Volume 27 · Issue 1

“Blake . . . Had No Quaritch”

The Sale of William Muir’s Blake Facsimiles^*↤ * Mr. Keri Davies has generously allowed me to see his essay on Muir, coincidentally written at the same time as my own, and to improve mine on the basis of his.

by G. E. Bentley, Jr.

Blake printed few copies of his writings, and even fewer of his poems were reprinted during his lifetime and long after his death.¹↤ ¹ See the table of Blake’s Poetry Reprinted in Conventional Typography before 1863 in Blake Books (1977) 74-75. When they were reprinted in the nineteenth century, the text was normally adjusted to Victorian sensibilities²↤ ² D. G. Rossetti was unrepentant for his “rather unceremonious shaking up of Blake’s rhymes [in Gilchrist’s biography of Blake]. I really believe that is what ought to be done” (Anne Gilchrist: Her Life and Writings, ed. H. H. Gilchrist [1887] 94), and the three texts of E. J. Ellis and W. B. Yeats together (1893, 1979) and separately (1893 [two editions] 1905, 1906, 1910, 1920, 1969, 1973) are often even more inaccurate. and purged of its integral designs. For a century after Blake’s death, few readers of Blake had any knowledge of the color and variety of Blake’s designs which surround and elucidate and modify his poems. There was a color facsimile by Camden Hotten of The Marriage of Heaven and Hell in 1868, eight titles were reproduced in black-and-white in Works by William Blake (1876), and a monochrome facsimile of Jerusalem appeared in 1877, but there had been no facsimile of Milton, There is No Natural Religion, All Religions Are One, On Homer, The Gates of Paradise, The Book of Ahania, or The Book of Los, and only one copy (F) of one work (The Marriage) had been reproduced in color. Blake’s works in the form he had intended them to be seen in, with colored designs integral to the text, were scarcely visible to the book-buying public until more than half a century after his death in 1827.

In 1884, William Muir set to work to make available colored facsimiles of Blake’s works in Illuminated Printing. Working by methods similar to Blake’s, he made lithographs (not copperplate relief etchings) of the outlines which he and his assistants printed and then colored by hand. Usually, of course, Muir used one original as the model for all copies of a facsimile title, rather than making each copy deliberately different as Blake generally did. Altogether he reproduced 13 works in Illuminated Printing, generally in editions not exceeding 50 copies, and a few in more than one edition. His editions were larger than Blake’s, though not much larger, and, until the Blake Trust began publishing Blake facsimiles in 1951, Muir’s facsimiles were often the only color reproductions available. His color facsimiles of Milton (1886) and The Song of Los (1890) were the only ones for almost a century (1967 and 1975).

Muir generally finished half-a-dozen copies at a time, and sometimes the last copies were finished 30 or even 48 years after the first one. The number of colored copies of each title apparently varied from 18 (Urizen) to over 100 (Innocence and Experience, each in two editions). The history of the production and sale of the Muir facsimile provides an interesting indication of the popularity of Blake’s works in the form in which he wanted his works to be seen.

About 1884, John Pearson & Co. issued a “PROPOSAL FOR THE PUBLICATION OF THE PROPHETIC BOOKS, AND THE SONGS OF INNOCENCE AND OF EXPERIENCE” “For Subscribers only, limited to 50 Copies”; “after this has been done the materials will be destroyed.” Pearson issued the first copies of Innocence, Thel, Visions, and Experience in 1884 and 1885, but, as Muir reported, “When Mr. Pearson left business last March [1885] I arranged with his excellent successor Mr Shepherd that Mr Quaritch should be my agent.”³↤ ³ Blake Books 487-89, the source of most of the information here which does not come from the Quaritch mss. I am deeply grateful to my friend Dr. Arthur Freeman of Quaritch for his generosity in providing me with reproductions of the Muir documents and giving me permission to quote from them. The biography of Quaritch, on which he has been working for some years, will provide a fuller context for Quaritch’s dealings with Muir. Note that Quaritch was also the prime agent in the distribution of Blake Trust facsimiles. A great mass of Quaritch documents is in the British Library, with a “time-lock” until the year 2000.

Muir’s “Edition of the Works of Wm. Blake” consisted of:

↤ ⁵ According to a flyer of May 1885, facsimiles of The Book of Ahania and The Book of Los were “in contemplation,” but apparently they were never issued. ↤ ⁴ A facsimile of Blake’s letter of 16 March 1804 is included.

Volume I (quarto)	Volume II (folio)
Innocence [D] (1884); [A] (1927)	America [R; A]
Thel [D] (1844); [?J] (1927)	Europe [A, D, c] (1887); [D] (1931)
Visions [A] (1884); [?G] (1928)	Urizen [B] (1888)
Experience [U] (1885); [A, T] (1927)	Gates of Paradise (1888), uncolored
Marriage [A] (1885)	Song of Los [A] (1890)5
Milton [A] (1886)4
No Natural Religion [A, L] (1886)
On Homer [?C] (1886), uncolored
Hayley, “Little Tom” (1886), uncolored
“Appendix” of the “Order” of the Songs
and “A Divine Image” (Songs pl. b)

Copies were apparently produced, or at least colored, as orders came in, and as late as 1921, according to Keynes’s Bibliography of William Blake, copies of everything save the Songs were “still to be obtained.” Indeed, some of the original versions were still for sale as late as 1936.

The firm of Bernard Quaritch continues to be one of the great antiquarian book firms, and they still have copies of the Muir facsimiles of Blake for sale, though these are now second-hand copies. They also have correspondence with Muir which is extremely interesting about the ways in which Muir made his facsimiles and when and for how much he sold them. Since the Muir facsimiles are now as rare as some of Blake’s originals, it is worth making the most interesting of these records public.⁶↤ ⁶ Quaritch also has fascinating records of the Ellis & Yeats edition of Blake (1893) and of the Facsimile of the Original Outlines before Colouring of the Songs of Innocence and of Experience [U] (1893).

