1774. John Taylors auction, Louth, Lincolnshire, 14 Oct., #582, badly stained, margins damaged, illus. (£65).

Carter, A Journey from Gibraltar to Malaga, 3 vols., 1777. GP, Sept. online cat., 1 pl. only, “West View of the Mole of Malaga,” engraved by Basire after Francis Carter, illus. (£260).

Cook, A Voyage to the Pacific Ocean, 1784 or 1785 ed. GP, Oct. online cat., 2 pls. by Basire after John Webber offered individually, “A Man of Prince William’s Sound” (£120) and “A Woman of Prince William’s Sound” (£220). Both portraits are repeated, much reduced, in Blake’s pl. 2 for Fenning and Collyer, A New System of Geography, 1785-86.

Cook, A Voyage towards the South Pole, and round the World, 1777. EB, Jan., 1 pl. only, “The Landing at Mallicolo,” engraved by Basire after William Hodges, illus. (offered at the “buy it now” price of $725 or “best offer”); same impression, July, illus. (no bids on a required minimum bid of $575). 

Eighty-Two Prints, Engraved by F. Bartolozzi, &c., from the Original Drawings of Guercino, in the Collection of His Majesty, published by Boydell, n.d. (c. 1764?). EB, Jan., 1 pl. only, an untitled landscape, illus. (offered at the “buy it now” price of £47); Feb., 1 pl. only, another untitled landscape, badly foxed, frame damaged, illus. (offered at the “buy it now” price of $449.99); June, 1 pl. only, “An Allegory of Time,” full leaf, illus. (offered at the “buy it now” price of €189.90). GP, Sept. online cat., 2 pls. only, described as a “landscape with two figures conversing” (£190) and “landscape with man on right drawing a ruin” (£160), both illus.

Monro, The Works of Alexander Monro, 1781. GP, Sept. online cat., 1 pl. only, “Alexander Monro Sen.^r M.D.,” engraved by Basire after Allan Ramsay, dated 1776 in the imprint, illus. (£120).

Rogers, Collection of Prints in Imitation of Drawings, 1778. EB, Jan., 1 pl. only, “Scilurus Recommending Concord to His Sons” after Pietro da Cortona, pl. dated 1768, illus. (£52.13); another impression, April-May, framed, illus. ($105); June, 1 pl. only, “The Immaculate Virgin” after Carlo Maratti, pl. dated 1762, illus. (€380); June-July, 1 pl. only, “Moses Exposed” after Eustache Le Sueur, pl. dated 1765, water stained, illus. (no bids on a required minimum bid of $30); same impression, Aug., illus. ($19); Dec., 1 pl. only, “Cupid with the Sword of Mars” after Agostino Carracci, pl. dated 1769, illus. (no bids on a required minimum bid of $75); same impression, Dec., illus. ($75). BHL, 18 June, #31, 2 vols., 103 of 112 pls., some pls. loose, contemporary quarter morocco worn, 1 cover detached, illus. (£3750).

Watson, Memoirs of the Ancient Earls of Warren and Surrey, 1782. EB, Feb., 2 vols., contemporary calf, illus. (offered at the “buy it now” price of £450 or “best offer”). Includes 31 pls. signed by Basire. All bear imprints dated 1785, but the portrait frontispiece in vol. 1 is inscribed “1780” following Basire’s name. One or 2 of the unsigned full-page pls., as well as the many small engraved vignettes printed on text pages, may also have been produced in Basire’s shop.

CALVERT, EDWARD

The Old Arcadian, Teaching the Mysteries of Demeter. Oil, 15.0 x 24.1 cm. SL, 9 July, #196, illus. (£6875; estimate £3000-5000). Previously sold SL, 21 Nov. 1985, #71, illus. (£3960), CL, 11 Nov. 1997, #51, illus. (£4025), and CL, 10 July 2012, #148, illus. (£3500).

Rural Idyll. Oil, 21.5 x 39.8 cm., datable to c. 1872. Sophie Schneideman Rare Books, Nov. online “William Blake & His Followers” cat., no entry #, illus. (£15,000). Previously offered Fine Art Society, May-June 2012 “Samuel Palmer [and] His Friends and His Followers” cat., #18, illus. (“sold”).

“The Bacchante,” wood engraving, probably by Welby Sherman after Calvert. SL, 5 March, #265, illus. (£563).

S. Calvert, Memoir of Edward Calvert, 1893. CNY, 19 June, #144, no. 73 of 350 copies, publisher’s cloth, from the collection of Arthur and Charlotte Vershbow, illus. ($10,000; estimate $4000-6000). Includes original impressions of 2 intaglio engravings and 6 wood engravings by E. Calvert.

FLAXMAN, JOHN

See also Flaxman under Letterpress Books with Engravings by and after Blake, above.

Thirty-five pen and ink drawings, based on Flaxman’s Dante designs, attributed to Thomas Piroli and thus possibly part of the production of Flaxman’s Dante engraved by Piroli in 1793 and on different copperplates in 1802. All approximately 15.0 x 19.0 cm. with inscriptions in Italian. CSK, 4 Sept., framed, offered in 4 lots, illus.: #18, 8 drawings (not sold; estimate £800-1000); #19, 8 drawings (not sold; estimate £800-1000); #20, 9 drawings (not sold; estimate £800-1200); #21, 10 drawings (£750).

Three drawings for the Acts of Mercy: Instruct the Ignorant (22.0 x 32.5 cm.), Visit the Sick (19.5 x 37.2 cm.), and Comfort the Fatherless and Widow (22.0 x 38.5 cm.). Pen and ink, wash, over pencil. BHL, 29 Oct., #291, “with a small preliminary sketch for Instruct the ignorant; and three etchings with aquatint of the Acts of Mercy by F. C. Lewis, proofs before titles,” all 3 wash drawings illus. (£9000). Previously sold SL, 16 Jan. 1958, #212 (£20 to Irwin). The Lewis aquatints were published in 1831.

Two pen and ink drawings for the Odyssey, attributed to Flaxman, each approximately 16.5 x 50.8 cm. GO, 27 March, #1415, with inscriptions on the mounts for each drawing and “with a letter of provenance and promissory note from the proprietors of Covent Garden Theatre for payment of £105 as the balance due for the statue of Thalia in front of the theatre dated 1812 and signed by the architect, Robert Smirke,” illus. (£300). The drawings are variants of the published engravings titled “Ulysses at the Table of Circe” and “Mercury Conducting the Souls of the Suitors to the Infernal Regions” in the 1805 ed., pls. 16 and 33 (untitled pls. 12 and 28 in the 1793 ed.). David Bindman and I are not convinced by the attribution of the drawings to Flaxman. The additional motifs in both drawings, not present in the engravings, seem awkward and uncharacteristic of his work. The statue of Thalia, the muse of comedy, is now lost; see David Irwin, John Flaxman 1755-1826 (London: Studio Vista, 1979) 172, 230n6.

