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ARTICLES

Blake in the Marketplace, 2005

I begin by updating the introductory comments in my 2003 and 2004 sales reviews (Blake 37.4 [spring 2004]: 116-17, and 38.4 [spring 2005]: 124-25). In the former, I told the story of Blake’s rediscovered watercolors for Robert Blair’s The Grave; their most recent adventures are reported below under Drawings and Paintings. In the 2004 review, I commented on the rediscovery of Visions of the Daughters of Albion copy N and the legal controversy over its ownership. In early February 2005 I learned from Christine von der Linn of Swann (formerly Swann Galleries), the New York auction house, that a member (or members) of the Whitney family, in whose possession the volume resided for many years, had won the case, apparently out of court, against the man who brought the book to Swann. As far as I can determine, the book is now owned by, and in the physical possession of, a member or members of the Whitney family. John Windle, the San Francisco book dealer who specializes in Blake, has been told that there are no current plans to sell the book.

I was not able to inspect Visions copy N while it was at Swann, but Windle saw the volume only a few days before its return to the Whitney family. He found on a front flyleaf the following, previously unrecorded, pencil inscription:

1848
12 8th paid 70s
for this to
A Evans & Son [ampersand and final word unclear]
London
RT [possibly “RL”]
4 guineas was asked for it
I interpret this to mean that RT (or RL) purchased the book from the London dealer A. Evans & Son, probably on 8 December (or possibly 12 August) 1848, paying 70 shillings. The asking price had been 4 guineas (84 shillings). The provenance prior to 1878, as recorded in BB #476, for Visions copy N is speculative. This inscription adds a new twist to the book’s history. Unfortunately, I have not been able to make even a good guess as to the identity of RT or RL.

I also reported in my 2004 review on several works by Blake from the late George Goyder’s collection, including the removal of the tempera painting, The Christ Child Asleep on a Cross (Butlin #410), from the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, where it had been on deposit for some years. I learned in February 2005 that another Blake tempera, Christ the Mediator (Butlin #429), had been withdrawn by the Goyder family from deposit at the Tate Collection in late summer 2004. The third tempera from the Goyder collection, The Flight into Egypt (Butlin #404), remains on deposit with the Tate after an unsuccessful attempt by that institution to raise funds to purchase the work. Christ the Mediator, by far the best painting of the three, was offered at a Christie’s London auction on 14 June 2005 with an estimate of £500,000-800,000 (illus. 1). There was only one bidder, an unidentified party on the telephone, who simply bid against the reserve price until winning the lot at £450,000 (£512,000 with the buyer’s premium). Given the estimate range, the price must have disappointed both the vendor and the auction house, but Christ the Mediator still managed to set a record for a tempera painting by Blake.

A visually less impressive work, but a more famous representation of Blake’s imaginative range than most of his biblical paintings, is his full-length portrait of The Ghost of a Flea from the Smaller Blake-Varley Sketchbook of c. 1819 (illus. 2). The sketchbook was dismembered and auctioned leaf by leaf at Christie’s London in 1971. The flea returned to the same rooms on 9 June 2005 with a cautious estimate of £4000-6000. The auction catalogue included an exceedingly poor illustration that turned the paper tone to a medium gray and the drawing into a ghost of the ghost of a flea. There were also rumors that the drawing had been fiddled with in recent years (see the caption to illus. 2). But collectors and dealers were not put off. There were at least 3 bidders still in the game at £30,000—Windle, the British Blake collector Alan Parker, and someone on the telephone. Windle dropped out at that point, with Parker the victor on a bid of £72,000 (£86,400 inclusive of the buyer’s premium). Alan Parker is the son of the railroad executive and Blake collector Sir Peter Parker (1924-2002).

The Ghost of a Flea establishes a new record price for any uncolored drawing by Blake. Its sale also buttresses my suspicion that, with many of Blake’s works, the usual standards of aesthetic appreciation and connoisseurship are not helpful in establishing market values. This slight pencil sketch of a humanized flea (or an insectivorous human) is less a “work of art,” as a consensus of dealers and collectors would normally define that term, than a documentary record of an extraordinary mind.