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LETTER 1

Muir’s letter of 5 May 1919 makes it plain that he had printed a number of copies in advance of orders:

538 Romford Rd London E7

5 May 1919

Messrs Quaritch Ltd

Dear Sirs

In reply to your esteemed order of May 2 and to your Mr Mudies letter of May 3.

1) The facsimiles that I can still supply are

The Act of Creation⁷↤ ⁷ That is “The Ancient of Days,” the frontispiece of Europe. 2 copies only

America mono colour

do coloured

Europe

No Natural Religion

The Gates of Paradise

Milton

The Song of Los Price to be determined⁸↤ ⁸ In another letter to Quaritch of 5 May 1919, Muir wrote: My Letter of 5 May 1919 leaves price of Los undetermined[.] “I told Mr Mudie it would be more than it used to be[.] This (£6.6.0) is less than it shouldbe. It shouldbe £7.7.0 but I fear you will not think so[.]”

The Book of Urizen Do

A sybelline leaf (a single sheet)⁹↤ ⁹ “On Homers Poetry & On Virgil.”

I have no other single sheets except—Little Tom which I still can supply[.]

2) I enclose a/c as Mr Mudie asks me to do. . .

Yours truly

W^mMuir

LETTER 2

In his letter of 4 October 1920, Muir gives a summary of his receipts from Quaritch for the Blake facsimiles thus far:

538 Romford Rd London E7

4^th October 1920

Dr Mr Mudie

I have been looking over my Ledger a/c with “Quaritch” since the beginning of the Blake facsimiles in 1885 and think that the following abstract of it, shewing value of deliveries each year, will interest you, and give encouragement for the future? Yours faithfully

W^mMuir

↤ ¹⁰ A marginal note says “nine months.” ↤ ¹¹ This sum of £625.5.6 presumably represents Quaritch’s 33% commission, and the £1,250.11.0 is what Muir received.

Year	Value of goods delivered
1885	£415.16.0
1886	564.18.0
1887	171.3.0
1888	98.14.0
1889	21.0.0
1890	105.13.6
1891	71.5.0
1892	13.13.0
1893	21.0.0
1894	1.14.6
1895	0.0.0
1896	0.0.0
1897	1.1.0
1898	0.0.0
1899	9.16.6
1900	3.3.0
1901	0.0.0
1902	0.0.0
1903	4.4.0
Carried	1503.1.6
forward
Brought forwd	1503.1.6
1904	0.0.0
1905	12.18.0
1906	0.0.0
1907	35.3.6
1908	2.14.0
1909	1.2.6
1910	9.0.0
1911	9.0.0
1912	43.1.0
1913	0.9.0
1914	23.17.0
1915	17.2.0
1916	10.4.0
1917	31.4.0
1918	7.13.0
1919	75.18.0
1920 10	93.9.0
	3 | 1875.16.6
	£625.5.6 11
	£1250.11.0

Paid to Mr Muir Twelve hundred and fifty pounds 11/0!!! This is more (alas!) than ever Blake himself got.—He had no Quaritch[.]

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LETTER 3

One of the most interesting letters from Muir was written as a result of a letter of enquiry to Quaritch from Professor John Le Gay Brereton of the University of Sydney.

London

31 March 1922

Mess^rs Quaritch

Dear Sirs

I thank you for sending me Prof Breretons letter of 20^th Feby which I return enclosed.

I heartily appreciate Prof Breretons kind words. This is all I need say about what is past.

The following remarks will, I hope, enable Prof Brereton to understand why original Blakes differ so much [from one another]— originals of the Songs, Thel, Visions, Heaven & Hell [, The Song of] Los, Urizen &c &c—

The fact is that Blake took impressions from his copper plates (plates etched in relief for the Songs.—Etched in intaglio for the other books¹²↤ ¹² This is an odd mistake for a printer as careful and experienced as Muir, for almost all the works by Blake of which he made facsimiles—Innocence, Thel, Visions, Experience, Marriage, Milton, No Natural Religion, On Homer, Hayley’s “Little Tom,” America, Europe, Urizen, and Song of Los—are etched in relief. Only The Book of Ahania and The Book of Los (which Muir did not reproduce) plus The Gates of Paradise (which he reproduced in 1890) are conventionally etched in intaglio. The method of etching, in relief or in intaglio, determines the method of printing. Of course, none of Blake’s copperplates for any of these works survives (though there are electrotype copies of 16 of the Songs plates originally made for Gilchrist’s Life of William Blake, “Pictor Ignotus”), so our evidence of the form of etching is indirect. There is, however, no ambiguity as to whether the etching is in relief or intaglio. with what I can only call a skilful carelessness.

I think that sometimes he did not even use a press, but got the impression by rubbing the paper placed on the inked plate.— The back of a table spoon used as a rubber does very well—¹³↤ ¹³ I have used this method in printing from electrotypes of Blake’s plates (on conspicuously modern paper, signed on the versos) with effects very like those Blake achieved. If the spoon is soft metal such as silver you must put a second sheet above the one to be printed, to take the marks left by the spoon— Therefore the prints so obtained often were, as prints, of very poor quality, but that was what Blake wanted, or was contented with, for their imperfections left him free to colour them and draw on them just as his fancy (often stimulated by these very imperfections) led him to do at the moment. Let me give examples.

1) Let Prof Brereton take a first [1863] or second edition of Blakes Life by Gilchrist [1880], and look at the sixteen impressions from Blakes own plates at the end. (Songs of Inn & Exp) —turn to the first plate of the “Ecchoing Green”—observe the back ground behind the oak— You can make nothing definite of it.— Well in one Copy that I have seen (I think it was Mr Linnells) the indefinite touches of that back ground are developed into a crowd of active little figures at play.¹⁴↤ ¹⁴ I have not observed this phenomenon in either Linnell’s copies of Innocence (I) and Songs (R, X, AA) or elsewhere. As the blue flower in “Infant Joy,” to which Muir refers below, is found in only nine copies, including Songs (X), perhaps Muir saw copy X, which remained in the Linnell family until 1918. In the same copy the large flower of the page [of] “Infant Joy” was bright blue instead of scarlet as usual,¹⁵↤ ¹⁵ The flower in “Infant Joy” (pl. 25) is blue rather than the usual red in Innocence (A, G-H, X) and Songs (D-F, I, X). and there were no doubt other variations.