The Adoration of the Magi. Marble relief plaque, 33.8 x 43.0 cm., datable to c. 1792-94. LL, Jan. cat., pp. 38-45, illus. (not priced). For information on this important work, see David Bindman, “John Flaxman’s ‘Adoration of the Magi’ Rediscovered,” Apollo 162 (Dec. 2005): 40-44.

Amphion and Zethus Delivering Their Mother Antiope from the Fury of Dirce and Lycus. Pencil, pen and ink, wash, 16.1 x 29.2 cm., signed “Flaxman, Roma, 1789.” LL, Oct. online cat., illus. (not priced; sold to the Chicago Art Institute). Previously offered by LL, Jan. 2013 cat. of “British Paintings & Works on Paper,” pp. 41-[43], illus. (not priced).

Man Wrapped in Thought. Pencil, 19.7 x 13.3 cm., datable to c. 1790. AH, Feb. online cat. 433, #19, illus. (£2500); Dec. Pictures for Christmas online cat., illus., same price.

Not Unobserv’d They Pass’d the God of Light. Pen and ink over pencil on leaf 22.5 x 31.5 cm. watermarked J Whatman / 1794 and inscribed “Ulysses Diomed Apollo 14 / Not unobserv’d they pass’d the God of light / Had watch’d his Troy,_____ / B: 10: P: 602: Pope’s Iliad.” SL, 9 July, #181, illus. (£4000). Previously sold BHL, 28 April 2009, #13, illus. (£6600). For a brief discussion, see Blake 43.4 (spring 2010): 136.

Study for the Shield of Achilles. Pencil, pen and ink, 10.5 x 17.8 cm., datable to c. 1810. Given Jan. 2014 by Tomasso Brothers, the British art dealer, to the Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens, San Marino, California, accession no. 2014.3.

Autograph manuscript signed. 2 pp. on a single leaf, apparently part of a lecture on church art and architecture. EB, April, illus. (£180.09).

J. Britton, ed., The Fine Arts of the English School (London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, 1812). EB, May, 3 pls. only, “Deliver Us from Evil,” “Thy Kingdom Come,” and “Thy Will Be Done,” sculptures by Flaxman engraved by William Bond on the basis of drawings by Henry Corbould, imprints dated 1810, marginal foxing, illus. (offered individually at the “buy it now” price of $49.95 each for the 1^st 2 and $39.95 for the 3^rd). For the engraver William Bond and Blake’s poem “William Bond” (E 496-98), see Blake 43.4 (spring 2010): 130-31.

FUSELI, HENRY

Double-Sided Sheet Depicting Studies of a Male Nude. Pen and ink over pencil, 22.2 x 17.5 cm., datable to c. 1777-79. SL, 5 March, #259, illus. (£12,500; estimate £3000-5000). Previously sold CL, 24 March 1981, #30, illus. (£4500); previously offered SL, 6 June 2007, #186, illus. (not sold; estimate £7000-10,000).

The Fireplace. Pencil and wash, 36.8 x 23.2 cm., inscribed “Oct [17]98.” CL, 10 July, #186, from the Brinsley Ford collection, illus. (not sold; highest bid £42,000 on an estimate of £50,000-80,000).

Medea. Pencil, 13.1 x 18.6 cm., inscribed “infanticide” in Greek and “June 4 [18]21. P.H. [Putney Hill].” BHL, 9 July, #1, illus. (£23,750; estimate £6000-8000).

Portrait of the Artist’s Wife. Watercolor, 17.2 x 17.4 cm. CL, 10 July, #185, from the Brinsley Ford collection, illus. (£122,500; estimate £30,000-50,000). Previously sold SL, 2 Aug. 1944, #26 (£40.10s.).

Salome with the Head of Saint John the Baptist. Oil, 127.0 x 102.4 cm. CL, 3 Dec., #155, illus. (£176,500; estimate £8000-12,000). Apparently repaired in recent years, but still showing considerable surface cracking.

Standing Figure of a Man in Profile. Pen and ink, wash over pencil, 26.8 x 19.4 cm. SL, 9 July, #180, illus. (£98,500). Previously sold CL, 6 March 1973, #19 (£4333.4s. to William Darby); offered SL, 10 March 1988, #32, illus. (not sold; estimate £20,000-30,000). For illus., see Blake 23.1 (summer 1989): 15.

Study of a Woman in Chains, with a Phantom Descending from Above, recto and verso. Pen and brown ink, pencil (recto), pencil only (verso), 48.2 x 28.2 cm. SL, 9 July, #214, recto and verso illus. (not sold; highest bid £20,000 on an estimate of £25,000-40,000). Previously sold CL, 19 Nov. 1985, #32a, recto illus. (£16,200).

Study of the Head of a Woman, Possibly Magdalena Hess, Wearing a Head-Dress. Pencil and red chalk, 34.2 x 22.8 cm., datable to 1802. SNY, 30 Jan., #58, illus. (not sold; estimate $15,000-20,000).

The Three Witches, or the Weird Sisters. Oil, 60.3 x 75.5 cm., datable to c. 1783-85. Jean-Luc Baroni, spring cat., #15, illus. (not priced; acquired June by the Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens, San Marino, California). Previously sold SL, 14 July 1976, #120 (no price information), CL, 4 May 1995, #51, illus. (£221,500), and CNY, 24 Jan. 2003, #135, illus. ($361,500). See illus. 12.

12. Henry Fuseli. The Three Witches, or the Weird Sisters (see enlargement). Oil, 60.3 x 75.5 cm., datable to c. 1783-85. Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens, San Marino, California, accession no. 2014.15; reproduced by permission. This is probably the earliest version of this famous design. The more finished oil in the Kunsthaus, Zurich, was the basis for John Raphael Smith’s mezzotint, published March 1785, and the 1786 stipple pl. by Peltro William Tomkins. The painting at the Royal Shakespeare Company, Stratford-upon-Avon, and another formerly in the Kirchheimer-Bollag Gallery, Zurich, have generally been attributed to Fuseli; the versions in the North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, and the Auckland Art Gallery, New Zealand, may be copies by other hands.

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The subject is taken from the exchange among Banquo, Macbeth, and the witches in Shakespeare’s Macbeth, act 1, scene 3. Fuseli captures Banquo’s description of the witches, each with her “choppy finger laying / Upon her skinny lips.” The arrangement of the “withered” hags, each of the first 2 on the right partly superimposed over her companion to the left, has classical and Renaissance precedents, but Fuseli’s use of this format may have influenced the way Blake represents Job’s three friends in his illus. to the book of Job, beginning with the wash drawing of c. 1785 (Butlin #162 recto) and continuing through the engraved series published in 1826. Or might the influence be in the other direction? Fuseli famously declared that “Blake is d[amne]d good to steal from” (BR[2] 55). When Blake etched the three accusers of Socrates on Jerusalem pl. 93, he overlapped them and configured their pointing hands and fingers in a manner similar to Fuseli’s witches.

According to the 2014 Jean-Luc Baroni cat. offering the Huntington Three Witches for sale, p. 54, the painting is “inscribed in Greek on the reverse of the relining canvas, probably a transcription of a now hidden text on the back of the original support: These are Women but I call them Gorgons (translation from Aeschylus’s Eumenides).” This inscription is repeated on the early, perhaps original, frame shown here. If indeed the canvas on which the painting was executed contained the same lettering, it may have been written by Fuseli as a classical antecedent to another of Banquo’s descriptions of the witches: “You should be women, / And yet your beards forbid me to interpret / That you are so.” There are no clear indications of facial hair in the Huntington painting, but tufts of hair on the chins, and at least slight indications of mustaches, are displayed by all three witches in the Kunsthaus example and Smith’s mezzotint. Both include a death’s-head hawkmoth, also absent from the Huntington version, left of the witches. Tomkins’s pl. includes the moth, but chin whiskers are given only to the witch furthest left.

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“Beatrice Listening to Hero & Ursula” (inscribed title), mezzotint by John Jones, 1791 (Weinglass #113, titled “Beatrice Eavesdropping on Hero and Ursula”). Border auction, Hawick, Scottish Borders, 8 Feb., #278, framed, illus. (a bargain at £10).

“The Dream,” stipple engraving by Robert William Sievier of a miniature by Moses Haughton based on a painting by Fuseli, 1820 (Weinglass #297). EB, July, color-printed proof before signatures and imprint but with the title and quoted verses in English and French, foxed, illus. (offered at the “buy it now” price of €350).

“Evening Thou Bringest All,” lithograph, 1802 (Weinglass #171). CL, 3 Dec., #113, 1^st st., with 11 other prints from Specimens of Polyautography (London: André, 1803) including Barry, “Eastern Patriarch,” 1803, and Stothard, “The Lost Apple,” 1803, on original mounts with aquatint borders, illus. (£52,500); #114, Fuseli’s “Evening …” only, 2^nd st., brown ink, published by Vollweiler, 1806-07, lacking the original mount, illus. (not sold; highest bid £2200 on an estimate of £3000-5000).

LINNELL, JOHN (excluding most portraits)

Apple Gatherers, attributed to Linnell. Oil, 76.2 x 101.6 cm. Duke’s auction, Dorchester, 10 April, #171, illus. (£1400). Possibly by one of Linnell’s sons.

Barges on the Thames. Pencil, 33.0 x 23.5 cm., inscribed “Thames Somerset H. in distance,” signed and dated 1807. EB, Jan., illus. (offered at the “buy it now” price of $1850); Feb., illus., same price; March-April, illus. (price lowered to $1650); July and again in Sept., illus. (price lowered to $1450).

A Boatyard by the Thames, London. Black and white chalk on blue paper, 16.2 x 24.1 cm., datable to c. 1805-09, signed. Guy Peppiatt Fine Art/Stephen Ongpin Fine Art, One Hundred Drawings and Watercolours, winter 2013-14, #20b, illus. (£1500).

Drover and Cattle. Oil, 35.6 x 45.7 cm., signed. EB, May-June, illus. (£920).

The Evening Light. Oil, 73.7 x 99.1 cm., signed with initials. New Orleans Auction Galleries, 11 Oct., #630, illus. ($4674). Possibly by John Linnell, Jr.

Farmyard Scene. Oil, 36.0 x 46.0 cm., signed indistinctly “J Linnell / 18 ….” BHL, 9 Sept., #28, illus. (not sold; highest bid £1100 on an estimate of £1200-1800). BHO, 3 Dec., #362, illus. (£875).

Harvesters, North Wales. Watercolor, 23.7 x 36.5 cm., signed and dated 1813. LL, Oct. cat. of British Watercolours, #37, illus. (£6000).

Job’s Sacrifice. Watercolor copy, 12.5 x 9.3 cm., of the pl. numbered 18 from Blake’s Job engravings. Crow’s auction, Dorking, 5 June, #943, illus. (£1100; estimate £120-180). The auction house, as well as a label by the Martyn Gregory Gallery on the back of the frame, attributes this work to John Linnell. The label also states that it is from the collection of “James Linnell, by descent to Mrs. Bollard, great grand-daughter of the artist.” Given the crudity of the drawing, I suspect that it is by James Linnell when young. Included in Martyn Gregory exhibition cat. #31, John Linnell: Truth to Nature (A Centennial Exhibition), 8-20 Nov. 1982, #106, the illus. with right and left reversed. The entry in this cat. states that “it is possible that this drawing was worked on by one of the Linnell sons in 1842 though the refined quality of the outline also suggests the hand of John Linnell (Senior).” Differences between Blake’s design in the Linnell set of Job watercolors (Butlin #551.18) and the engraving indicate that this copy was based on the latter.

Milking Time. Oil, 36.0 x 46.0 cm., signed and dated 1852. Chiswick auction, London, 9 Dec., #546, illus. (no price information; estimate £2500-3500).

The Piper. Oil, 72.4 x 174.0 cm., signed with initials and dated 1872. Cowan’s auction, Cincinnati, 11 Oct., #924, illus. ($960). Compositionally similar to, but larger than, Linnell’s Piping down the Valleys Wild, last sold CSK, 20 March 2012, #591, illus. (£1500).

Portrait of a Gentleman—Believed to Be a Self-Portrait. Watercolor, 21.0 x 16.0 cm., signed and dated 1832. BHO, 12 Aug., #322, with Studies of Cows, chalk, 15.0 x 26.0 cm., Studies of Cows illus. (£275).