2) In most copies of the title page of Visions of the Daughters of Albion there are indefinite patches of light, or light rays, (some of both) in the bottom right hand corner.—Well— in one copy these patches and rays become a terrific group of sheeted ghosts rising out of an abyss—¹⁶↤ ¹⁶ I have not observed this phenomenon in any copy of Visions pl. 2.

3) In the case of Thel that Prof Brereton asked about, I have no doubt that the reason why Blake gives the back of the nymphs head in the Brit. Mus. Copy just was that the profile did not print at all (or else was blurred by too much ink) in that case, So Blake coloured it as the back of the head— to save trouble.¹⁷↤ ¹⁷ Apparently Professor Brereton had asked why Muir’s facsimile of Thel pl. 7 shows Thel’s bent head in profile [as in copies N-O], while that in The Works of William Blake, ed. E. J. Ellis & W. B. Yeats (1893), III, unnumbered facsimile page, shows only the top of Thel’s head (as in copy D in the British Museum Print Room).

Urizen contains even more startling variations than any of the above, and I have no doubt that many variations would be found in almost any two copies of any coloured work if carefully looked for. I mean actual variations in drawing— variations often allowed or often suggested by technical imperfections in the printed foundation.

As far as I have noticed(I have not looked with care— Indeed have not looked at all for this purpose— but) as far as I have noticed the Folio engraved books Los, Europe, America, are free from these variations in drawing, Probably because the large plates could not be printed from in the free and easy way possible with little plates— but this is only a pious opinion that I attach no importance to.

Again thanking Prof Brereton for his kind words, and relying on your transmitting my thanks to him I am

Yours faithfully

W^mMuir

P.S. The following may interest Prof Brereton if he (or any of his students) care to try colour printing a la Blake as described by Gilchrist, who however is not able to give workable directions for the preparation of the necessary medium with which the colours have to be mixed. Blake calls the method “Fresco.”—see Gilchrist[.]

Receipt for “Blakes Medium” as made and used by W Muir [.] Make (say) half a pint of a solution of good common glue in water[,] a sol[utio]ⁿ so thin that it will just not set into a jelly at say 70° Fahr—to this add from 1/4^th to 1/2 pint of Copal Varnish.¹⁸↤ ¹⁸ Made from a hard, lustrous resin obtained from various tropical trees. Shake well together. You thus form an emulsion. Mix your dry powder colours with it. In drying the paper the emulsion breaks up, and gives Blakesque effects. By this means only can y[ou] copy “Los”[.]¹⁹↤ ¹⁹ This formula is clearly for producing the effects of Blake’s color-printing, as in The Song of Los, the only work Muir reproduced by his own method of color-printing.

W M²⁰↤ ²⁰ By an odd chance, Professor John Le Gay Brereton, the nephew of the author of this letter, was a dear friend of ours. I have enquired for other parts of this correspondence, but neither members of his family nor the archivists of the University of Sydney Library and the State Library of New South Wales, which have collections of his papers, have been able to throw light on the matter.

LETTER 4

Some of the information in Muir’s letters throws invaluable light upon the history and variants in individual copies of Blake’s works in Illuminated Printing, as in that to Quaritch’s agent Mr Mudie of 26 July 1922:

538 Romford Rd London E7

26 July 1922

Dear Mr Mudie

Urizen N^o 15 is correct— only 14 were done previously—I have not seen Mr Keynes[’] book²¹↤ ²¹ A Bibliography of William Blake (1921) 297, says that “Only about twentyfive copies [of URIZEN] were done; the plates, which were etchings on zinc, have since been lost.” 21— I do not think I gave him any information— I have no recollections of doing so. I do remember his calling twice or thrice, and spending time in looking over our “first copies”, and chatting—He may have got a wrong impression from some chance remark—N^o 14 was delivered to Mr Quaritch on 31 Dec^r 1907[,] the receipt is signed by yourself, the one before that was N^o 13 on 15 May 1899 signed E.H.W.

The wife mentioned to you when she handed you the book that page 4 (the man amidst black flames) does not occur in any other Urizen.²²↤ ²² A note at the bottom of the page says: “incorrect. It is in 2 other originals.” In fact, this pl. 4 is found in copies A-C, H, and I (the last two copies consist of only five plates altogether). Most of the emendations seem to have been made at Quaritch’s. —I got it from a volume of scrap “Blakiana” which I purchased for £80 from the first Mr Quaritch, and sold some years afterwards to Mr MacGeorge of Glasgow.²³↤ ²³ This is apparently the collection of miscellaneous Blakeana, including Urizen pl. 4, acquired by Muir in 1885, described in Blake Books 437-41. It makes the text of Urizen complete for the first time.—If you compare pp. 3 & 5 (read from 3 to 5, omitting 4) you get the ordinary text. The hiatus is obvious.

I think you told me that this copy (N^o 15) is going to Mr Newton [in] Philadelphia[.] It will be amusing to see if he noticed the new page without having had his attention called to it—He should certainly observe it for he has an Ellis & Yeats—If he asks for explanations you are now in a position to give them[.]

Yours truly

W^mMuir

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LETTER 5

On 17 February 1936, Muir wrote with a summary of all his dealings with Quaritch, identifying the day on which each copy was sold. The accounts suggest that Quaritch wished to keep on hand a few copies of at least the more popular works and that Muir colored them as Quaritch sent him orders.

538 Romford Road

Forest Gate E,7

17^th Feb^y 1936

Mess^rs Quaritch, Ltd.