The Shepherd at Dusk. Oil, 40.6 x 50.8 cm., signed and datable to c. 1855. AH, March online cat. 434, #17, illus. (£3750). Previously sold as Figure by a Stream at Dusk, Woolley & Wallis auction, Salisbury, 4 Dec. 2013, #82, illus. (£1400).

Sir William Charles Ross. Two pencil portrait studies on 1 leaf, 21.0 x 11.5 cm., signed and inscribed “Wm Ross when student at R.A / c. 1810.” AH, Feb. online cat. of Heads: Selected Portraits 1500-2010, #46, illus. (£775).

Study for The Flight into Egypt. Oil on paper, 27.0 x 40.7 cm. LL, Oct. cat. of British Watercolours, #38, illus. (£4200). Linnell exhibited a finished painting of the design at the British Institution in 1841; he painted another version in 1849. This oil sketch may be preparatory for either.

Study of a Wherry on the Thames, London. Black and white chalk on blue paper, 14.8 x 21.6 cm., datable to c. 1805-09, signed. Guy Peppiatt Fine Art/Stephen Ongpin Fine Art, One Hundred Drawings and Watercolours, winter 2013-14, #20a, illus. (£1500).

Sunset at Southampton. Watercolor, 17.0 x 28.0 cm., signed and dated 1819. SL, 22 May, #103, illus. (£3375). Previously offered LL, fall 2004 exhibition, illus. online (price on request).

Trees in a Landscape. Watercolor, 10.2 x 14.3 cm., signed with initials and dated “[18]16.” Guy Peppiatt, May cat., #21, illus. (£3950).

View at Hampstead. Watercolor, 16.0 x 23.5 cm., signed, datable to the 1820s. LL, Oct. cat. of British Watercolours, #36, illus. (£6000).

View of a Country House, attributed to Linnell. Watercolor, 10.0 x 17.0 cm. CF, 18 Sept., #581, illus. (not sold; highest bid £240 on an estimate of £300-500). A very early work, if indeed by Linnell.

View of Rooks Hill, near Shoreham, Kent. Pen and ink, pencil, 17.0 x 12.0 cm., inscribed by Linnell “Kent J Linnell / [18]28.” SL, 22 May, #104, illus. (£1750). Previously sold SL, 9 April 1992, #53 (£880 to the Leger Gallery, London).

The Wynd Cliff on the River Wye with Bristol Channel in the Distance, attributed to Linnell. Oil, 30.5 x 38.1 cm., signed indistinctly. Biddle & Webb auction, Birmingham, 12 Sept., #1170, illus. (not sold; estimate £550-650). EB, Sept., illus. (£765). Previously sold CL, 8 June 1973, #137 (£210 to Fine Art Society); previously offered EB, July and again in Aug.-Sept. 2013, illus. (offered at the “buy it now” price of £5950 or “best offer”); sold EB, Oct. 2013, illus. (£740). Possibly by William Linnell.

“Robert Gooch, M.D.,” painted and engraved by Linnell, 1831. EB, Sept.-Oct., illus. (no bids on a required minimum bid of £9.99); same impression, Nov., same minimum bid and result.

MORTIMER, JOHN HAMILTON

Continental Soldiers, tentatively attributed to Mortimer. Watercolor, 33.0 x 38.1 cm. Burstow & Hewett auction, Battle, East Sussex, 25 June, #182, stained and framed, illus. (£130).

Fishermen Drawing In Their Nets. Pencil, pen and black ink, 36.2 x 41.9 cm., datable to 1774. LL, Oct. online cat., illus. (not priced; sold to the Chicago Art Institute). Previously offered by LL, Jan. 2012 cat., p. 54, illus. (price on request). Previously sold CL, 5 July 2011, #112, illus. (£8750). The etching by Robert Blyth is inscribed “Drawn by J. Mortimer, 1774” and “Publish’d … Nov.^r 9th 1780.”

Sketch for Three Soldiers in Armor Sitting on Stone Blocks. Pen and brown ink, leaf 17.5 x 13.0 cm. William J. Jenack auction, Chester, New York, 16 Feb., #35, illus. (not sold; estimate $300-500). A variant of the figure on the right in the pen and ink drawing Three Soldiers in Armour Sitting on Stone Blocks in the Yale Center for British Art, accession no. B1977.14.5703, and in an undated engraving by Samuel Ireland of the Yale Center drawing.

Study of a Recumbent Child. Pen and ink, wash, 10.5 x 17.3 cm., signed and dated March 1768. Pro Auction, Bath, 22 April, #45, illus. (£210). Previously offered Pro Auction, online auction closing 14 June 2013, #79D, illus. (not sold; no estimate), and EB, Oct. 2007, titled Sleeping Baby, illus. (no bids on a required minimum bid of $450). 

“Jealous Monster,” etching, 1778. R. G. Watkins, Dec. 2013 cat. 68, #107 (£150).

“Lear,” etching, 1776. John Nicholson auction, Haslemere, 9 July, #25, with 7 other Shakespeare character heads, illus. (£100).

“Salvator Rosa,” etching, 1778. EB, Dec. 2013, laid paper, imprint trimmed off, top left corner of margin damaged, illus. (no bids on a required minimum bid of $65). 

“Successful Monster,” etching, 1778. R. G. Watkins, Dec. 2013 cat. 68, #106, illus. (£150).

PALMER, SAMUEL

Elements of Form; Together with an Outline, and, Indirectly, on the Picturesque. A pair in pencil extensively inscribed, each leaf 19.3 x 30.0 cm., datable to c. 1863. SL, 6 March, #769, housed in a modern box with the bookplate of Raymond Lister, illus. (£1625). Previously sold SL, 26 Feb. 1976, #108 (£40 to Lister).

The End of the Day. Watercolor and body color, 19.1 x 41.8 cm., datable to c. 1880. SL, 9 July, #198, illus. (£10,625). Previously sold CL, 4 Nov. 1975, #82, illus. (£1365).

Illustration to Milton’s “Lycidas.” Watercolor and body color, 10.4 x 15.1 cm., datable to c. 1873, signed. SL, 9 July, #199, illus. (£25,000). Previously sold CL, 9 Nov. 1976, #131, titled The Evening Ploughman (£1700).

Landscape—Twilight. Oil and tempera, 26.5 x 38.0 cm., probably the work exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1834. LL, Sept. private offer (£3,200,000); Dec., online cat., illus. (not priced). Previously offered SL, 12 Nov. 1997, #102, illus. (not sold; estimate £300,000-400,000). For illus., see Blake 31.4 (spring 1998): 133 and illus. 17.

A Rocky Shore with Distant Sailing Boats. Watercolor and gouache, 28.6 x 40.6 cm., datable to c. 1849. LL, Jan. cat., pp. 76-77, illus. (not priced; sold by Oct. to a “private collection, USA”).

Sheep in a Wooded Grove. Black chalk, 16.5 x 28.6 cm., signed with monogram and dated “[18]56.” Duke’s auction, Dorchester, 25 Sept., #61, illus. (£2400). Previously sold SL, 14 Dec. 1972, #80, illus. (£500 to B. L. Garry).

The Sleeping Shepherd. Tempera and oil, 39.4 x 51.8 cm., datable to 1833-34. CL, 8 July, #65, illus. (not sold; estimate £800,000-1,200,000). Previously offered CNY, 27 Jan. 2010, #57, illus. (not sold; estimate $2,500,000-3,500,000). An important work, painted near the end of Palmer’s Shoreham period. Its failure to find a new owner at 2 recent auctions may be due to the absence of the intensity and primitivism central to Palmer’s greatest Shoreham works. The view that The Sleeping Shepherd is a more controlled and accomplished work, from a conventional 19^th-century perspective, lessens its marketability.

View on the Devon Coast. Watercolor, body color, and black chalk, 18.7 x 26.9 cm., datable to c. 1849. Guy Peppiatt, May cat., #20, illus. (£65,000). Previously sold as The North Devon Coast, SL, 3 July 2013, #205, illus. (£23,750).

The Waterfall at Pistil Mawddach, Near Dolgetty, North Wales. Watercolor, 47.0 x 37.2 cm., datable to 1835. SNY, 29 Jan., #132, illus. (not sold; estimate $50,000-70,000). Previously sold from the collection of Bryan Westwood, SL, 12 July 1967, #228 (£1300 to Agnew’s).

“The Bellman,” etching. Roseberys auction, West Norwood, London, 9 Dec., #692, 6^th st., pencil signature, illus. (£1400).

“The Early Ploughman,” etching. Rome & Associates auction, Millsboro, Delaware, 27 Dec. 2013, #601372, 5^th st., light marginal stains and wrinkles, illus. (not sold; estimate $975-1300); same impression, 13 Feb., #600412, illus. (not sold; same estimate); same impression, 20 March, #600082, illus. (not sold; same estimate). EB, Jan., probably 5^th st., margins discolored, framed, illus. (offered at the “buy it now” price of $2750 or “best offer”). BHL, 15 July, #8, 5^th st., pencil signature, illus. (£2250). Great Dane auction, Philadelphia, 12 Aug., #150, 5^th st., illus. (not sold; estimate $750-1100); same impression and estimate, 12 Sept., #1150, illus. (not sold). Swann, 23 Sept., #5, 9^th st., illus. ($1625); #6, st. not indicated, with “The Willow” (2^nd st.) and “The Herdsman’s Cottage” (2^nd st.), illus. ($1500). Sotheran’s, Oct. “William Blake” cat., #49, 4^th st., illus. (£505). CSK, 4 Dec., #101, 6^th st., pencil signature, some stains, illus. (not sold; estimate £2000-3000). Woolley & Wallis auction, Salisbury, 10 Dec., #244, 5^th st., illus. (£550).

“The Herdsman’s Cottage,” etching. EB, Jan., 2^nd st., evenly browned, illus. (offered at the “buy it now” price of $600 or “best offer”); Dec., 2^nd st., illus. ($186.50). Lyon & Turnbull auction, Edinburgh, 23 July, #12, 2^nd st., illus. (not sold; estimate £500-700). Sotheran’s, Oct. “William Blake” cat., #48, 2^nd st., illus. (£505). Dreweatts auction, Newbury, Berkshire, 21 Oct., #453, 2^nd st., pencil signature, illus. (£1700; estimate £400-600). GO, 23 Oct., #1369, 2^nd st., illus. (£280). See also “The Early Ploughman,” above.

“The Lonely Tower,” etching. BG, 13 Feb., #330, 7^th st., “on wove paper, pen and black ink inscription in lower margin, re-worked by Henry Macbeth-Raeburn, inscribed as printed by M.R.L. Canney (?), 1 of 8 impressions … some spotting and browning … 20th century impression” (£160). According to Raymond Lister, Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of Samuel Palmer (Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1988) 247, the pl. was “restored by Macbeth Raeburn during the 1920s.” Lister records printings of this st. by Mary Sholten, C. H. Welch, and Arnold Fawcus, but not “Canney.” A 7^th-st. impression is included in The Complete Etchings of Samuel Palmer and His Illustrations for Virgil and Milton [London: William Blake Trust, 1990].

“The Morning of Life,” etching. See Etchings for the Art-Union of London, below.

“Opening the Fold,” etching. EB, Oct., 8^th st., illus. (no bids on a required minimum bid of £495). See also S. Palmer, English Version of the Eclogues of Virgil, below.

“The Rising Moon,” etching. See “The Weary Ploughman,” below.

“The Skylark,” etching. CF, 16 Oct., #208, 7^th st. on laid India, illus. (£600).

“The Sleeping Shepherd,” etching. Roseberys auction, West Norwood, London, 18 March, #1684, st. not indicated but probably 3^rd, after the pl. was cut down but before signature and number, illus. (£6500; estimate £500-700). CF, 16 Oct., #209, 4^th st. on laid India, illus. (£2000; estimate £400-600).

“The Weary Ploughman,” etching. Lyon & Turnbull auction, Edinburgh, 23 July, #13, 8^th st., illus. (not sold; estimate £400-600). CSK, 4 Dec., #100, 6^th st., pencil signature, with “The Rising Moon,” 7^th st. on laid India, “Rising Moon” illus. (£3000).

“The Willow,” etching. EB, Feb., 2^nd st., elaborately framed, illus. (£321). See also “The Early Ploughman,” above, and A. H. Palmer, Life and Letters of Samuel Palmer, below.

W. Adams, Sacred Allegories, “New Edition,” 1869. EB, Dec., with 9 wood engravings after Palmer, publisher’s cloth, illus. (offered at the “buy it now” price of £34.99). Literary Cat Books, Dec. online cat., scattered light foxing, publisher’s cloth worn (£40). This issue not in Raymond Lister, Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of Samuel Palmer (Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1988); see pp. 255-57 for the 1856, 1873, and 1876 issues. The final 2 issues contain only 7 engravings after Palmer. The 1858, 1859, and 1870 issues, not in Lister, include all 9 Palmer illus.