Dear Sirs

I regret that my indolence is about to cause you inconvenience. I hope the following narrative will prevent this.

In March 1884 I arranged with John Pearson of 46 Pall Mall that I would produce 50 facsimiles of Blake’s works from such originals as we could get the use of. These facsimiles to be an edition limited to 50 copies for subscribers found by M^r Pearson. These subscribers were purely imaginary, but the phrase was used to prevent the enterprise falling into the clutches of Public Libraries such as the Bodleian who have a legal right to a gratis copy of everything “published”.

The work proceeded merrily till 27^th April 1885 when M.^r Pearson suddenly retired owing to ill-health. By that time M^r Pearson had sold 25 [i.e., 35?] copies of “Thel”[,] also 12 copies of “The Visions of the daughters of Albion”[,] 8 Copies of “The Songs of Innocence” & 9 copies of “The Act of Creation”. Then M^r Bernard Quaritch appeared upon the scene, took over the enterprise & sold everything else.

He took them as follows:—

1885
11th May	“Daughters of Albion	Nos. 13 & 26 to 36	inclusive
15th ″	“Songs of Innocence”	Nos. 6, 14, 20 & 24 to 32	″
18th ″	6 “Act of Creation”	Nos. 10 to 15	″
23rd ″	6 “Act of Creation”	Nos. 16 to 21	″
28th July	6 “Songs of Innocence”	Nos. 33 to 38	″
1885	([page] 2)
7th Augt	12 “Songs of Experience”	Nos. 1 to 12	inclusive
10th Sept.	6 “Songs of Experience”	″ 13 to 18	″
24th ″	4 ″ ″ ″	″ 19 to 22	″
6th Oct	4 “Songs of Innocence”	″ 17, 39, 41	″ [sic]
″ ″	6 “Thels”	″ 36 to 41	″
9th ″	2 “Songs of Experience”	″ 23 & 24
″ ″	6 “Daughters of Albion”	″ 23 & 37 to 41	″
30th Nov	2 Songs of Experience	″ 25 & 26
″ ″	12 Marriage of H. & H.	″ 1 to 12	″
24 Decr	6 ″ ″ ″	″ 13 to 18	″
1886
8th April	18 “Miltons”	″ 1 to 18	″
12th May	3 Marriage of H. & H	″ 19, 20, 21
″ ″	2 “Miltons[”]	″ 19, 20
″ ″	3 “Songs of Innocence”	″ 42[,] 43, 44
17th ″	3 “Miltons”	″ 21, 22, 23
″ ″	3 Songs of Experience	″ 27, 28, 29
25th ″	12 “No Natural Religion”	″ 1 to 12	″
1st June	3 Natural Religion	″ 13, 14, 15
1st July	4 ″ ″	″ 16, 17, 18, 19.
3rd ″	1 “Songs of Innocence[”]	″ 48
″ ″	2 Songs of Experience	″ 31, 32
3rd Aug	3 Songs of Innocence	″ 45, 46, 49
″ ″	2 No Natural Religion	″ [28 del] 20, 21.
4th ″	2 Marriage of H & H.	″ 22, 24
″ ″	4 Miltons	″ 25, 26[,] 27, 28
11th ″	1 Songs of Experience	″ 30
″ ″	1 Songs of Innocence	″ 47
″ ″	1 Marriage of H. & H.	″ 23
8th Sept	1 Milton	″ 24
	4 No Natural Religion	″ 22, 23, 24, 25
21st ″	3 Songs of Experience	″ 33, 34, 35
27th Oct.	3 ″ ″ ″	″ 36, 37, 38
″ ″	3 Marriage of H. & H.	″ 25, 26, 27.
1886	([page] 3)	nos.
9th Nov	5 Thels	42[,] 43, 44, 45, 46	inclusive
″ ″	5 Daughters of Albion	42, 43, 44, 45, 46	″
″ ″	3 Marriage of H & H.	25a[,] 26a[,] 27a	″
″ ″	12 plates of “Little Tom”
7th Dec	3 “Songs of Experience”	39-40, 41
9th ″	1 Act of Creation	22.
18 ″	1 Marriage of H & H	31
″ ″	2 Songs of Experience	42, 43.
1887
16th Feby	3 America	1, 2, 3
22d ″	6 ″	4 to 9
15th Mar	7 ″	10 to 16
20th April	3 ″ returned	17, 18, 19
27th May	1 No Natural Religion	26
″ ″	1 Act of Creation	9
31st ″	2 Daughters of Albion	4 [i.e., 24?], 47
″ ″	2 Thels	20, 25 [i.e., 30, 35?].
28th June	3 Songs of Experience	44, 45, 46
11th July	3 America	20, 21, 22
10th ″	2 No Natural Religion	27, 28
20th Octr	2 Act of Creation	25[,] 26
″ ″	2 Little Toms
29th ″	12 Europe	1 to 12	″