Etchings for the Art-Union of London, 1872. BL, 24 July, #284, some spotting and browning, original cloth very worn, some pls. loose, illus. (not sold; estimate £500-700). Includes Palmer’s etching “The Morning of Life,” 7^th st.

A. H. Palmer, Life and Letters of Samuel Palmer, 1892. Sophie Schneideman Rare Books, Nov. online “William Blake & His Followers” cat., no entry #, small-paper copy, “occasional browning to edges of plates,” publisher’s cloth slightly worn, illus. (£575). Includes Palmer’s etching “The Willow,” 2^nd st.

S. Palmer, English Version of the Eclogues of Virgil. EB, March, 2^nd ed., 1884, publisher’s cloth, illus. (£280). BHO, 16 Sept., #92, 1^st ed., 1883, large-paper copy, publisher’s faux vellum, with The Shorter Poems of John Milton with Twelve Illustrations by Samuel Palmer, 1889, large-paper copy, publisher’s faux vellum, illus. (£875). BL, 2 Oct., 1^st ed., 1883, large-paper copy, “scattered spotting,” publisher’s faux vellum, “A.L.s by Palmer regarding the retouching of drawings mounted on paper and loosely inserted,” illus. (£794). CF, 16 Oct., #446, 1^st ed., 1883, small-paper copy, publisher’s cloth worn, illus. (£600). Sophie Schneideman Rare Books, Nov. online “William Blake & His Followers” cat., no entry #, 1^st ed., 1883, large-paper copy, publisher’s faux vellum slightly worn, illus. (£1100). The Virgil includes Palmer’s etching “Opening the Fold,” 7^th (large-paper copies) or 8^th (small-paper copies) st.

PARKER, JAMES

See “Fair Fatima” under Stothard, below.

RICHMOND, GEORGE (excluding most portraits)

A sketchbook, dated 1881-84. BL, 24 July, #37, “numerous single-page and a few double-page sketches in pencil,” mostly landscapes, contemporary cloth, modern box, from the collection of Raymond Lister, illus. (£682).

Classical Head Study. Pen and brown ink, 8.5 x 7.5 cm. BL, 24 July, #35, illus. (£149).

Figure Studies. Pencil, pen and ink, 17.8 x 25.4 cm. AH, Dec. Pictures for Christmas No. 2 online cat., #62, illus. (£125).

Girl Bathing. Black, white, and red chalk, verso sketch of a female torso, 41.0 x 28.9 cm., initialed and dated 1879. EB, Dec. 2013, illus. (offered at the “buy it now” price of £2000). The drawing may be earlier than the inscribed date.

Study of a Cedar Tree. Watercolor, 30.5 x 24.5 cm. SL, 22 May, #117, illus. (£6250; estimate £2000-3000).

Study of a Female Nude for Comus. Black and white chalk, 54.0 x 38.0 cm., datable to c. 1837. 25 Blythe Road auction, London, 10 Dec. 2013, #30, illus. (£520).

Study of a Nude Male Figure. Watercolor, 19.0 x 10.2 cm., signed with initials and inscribed “Septr / 16th / 1829.” Guy Peppiatt, May cat., #19, illus. (£1800). Previously offered Agnew’s, Oct.-Nov. 2001 cat., Missing Pages: George Richmond, #12, illus. (£1500).

Study of Comus Carrying His Cup (recto), Falling Figures (verso). Pen and ink, 33.0 x 21.2 cm., inscribed in pencil “Comus” and “Paris 1829 a 30”; inscribed on verso “1828.” BHNY, 5 Nov., #63, illus. ($2500). Previously sold SL, 18 Nov. 1976, #176 (£360). Richmond’s pencil inscriptions are later, but the drawing on the recto was very probably executed c. 1828-30.

Study of the Artist’s Infant Son, T. R. Richmond. Pencil, 13.5 x 8.5 cm., datable to c. 1834. BL, 24 July, #36, from the collection of Raymond Lister, illus. (£186).

ROMNEY, GEORGE (excluding most portraits)

Cupid and Psyche. Pen and ink, brown wash, 37.7 x 27.7 cm. Guy Peppiatt, May cat., #2, illus. (£8000).

Four Studies of a Woman. Pen and ink, 11.1 x 18.3 cm. Guy Peppiatt, May cat., #3, possibly studies for Miranda in Romney’s painting of The Tempest, illus. (£3500). Previously sold Duke’s auction, Dorchester, 11 April 2013, #50, framed, illus. (£750).

Study of a Figure Tied to a Tree. Pencil, 35.8 x 23.0 cm. BHO, 10 Sept., #257, illus. (£562). AH, Nov. online cat. 442, #45, titled Study, Possibly of Marsyas, illus. (£1100).

Study of a Mother and Child. Pencil and brown wash, 18.4 x 13.0 cm., datable to the 1770s. SL, 9 July, #183, illus. (£9375). Previously sold CL, 9 Nov. 1993, #13 (£690).

Study of a Woman Holding Scales. Pen and ink, 11.9 x 7.1 cm. BHL, 29 Oct., #269, illus. (£1250). Previously offered BHL, 30 Oct. 2013, #308, illus. (not sold; estimate £2000-3000). 

Study of Figures Arranged in Friezes. Pen and brown ink and wash, faint black chalk sketches on the verso, 10.6 x 18.7 cm., datable to c. 1776-77. Acquired in 2012 by the Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, from LL.

Study of Mrs. James Harris, Later Countess of Malmesbury. Pen and brown ink, 8.7 x 7.6 cm. SL, 9 July, #182, illus. (£2750; estimate £600-800).

Two Reclining Figures. Pen and ink, 19.0 x 16.0 cm. CF, 15 May, #409, illus. (£200). Odd title; there are 4 figures and only 1 reclines.

SHERMAN, WELBY

See “The Bacchante” under Calvert, above.

STOTHARD, THOMAS

An album of 14 designs for the monuments of the Duke of Wellington, Sir William Myers, and others. Pencil, pen and ink, brown washes. Sworders auction, Stansted Mountfitchet, Essex, 3 June, #251, “various sizes … foxing and staining throughout,” illus. (£800).

Amazons Rescuing Their Queen(?). Sepia wash drawing, 10.2 x 15.2 cm. AH, Dec. online cat. 443, #46, illus. (£400).