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1888
21th Mar	6 Urizen	1 to 6	″
1st May	2 Act of Creation	27, 28
5th ″	5 Urizen	7 to 11	″
4th Sept	6 Gates of Paradise	1 to 6	″
15th ″	1 Gates of Paradise	7
10th Oct.	1 ″ ″ ″	8
19th ″	1 ″ ″ ″	9
1889
9th May	2 Gates of Paradise	10, 11
″ ″	1 Marriag[e] of H. & H.	35
21st Oct	1 Act of Creation	29
1890
25th Aug	1 Thel	47
1890	([page] 4)
30th Aug	1 Thel	No. 42 [i.e., 32?]
″ ″	1 Daughters of Albion	″ 48
″ ″	1 Gates of Paradise	″ 12
5th Sept	4 Songs of Experience	″ 47, 48, 49, 50	inclusive
″ ″	1 America	″ 19
″ ″	1 Europe	″ 13
″ ″	1 Marriage of H & H	″ 32
″ ″	1 Milton	″[11 del] 30
″ ″	1 Gates of Paradise	″ 13
8th ″	3 Thels	″ 48, 49, 50
15th ″	3 Daughters of Albion	″ 3, 49, 50
12th Nov	1 Gates of Paradise	″ 14
24 ″	5 Song of Los	″ 1 to 5	″
12th Dec	1 Gates of Paradise	″ 15
1891
23rd Jan	5 Song of Los	″ 6 to 10	″
″ ″	10 Homers Poetry	—
9th Feb	1 Europe	″ 30
″ ″	1 America	″ 21
″ ″	1 Marriage of H & H	″ 33
3rd June	2 Los	″ 11, 12
″ ″	1 Milton	″ 24
″ ″	1 Gates of Paradise	″ 16
″ ″	2 Little Toms
16th Dec	1 Los	″ 13
1892
21st Mar	1 Los	″ 14
28th April	1 Marriage of H & H.	″ 34
12th Aug	1 Los	″ 15
1893
21st Feb.	1 Urizen	″ 12
4th Mar	2 Marriage of H. & H	″ 35, 36
10th ″	1 ″ ″ ″	″ 37	12th June	1 Los	″ 16
1894
20th July	1 Act of Creation	″ 30
1894	([page] 5)
4th Jan	1 Act of Creation	No 31
1899
15th May	1 Urizen	″ 13
″ ″	1 Gates of Paradise	″ 17
″ ″	1 Homers Poetry
″ ″	1 Little Tom
1900
28th April	1 Marriage of H & H.	″ 37
1903
12th Jan.	1 Act of Creation	″ 32
1st Oct	1 Marriage of H & H	″ 38
1905
3rd Mar	1 ″ ″ ″	″ 40
30 Mar	1 Gates of Paradise	″ 18
″ ″	1 America	? 22
1907
18th Mar.	1 Marriage of H: H.	″ 41
24 April	1 ″ ″ ″	″ 42
″ ″	1 Milton	″ [29 del] 31
″ ″	1 Act of Creation	″ 33
27th May	1 America	″ 23
31st Dec.	1 Urizen	″ [45 del]-?14
″ ″	1 Europe	″ 30
1 ″	1 Little Tom
″ ″	Homers Poetry	[no number]
1908
1st Feb	1 Sybilline Leaf
″ ″	1 Little Tom
20 ″	1 Act of Creation	″ 34
4th Mar	1 Act of Creation	″ 35
1909
25th Mar	1 Act of Creation	″ 36
″ ″	2 Little Tom
16th May	1 Act of Creation	″ 37
29th Sept	1 ″ ″ ″	″ 38
1910	([page] 6)	No.
17th Feb	2 Acts of Creation	″ 39, 40
7th Sept	1 No Natural Religion	″ 29
11th Nov	2 Marriage of H. & H.	″ 43, 44
1911
24th Jan	1 No Natural Religion	″ 30
17th Feb	1 Europe	″ 31
6th Mar	1 Gates of Paradise	″ 19

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1912
15th Jan	1 Europe	″ 32
27th Feb	1 copy page 53 Jerusalem
29th Mar	1 Sheet ‘To the Queen’
″ ″	3 pages of Urizen—“Old Man with book” [pl. 1?,] “Corruption” [pl. 8?] & “Retreating figure” [pl. 27?]
28th April	1 Songs of Experience	No. [no number]
1st May	1 Leaf “To the Queen”
1st July	2 Acts of Creation	″ 41-42
2nd Sept.	1 Gates of Paradise	″ 20
19th ″	1 Europe	″ 33
″ ″	1 Marriage of H. H.	″ 45
7th Oct	1 ″ ″ ″	″ 46
24th ″	2 No Natural Religion	″ 31-32
1913
18th Aug	4 Little Toms
15th Dec	1 Gates of Paradise	″ 21
1914
15th April	1 America	″ 24
14th Sept	1 America	″ 25
″ ″	1 do.	″ 22
28th Oct	1 Europe	″ 34
″ ″	1 No Natural Religion	″ 34
1915
4th Mar	1 No Natural Religion	″ 35
12th April	1 Marriage of H & Hell	″ 47
26th ″	1 Milton	″ [2 del] 32
19th June	1 America	″ 26
1916		([page] 7)
25th Jan	1 Act of Creation	No 46
14th Aug	1 No Natural Religion	″ 37
9th Nov	1 Marriage of H & H.	″ 48
11th Dec	1 America	″ 27
1917
20th Jan	1 No Natural Religion	″ 38
29th ″	1 ″ ″ ″	″ 39
23d Feb	1 Marriage of H. H	″ 49
″ ″	1 America	″ 28
″ ″	1 No Natural Religion	″ 40
26th Mar	1 America	″ 29
28th May	1 ″	″ 30
4th June	1 Act of Creation	″ 47
16th July	1 Marriage of H & H	″ 50
16th Nov	2 Little Toms
1st Dec	2 ″ ″
1918
16th April	1 Songs of Experience	″ [no number]
″ ″	1 Act of Creation	″ 48
1919
2d May	1 Milton	″ [30 del] 33
″ ″	2 Little Toms
12 June	1 Milton	″ [31 del] 34
″ ″	1 Europe	″ 31
27th ″	1 Europe	″ 35
″ ″	1 No Natural Religion	″ 41
″ ″	1 Act of Creation	″ 49
14th Augt	1 Ancient of Days	″ 50
″ ″	1 Innocence & Experience (Ellis & Yeats)	[no number]
4th Sept	1 Innocence & Experience (Ellis & Yeats)
″ ″	1 Europe	″ 36
″ ″	1 No Natural Religion	″ 42
9th Sept	3 Gates of Paradise	″ 22, 23, 24
4th Dec	1 ″ ″ ″	″ 25
″ ″	1 America	″ 32
1920		([page] 8)
15th Jan	1 Los	No 17
19th Feb	1 Los	″ 18
5th Mar	1 Milton	″ [32 del] 35
25 ″	1 America	″ 33
″ ″	1 Gates of Paradise	″ 26
22d April	1 America	″ 34
″ ″	1 ″	″ 35
″ ″	1 No Natural Religion	″ 43
6th May	1 Songs Innocence & Experience (Ellis & Yeats)	[no number]
13th May	1 page of Thel
3d June	1 Europe	″ 37
8th July	1 Milton	″ [33 del] 36
22d ″	1 No Natural Religion	″ 44
5th Aug	1 Thel 2d edition	″ 1, 2
4th Sept	1 America	″ 36
″ ″	1 Thel 2nd edition	″ 3
27th Sept	1 Los	″ 19
″ ″	1 Thel 2nd edition	″ 4
2d Dec	2 ″ ″ ″	″ 5, 6
26th Oct	2 ″ ″ ″	″ 7, 8
16th Dec	2 ″ ″ ″	″ 9, 10
1921
3rd Feb.	2 ″ ″ ″	″ 11, 12
24th Feb.	1 No Natural Religion	″ 4, 5 [i.e., 45].
″ ″	1 Thel 2d edition	″ 13
17th Mar	2 ″ ″ ″	″ 14, 15
15th April	2 ″ ″ ″	″ 16, 17
13th May	2 ″ ″ ″	″ 18, 19
2d June	1 ″ ″ ″	″ 20
16th Aug	1 Europe	″ 38
16th Sept	1 Milton	″ [34 del] 37
22 ″	2 No Natural Religion	″ 46, 47
8th Nov	3 ″ ″ ″	″ 48, 49, 50

begin page 10 | ↑ back to top

↤ ²⁴ In Urizen (B), which Muir reproduced, the titlepage is pl. 1, the fifth plate is pl. 14, the ninth plate is pl. 10, the 22nd plate is pl. 20, and the 23rd plate is pl. 21.

1922		([page] 9)
3rd Feby	1 Milton	No [35 del] 38
16th ″	1 Urizen title page [i.e., pl. 1]24
″ ″	2 ″ page 23 [i.e., pl. 21]
″ ″	1 ″ page 22 [i.e., pl. 20]
″ ″	1 Urizen page 5 [i.e., pl. 14]
″ ″	1 ″ ″ 9 [i.e., pl. 10]
9th May	2 Thel [2nd Edition]	″ 21, 22
24th July	1 Urizen	″ 15
17th Aug	1 ″ page 5 [i.e., pl. 4]
14th Sept	1.Milton	″ [36 del] 39
8th Dec	1 Urizen	″ 16
1923
9th Mar	2 Americas	″ 37, 38
17th May	1 Urizen	″ 17
1st Aug	1 Europe	″ 39
27th Sept	2 Song of Los	″ 20, 21
15th Oct	1 America	″ 39
15th Oct	1 ″ rich colouring	″ × 40
1924
24 Mar	1 [i.e., 2] Thel [2nd Edition]	″ 23, 24
15th May	1 Urizen	″ 18
20th Aug	1 Europe	″ 40
18th Sept	1 Europe	″ 41
20th Oct	1 America rich colouring	″ 40 ×
1925
11th May	1 America rich colouring	″ 41
″ ″	2 Gates of Paradise	″ 27[-]28
″ ″	1 Little Tom coloured
22d June	1 Europe	″ 43
27th Aug	1 ″	″ 44
″ ″	2 Little Toms
28th Oct	1 America richly coloured	″ 42
1926
23d Mar	1 Europe	″ 45
1926		([page] 10)
29th April	2 Thels [2nd Edition]	No 25, 26
18th Aug	2 Little Toms
″ ″	1 Europe	″ 46
″ ″	1 Milton	″ [37 del] 40
27th ″	1 Europe	″ 47
″ ″	2 Thels [2nd Edition]	″ 27, 28
27 Sept	1 Europe	″ 48
″ ″	2 Thels [2nd Edition]	″ 29[,] 30
7th Dec	1 Europe	″ 49
″ ″	1 America rich colouring	″ 44
1927		Centenary Edition
12th Jan.	6 copies Songs of Innocence	″ 1 to 6	inclusive
″ ″	1 ″ of Experience	″ 1
18th ″	6 Songs of Innocence	″ 7 to 12
″ ″	3 ″ ″ Experience	″ 2, 3, 4
17th Feby	6 ″ ″ Innocence	″ 13 to 18
11th Mar	6 ″ ″ ″	″ 19 to 24	″
8th April	7 ″ ″ ″	″ 25 to 31	″
16th May	5 ″ ″ ″	″ 32 to 36	″
24th June	5 ″ ″ ″	″ 37 to 41	″
22d July	5 ″ ″ Experience	″ 5 to 9
11th Aug	5 ″ ″ ″	″ 10 to 14	″
30th Sept	5 ″ ″ ″	″ 15 to 19	″
4th Oct	2 Song of Los	″ 23, 24	″ [sic]
19th ″	4 Songs of Experience	″ 20 to 23
4th ″	″ ″ ″ ″	″ 38 [all sic]
24th Nov	5 ″ ″ ″	″ 24 to 28	″
1928
4th Jan	5 ″ ″ ″	″ 29 to 33	″
7th Feb	5 ″ ″ ″	″ 34[-]35, 36, 37, & 39
13th Mar	5 ″ ″ ″	″ 40 to 44	inclusive
3rd April	1 Europe	″ 50 [circled]
2d May	5 Songs of Innocence	″ 42 to 46	inclusive
1928		([page] 11)
2.d May	1 page no 2 of Daughters of Albion no.
24th ″	4 copies of Songs of Innocence	47, 48, 49, 50
2d Aug	2 ″ America	″ 45, 46,
3d Sep	6 Songs of Experience	″ 45 to 50	inclusive
″ ″	5 Daughters of Albion	″ 1, 2, 3, 4, 5,
8th Oct	5 ″ ″ ″	″ 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 [last circled]
26th Nov	1 Songs of Innocence	}	sent for review
″ ″	1 Song of Experience
1929
12th Mar	1 America richly coloured	47.
29th April	1 [sic] ditto monochrome	48 [circled]
″ ″	2 Miltons	39, 40 [i.e.] 41-2
″ ″	3 Ancient of Days	1, 2, 3
4th June	1 Daughters of Albion	3
″ ″	5 Act of Creation	4, 5, 6, 7, 8.
12th Nov	5 Songs of Innocence	51 to [57 del in a circle to] 55	inclusive
1930
30th Oct	1 Gates of Paradise	29
″ ″	2 Thel [2nd Edition]	31, 32 [circled]
16th Dec	2 Europe	1, 2 [circled]
1939 [sic]
1935
3 May	2 Gates of Paradise	30, 31 [circled]