Designs for Thomas Townshend, Poems, 1796. Two monochrome wash drawings, both 9.0 x 9.0 cm. BL, 24 July, #22, with a drawing attributed to Henry Tresham, illus. (£211). Only 1 of the Stothard drawings was published in the book, p. 67, engraved by Andrew Birrell. The other design may be a variant for the illus. on p. [65].

Farm Dog Chasing a Wolf. Monochrome wash, 9.5 x 9.0 cm. BL, 24 July, #23, with Resting Lion with a Pony, monochrome wash, 9.5 x 9.0 cm., both drawings illus. (not sold; estimate £200-300). Dreweatts auction, Bristol, 11 Dec., #76, both drawings offered, both illus. (£45).

In the Forest of Arden, from As You Like It. Oil, 38.1 x 30.5 cm. AH, July online cat. 438, #18, fine gilt frame, illus. (£3000). 

On the Way to Market, an Illustration to Oliver Goldsmith’s The Deserted Village. Watercolor, 13.0 x 9.0 cm. Holloway’s auction, Banbury, 2 Dec., #358, illus. (£190). See Blake 47.4 (spring 2014) for further information and earlier attempts to sell.

Othello and Desdemona, attributed to Stothard. Oil, 25.2 x 35.3 cm. BHO, 3 Dec., #467, illus. (not sold; estimate £1000-1500).

The Pilgrimage to Canterbury. Watercolor, 9.9 x 34.4 cm. LL, Jan. cat., pp. 86-87, same design as Stothard’s oil painting of 1806-07, with an impression on laid India of the pl. etched and engraved by Louis Schiavonetti and James Heath, 1817, both illus. (not priced). The watercolor previously sold CL, 18 June 1980, #108, illus. in black and white (£950), CSK, 9 July 2009, #630, illus. (£5000), and CSK, 21 Feb. 2012, #248, illus. (£4000); previously offered by Justin Croft, Oct. 2012 cat. 7, #12, illus. (£8000). The LL cat. claims that “Blake’s plate [“Chaucers Canterbury Pilgrims”] was in fact a blatant plagiarism of Thomas Stothard’s work” (86). See illus. 13.

13. Thomas Stothard. The Pilgrimage to Canterbury (see enlargement). Watercolor on Whatman paper with an 1833 watermark, 9.9 x 34.4 cm. The date of the paper, only 1 year before Stothard’s death, makes one suspicious that this is a very skilled copy of the much larger pl. of the same design published in 1817 or the small pl. (4.9 x 17.4 cm.) engraved by W. H. Worthington in 1822. The differences between the engravings and the watercolor are very slight—for example, a variant arrangement of the clouds, particularly on the right, and the diminution of the shadows cast by the horses on the right. There is, however, nothing in the execution of this watercolor to indicate any hand other than Stothard’s. Its unfinished coloring might be explained by Stothard’s being hit by a carriage and incapacitated in fall 1833 (see M. G. Sullivan’s biography of Stothard in ODNB). Photo courtesy of Lowell Libson.

Portrait of Mrs. Stothard, attributed to Stothard. Pencil, 17.5 x 20.5 cm. Humbert auction, Towcester, Northamptonshire, 23 Oct., #1183, illus. (not sold; estimate £100-150); 20 Nov., #1131, illus. (no price information; estimate £100-120). Well done; the attribution may indeed be correct.

Three Figures at a Cottage Door. Pen and ink and gray wash, 8.0 x 5.5 cm. Holloway’s auction, Banbury, 2 Dec., #293, with 2 other monochrome wash drawings attributed to Stothard and an unattributed watercolor, illus. (£180).

Venus and Cupid. Pencil, pen and ink, wash, 8.9 x 8.3 cm. AH, June online cat. 437, #47, illus. (£375).

“Fair Fatima” (presumed title). A circular pl. engraved by James Parker after Stothard illustrating a passage in one of Lady Mary Wortley Montagu’s published letters. EB, Oct.-Nov., proof with signatures but before title and imprint, printed in sanguine on a leaf of wove paper 30.5 x 24.8 cm., illus. (no bids on a required minimum bid of £9.99). I have never seen an impression with title and/or imprint. The British Museum example (registration no. 1896,0511.417) is printed in black. See also “Jolie Fatime,” Zancon after Stothard, 2012 sales review, Blake 46.4 (spring 2013). Not in Coxhead or Bennett. 

“The Landlord’s Family” and “The Tenant’s Family,” a pair engraved by Charles Knight, 1792. EB, July, color printed and framed, illus. (no bids on a required minimum bid of $1500); same impressions, July, illus. (no bids on a required minimum bid of $1000). Not in Coxhead or Bennett.

“The Lost Apple,” lithograph, 1803. GP, Dec. online cat., with the original aquatint border, illus. (£520). See also Fuseli, “Evening Thou Bringest All.”

“Sailors in a Storm,” mezzotint by William Ward, 58.0 x 47.0 cm., 1798. EB, April-May, “clean burning[?] in 1990 which explains its clarity,” illus. (no bids on a required minimum bid of €150); same impression, June, illus. (no bids on a required minimum bid of €50). Not in Coxhead or Bennett.

Illustrations of Shakspeare, Being a Selection of Scenes … from Designs by Stothard & Smirke. London: C. Taylor, n.d. PBA, 10 April, #638, scattered foxing, publisher’s(?) cloth, illus. (no bids on an estimate of $500-800). The only copy I have ever encountered; not in Coxhead or Bennett. WorldCat lists only the copy at the Yale Center for British Art. Apparently another, possibly later, issue of the pls. 1^st published in C. Taylor, Picturesque Beauties of Shakspeare (see below). Some of the lettering on some pls. has been strengthened in this issue. 

Select Collection of Original Scottish Airs. 7 vols., 1795-1841. EB, March, vols. 1 and 3 only, London and Edinburgh, n.d., title page signed by the Edinburgh publisher, George Thomson, contemporary calf very worn, illus. (no bids on a required minimum bid of $99.99); same vols., March, illus. ($29). Toovey’s auction, Washington, West Sussex, 20 May, #3160, 1811 issue, 4 vols., contemporary half morocco (vols. 1-3) and modern cloth (vol. 4) very worn, bindings illus. (£40). The EB vols. contain 2 different pls. of the same title-page vignette designed by Stothard and engraved by James Thomson (vol. 1) and Paton Thomson (vol. 3). Not in Coxhead or Bennett. 