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538 Romford Rd London E7 18 Feby 1936

The foregoing pages contain a detailed account of all my dealings with the House of Quaritch up to date. You can make what use of them you choose. I have at the moment Blake facsimile stock as over leaf

Yours faithfully

W^m Muir

[page 12]

18 Feby M^r Muir’s Stock

4 Songs of Experience

[2 Miltons del] ord Feb 36

M^r Muir then said he had 4 or 5 uncoloured but some may be imperfect

Your orders will oblige

Yours[?] try[?]

W^m Muir

[In the second hand:] Milton. ?No. of copies done. M^r Muir’s figures give: 1-18, 19-20, 21, 22, 23, 25, 26, 27, 28, 24, [11, 24, del] 29, [24, del] 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 39, 40, & 2 in hand = [44 del] [42 del] 41

Muir’s own figures for his sales to Pearson (1884-85) and to Quaritch (1885-1936) may be summarized as shown in Table 1.

Notice that the copies were not always sold in strict numerical order. Further, some numbered copies are not accounted for in this list: Europe, No. 14-29; Marriage, No. 39; Songs of Innocence, No. 9-13, 15-16, 18-19, 21-23, 40, 50; No Natural Religion, No. 33, 36; Visions, No. 14-22, and 25. There are also some duplicate or extra numbers for America (3 copies), Europe (1), Marriage (3), Songs of Experience (2), and 2nd Edition (5), Songs of Innocence (1), and 2nd Edition (6), and Visions (3). For at least the first editions, 50 copies of each were promised, but fewer than 50 copies were sold for most titles: America (48), Urizen (18), Gates of Paradise (31), Hayley’s “Little Tom” (36), On Homer (12), and Song of Los (24). The maximum number of complete sets of “The Edition of the Works of Wm. Blake” by “The Blake Press at Edmonton” was 12, though they seem never to have been sold as sets. Probably there are considerably fewer complete sets which could be found today.

↤ ²⁵ According to Quaritch Catalogue 427 (1929) Lot 243, “Only 48 copies were issued of which 12 were coloured.” Notes here on the copies issued supplement the information in Blake Books (1977). ↤ ²⁶ Quaritch Catalogue 486 (1934) Lot 79, says that of the “1931” version “Only seventeen copies will be reproduced” and Catalogue 560 (1939) adds: “Only two copies were reproduced.” ↤ ²⁷ According to Quaritch Catalogue 373 (Dec 1922) Lot 160, When Mr. Muir made his facsimile of ‘Urizen’ [in 1888] only fourteen copies were coloured. The sale was rather slow, and after his removal from Edmonton the zinc plates could not be found and in consequence no more were done. The above copy [of 1922] was recently completed by Mr. Muir. And Quaritch Catalogue 560 (1939) Lot 103, adds that there were only “four copies reproduced entirely by hand by Mr. Muir . . . numbered 15 to 18”; No. 15 is in the Essick collection, and an unnumbered copy is in the Huntington. ↤ ²⁸ According to Quaritch Catalogue 560 (1937) Lot 100, “Although the edition was intended to be one of 50 copies, only 31 were published.” ↤ ²⁹ Quaritch Catalogue 405 (Dec 1926) Lot 256, offered “Little Tom” “with two illustrations COLOURED BY HAND from the copy in the British Museum (1925).” ↤ ³⁰ Quaritch Catalogue 560 (1939) Lot 105, says: “50 copies were printed, only a very small number being coloured from the Fitzwilliam copy [I],” though the only ones seen by Robert N. Essick and GEB seem to have been colored from Copy A. ↤ ³¹ According to Quaritch Catalogue 530 (1927) Lot 101, “Only 42 coloured copies were issued.” ↤ ³² Quaritch Catalogue 427 (1929) Lot 250, says: “Only 23 copies were reproduced,” and Keynes (1921) adds that “Some . . . have been executed recently.” ↤ ³³ A volume marked “Drawings for Songs of Experience” presented, according to its inscription, by Wm & S. E. Muir to the Revd Mr. Eastward on 14 Sept 1914 (in the collection of Robert N. Essick) consists of reproductions of Experience (pl. 1, 28-37, 39-54), most of them in wash but nine of them (pl. 1, 29, 33-34, 36, 46-47, 53) in lithographs. The lithographs are probably those Muir used for his own facsimile (though pl. 29 lacks the date in this copy). Gilchrist reproduces different lithographs of pl. 29 (lacking the date), 33-34, 36, 43, 46-48, 53; perhaps Muir began with lithographic copies of the Gilchrist plates and then added wash outlines of the Experience plates not in Gilchrist. ↤ ³⁴ In one late copy, pl. 8, 22-23, 25 and 54 were “completed by hand” (i.e., without any printed base), according to an inserted letter by William Muir (Ken Spelman Catalogue 13 [May 1988] Lot 1, cited in Essick, “Blake in the Marketplace, 1988,” Blake 23 [1989]: 12). ↤ ³⁵ Quaritch Catalogue 427 (1929) Lot 254 offers a version of “(1928)” Reproduced from the most richly coloured known copy [G] which was at one time in my possession, but which has not previously been reproduced. The outlines are printed from [? the same] etched plated, and the colouring done by hand by Mr. Muir and his staff of expert colourists. And Catalogue 530 (1937) Lot 106, adds: “Although the edition was announced as consisting of 50 copies, only 10 were issued.” A curious hybrid edition, printed in black (as in Copy a), the plates colored mostly like those in Copy G but a few like Copy F (color printed) and H, on paper watermarked 1923, may be “the 1927 reissue” of which “only two copies were issued,” according to an anonymous note of 17 Sept 1945 about “oddments” from “William Muir’s Lirary” acquired from “his [Muir’s] widow by Bernard Quaritch Ltd.” (all these materials are in the collection of Robert N. Essick). ↤ ³⁶ Quaritch Catalogue 427 (1929) Lot 258, offers a copy of “The Ancient of Days” of “(1929)”; “Only 9 copies . . . [have been] issued.” ↤ ³⁷ Presumably the dedicatory poem to Blair’s Grave (1808) in conventional typography, though perhaps it is the frontispiece drawing bearing the poem in the British Museum Print Room.

Volumes I and II

Title	Dates of Sale	Numbered Copies Sold
America 25	(1887-1928)	1-48 (17-19 returned, 19 resold) + duplicates of 21, 22, 40; “richly coloured” 1923 ff.
Book of Thel	(1884-?90)	1-50
Book of Thel (2nd Edition)	(1920-30)	1-32
Europe	(1887-1928)	1-13, 30-50, + duplicate of 30
Europe26 (2nd Edition)	(1930)	1-2
First Book of Urizen 27	(1988-1924)	1-18 (N.B., not limited to 15 or 25)
Gates of Paradise 28	(1886-1936)	1-31
Hayley, “Little Tom”29	(1886-1926)	36 unnumbered copies, one in 1925 colored
Marriage 30	(1885-1917)	1-38, 40-50, + 25a, 26a, 27a
Milton 31	(1886-1929)	1-42, + 2 colored and 4-5 uncolored in stock in 1936
On Homer	(1891-1907)	12 unnumbered copies
Song of Los 32	(1890-1927)	1-24
Songs of Experience 33	(1885-90)	1-50, + 2 more in 1912, 1918
Songs of Experience (2nd Edition)	(1927-28)	1-50, + 1 for review + 4 in stock in 1936
Songs of Innocence	(1884-1928)	1-8, 14, 17, 20, 24-39, 41-49, + duplicate of 6
Songs of Innocence (2nd Edition)34	(1927-28)	1-55, + 1 for review
There is No Natural Religion	(1886-1921)	1-32, 34-35, 37-50
Visions of the Daughters of Albion	(1884-90)	1-13, 23-24, 26-50, + 3 bis
Visions of the Daughters of Albion35 (2nd Edition)	(1928)	1-10 + 3 bis
	Miscellaneous Plates Not in Vol. I-II
“Act of Creation”	(1884?-1929)	1-22, 25-42, 46-50, + a duplicate of 936
“Ancient of Days”	(1920)	1-8
Jerusalem pl. 53	(1912)	1 unnumbered copy
First Book of Urizen pl. 1, 8, 27	(1912, 1922)	2 unnumbered copies of pl. 1, 1 each of the others
Ibid, pl. 1, 10, 14, 20-21	(1922)	1 unnumbered copy of each + 1 of pl. 14
Songs of Innocence and of Experience “(Ellis & Yeats)”	(1919-20)	3 unnumbered copies
“To the Queen”37	(1912)	2 unnumbered copies
Visions of the Daughters of Albion	(1928)	1 plate

Table 1.

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These detailed letters from William Muir to Quaritch are extraordinarily interesting to anyone concerned with the development of Blake’s reputation and the reproduction of his works in Illuminated Printing. In future, any extended consideration of the Muir facsimiles of Blake or Blake facsimiles in general will have to consider these letters.

A comparison of the success of William Blake in selling his works in Illuminated Printing in the 38 years from 1789 to his death in 1827 and of William Muir in selling facsimiles of these works in the 52 years from 1884-1936 indicates that Muir was far more successful than Blake, though the genius of the two men is incomparable (see Table 2).

Blake’s comparatively slight success as a salesman of his own works arose in part, of course, because he had to create virtually unaided a market for his strange (i.e., unfamiliar) works. Muir had greater success in selling somewhat

↤ ^{* | b |} * (surviving copies) ↤ ^{** | b |} ** (copies sold) ↤ ³⁸ Apparently Blake never issued a complete set of the plates for There is No Natural Religion.

	America	Thel	Europe	Urizen	Gates	Marriage	Milton
Blake*	15	16	11	8	14	9	4
Muir**	51	82	37	18	31	52	49
	Song of Los	Experience	Innocence		No Natural Rel		Visions
Blake*	5	29	50		038		17
Muir**	24	107	93		48		54

Table 2.

approximate facsimiles of the same works because, by 1884 when he issued his first proposals, Blake’s reputation had been firmly established in the biographies of J. T. Smith (1828), Allan Cunningham (1830), and especially Alexander Gilchrist (1863, 1880), in the critical eulogies of Swinburne (1868), and others, and in editions such as those by Sheperd (1874), and Rossetti (1874 et seq). But there is, I think, more to it than this.

Blake complained to Dawson Turner on 9 June 1818 that “I have never been able to produce a Sufficient number for a general Sale by means of a regular Publisher[.] It is therefore necessary to me that any Person wishing to have any or all of them should send me their Order to Print them.”³⁹↤ ³⁹ William Blake’s Writings (1978) 1649. However, Muir apparently worked in the same way that Blake did, coloring (and perhaps even printing) a few copies at a time, and Muir was far more successful than Blake was, even though his facsimiles are not nearly so beautiful as Blake’s originals. Surely the explanation, at least in part, is that, as Muir said, “Blake . . . had no Quaritch.”