A Selection of Irish Melodies, with Symphonies and Accompaniments by Sir John Stevenson … and Characteristic Words by Thomas Moore. Seventh number. Dublin: W. Power, n.d. (c. 1820?). EB, Jan.-Feb., publisher’s printed boards, top of spine damaged, illus. ($35). The title-page vignette, engraved by John Martyn after Stothard, is listed in Coxhead 165 as published in A Selection of Popular Traditional [sic] Airs, 1818-26 (the correct title is A Selection of Popular National Airs, as in Bennett 81).

C. Taylor, Picturesque Beauties of Shakspeare, n.d. (pls. dated 1783-87 in their imprints). PBA, 13 March, #331, complete with 40 pls. including 7 after Stothard, 32 after Robert Smirke, and 1 after Charles Reuben Ryley, scattered foxing, modern calf, illus. ($270). Originally issued in 10 parts, each with 4 pp. of letterpress text of selected passages from a single play and 4 engraved illus. Apparently rare; only the 2^nd copy I have ever seen on the market. See also Illustrations of Shakspeare, above. Coxhead 95, Bennett 67.

Appendix: New Information on Blake’s Engravings

Listed below are substantive additions or corrections to Robert N. Essick, The Separate Plates of William Blake: A Catalogue (1983), and Essick, William Blake’s Commercial Book Illustrations (1991). Newly discovered impressions of previously recorded published sts. of Blake’s engravings are listed for only the rarer pls.

The Separate Plates of William Blake: A Catalogue

P. 6, “Joseph of Arimathea among the Rocks of Albion,” impression 2J. Acquired at auction in 1949 by Brandon Meredith Rhys-Williams (1927-88), Agnew’s acting as agent; inherited by his son in 1988.

P. 67, “Chaucers Canterbury Pilgrims,” impression 3Y. Acquired at auction in 1949 by Brandon Meredith Rhys-Williams (1927-88), Agnew’s acting as agent; inherited by a member of his family, present whereabouts unknown.

P. 107, “The Man Sweeping the Interpreter’s Parlour,” impression 2O. Acquired c. 1949 by Brandon Meredith Rhys-Williams (1927-88); inherited by his daughter, Miranda Rhys-Williams, in 1988.

Pp. 125-29, “Morning Amusement,” and pp. 130-31, “Evening Amusement,” both after Watteau. For previously unrecorded impressions, trimmed to ovals slightly within the images, see under Separate Plates and Plates in Series, above.

Pp. 150-57, “Rev. John Caspar Lavater.” An impression of the 3^rd st. was acquired by the National Portrait Gallery, London, in 1951, accession no. NPG D37198. Wove paper, leaf 41.6 x 28.6 cm., trimmed within the platemark right and left.

Pp. 170-72, “Head of a Damned Soul in Dante’s Inferno,” after Fuseli. Blake’s engraving is probably based, either directly or through an intermediate drawing, on Fuseli’s oil painting now in the Art Institute of Chicago. See the detailed entry and illus. in French and British Paintings from 1600 to 1800 in the Art Institute of Chicago, French entries by Susan Wise, British entries by Malcolm Warner (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 1996) 226-32. The oil painting of the head offered at Sotheby’s Parke Bernet, London, 4 Oct. 1978, #304 (not sold and now untraced) may be a copy after Blake’s print.

Pp. 189-90, “Rev.^d Robert Hawker,” after Ponsford. An impression in the only known st. was acquired by the National Portrait Gallery, London, in 1966, accession no. NPG D35614. Wove paper trimmed within the platemark to 42.4 x 30.1 cm.

William Blake’s Commercial Book Illustrations

Pp. 39-40, Daniel Fenning and Joseph Collyer, A New System of Geography, 2 vols., 1785-86, 1787, pl. 2. A previously unrecorded 3^rd st. of this pl. appears in John Payne, Universal Geography Formed into a New and Entire System, 2 vols. (London: J. Johnson and C. Stalker, 1791), vol. 1 facing p. 583. The volume and page references top right, present in both earlier sts., have been retained since Payne’s text is simply a reprint of the Fenning and Collyer text with identical pagination. The inscription top center has been replaced with “Engraved for Payne’s Universal Geography.” The number bottom right has been erased; the imprint has been replaced with “Publish’d March 1^st. 1791 by C. Stalker. Stationers Court.” The design, the inscriptions within it, and Blake’s signature lower right remain unaltered. Copies of Payne’s Universal Geography are in the University of Edinburgh Library and the British Library; the latter is reproduced, complete, in Eighteenth Century Collections Online. An impression of the pl. in the 3^rd st. is in the National Gallery of Australia; see <http://​artsearch.​nga.​gov.​au/​Detail.​cfm?​IRN=213916​&PICTAUS=​TRUE>. For a re-engraving of the design, see Payne, Universal Geography, 1794, under Interesting Blakeana, above. See also Cook, A Voyage to the Pacific Ocean, under Basire, James, above.

Pp. 42-45, The Original Works of William Hogarth, 1790. An impression of Blake’s pl. in the 1^st proof st. with the imprint present was acquired in May by the E. J. Pratt Library, Victoria University, Toronto. See Hogarth under Letterpress Books with Engravings by and after Blake, above. Another impression of the 1^st proof st., also with the imprint, is in the collection of Andrew Edmunds, London—see the Ashmolean Museum exhibition cat., William Blake Apprentice & Master, 4 Dec. 2014–1 March 2015, #86, illus.

P. 61, James Earle, Practical Observations on the Operation for the Stone, 1793, 1796, 1803. I claim that the attribution to Blake of pl. 3, included in an Appendix 1^st published in 1796, depends in large measure on the inscriptions added to the 2^nd st. Unfortunately, I was able to obtain an adequate photograph only of the 1^st st., reproduced as fig. 124. The crucial 2^nd st. is reproduced here, illus. 5.

Pp. 71-75, John Gabriel Stedman, Narrative, of a Five Years’ Expedition, against the Revolted Negroes of Surinam, 2 vols., 1796, 1806, 1813. The vignette on the copperplate used for both title pages can be attributed to Blake on the basis of a heretofore unnoticed signature. For illus. and information on sts. and printings, see illus. 6-10 and their captions.

P. 89, William Hayley, The Life, and Posthumous Writings, of William Cowper, 1803-04, pl. 4, 3^rd st. “The horizontal hatching right of the man’s shoulder …” should read “The horizontal hatching right of the man’s hat ….” For an illus. of the impression of this st. in the Keynes Collection, Fitzwilliam Museum, see <http://​data.​fitzmuseum.​cam.​ac.​uk/​id/​object/​31455>.