Bloomsbury Auctions (formerly Bloomsbury Book Auctions) included a large number of Blake items in its London sale of 20-21 April. The few original works that fit within the purview of this report are listed below, but the most notable feature of the auction was the high prices fetched by the facsimiles of Blake’s illuminated books produced by the Trianon Press for the William Blake Trust. For example, Songs of Innocence and of Experience, 1 of 526 copies published in 1955, achieved £547 on an estimate of £150-200. The Songs of Innocence, with a press run of 1600 copies in 1954, has always been one of the least expensive Trianon facsimiles, but was priced at £368 in a special “William Blake” list issued in May by the London dealer Henry Sotheran Ltd. In the same month, a copy of the 1951 facsimile of Jerusalem copy E, lacking the begin page 149 | back to top publisher’s folding box, fetched $1136 on eBay. Perhaps these facsimiles are finally becoming rare, after being a drug on the market for several decades, and attracting the attention their quality deserves.

In Blake 31.4 (spring 1998): 113, I reproduced an impression of Blake’s famous “The Ancient of Days” (the frontispiece to Europe), 1 of only 2 remaining in private hands. This impression and its questionable hand coloring came to my attention once again in May 2005. Glenn Horowitz, a New York City book and manuscript dealer acting on behalf of the owner, sent the print to Windle, who in turn brought it to me for study. After two hours of intense observation and speculation, followed by a telephone consultation with Joseph Viscomi, who saw the print in 1998, we came to a conclusion similar to the one I proposed in the caption to the 1998 illustration: the impression was printed by Blake, but probably hand colored, at least in part, by someone other than Blake or his wife Catherine, and was used by William Muir in 1887 as the model for his coloring of the frontispiece in his facsimile of Europe (but not for his separate facsimiles of “The Ancient of Days”). Muir probably believed that the coloring was by Blake, in spite of the careless handling of the rose-red tints on the clouds. The coloring on the figure is more controlled and convincing; perhaps two different artists were responsible for these different styles. Windle offered to acquire the print but without success. He returned it to Horowitz by the end of May, who in turn returned it to the present owner, an American private collector. See “The Ancient of Days” under “Illuminated Books,” below, for further information.11. The present owner of this impression of “The Ancient of Days” acquired, and generously forwarded to me, a digital image of the impression in brick-red ink with gray wash in the Rosenbach Museum and Library, Philadelphia (copy A in BB 108-09). The ink color and flat printing suggest that this is probably a posthumous impression. The broad, thin washes are similar to those found in some posthumous impressions of plates from Songs of Innocence and of Experience—for example, “The Fly” in copy h (Essick collection).

While in pursuit of books with illustrations by Thomas Stothard, I was lucky enough to turn up a previously unrecorded reprinting of one of Blake’s rarer copy engravings, “F: Revolution” after Charles Reuben Ryley, first published in Bellamy’s Picturesque Magazine, 1793. See The Cabinet of the Arts under “Letterpress Books with Engravings by and after Blake,” below, and illus. 4-5. More important discoveries of 2005 include the pencil sketch, Satan Going To and Fro in the Earth, and Another Figure, unrecorded (or at least unknown to me) until its publication in Christie’s auction cat. of 17 November. For details, see under “Drawings and Paintings,” below, and illus. 3. Finally, a previously unrecorded posthumous impression of one of Blake’s Songs of Experience came to light in a 25 November sale at Bloomsbury Auctions—see the “Introduction” plate under “Illuminated Books,” below.

In November, Windle published the sixth in his series of sales catalogues devoted to Blake and his circle. This is the largest yet, with 431 numbered items, and possibly the largest Blake sales catalogue ever issued. Highlights include 3 different printings of the Job engravings, 5 copies of Blair’s Grave with Blake’s designs, the rare Leonora of 1796 with Blake’s illustrations, 2 copies of the 1821 Virgil with Blake’s wood engravings, 3 copies of Wollstonecraft’s Original Stories, each with different states of Blake’s plates, 3 copies of the 1797 Night Thoughts, and an almost complete run of Muir facsimiles (on which Windle has a near monopoly). All these materials, plus many others normally covered by this sales review, are listed below.

The Pierpont Morgan Library in New York houses one of the few institutional Blake collections to have acquired significant works in recent years. Thanks to their online catalogue (<http://corsair.morganlibrary.org>) and the assistance of Anna Lou Ashby, I have been able to record below these acquisitions—see under Drawings and Paintings and under Manuscripts in the sales list below, plus the appendix for prints. Apologies for my tardiness in recording these additions to the Morgan’s collection.

The year of all sales and catalogues in the following lists is 2005 unless indicated otherwise. Works offered online and previously listed in either of the last 2 sales reviews are not repeated here. The auction houses add their purchaser’s surcharge to the hammer price in their price lists. These net amounts are given here, following the official price lists. The value-added tax levied against the buyer’s surcharge in Britain is not included. Late 2005 sales will be covered in the 2006 review. I am grateful for help in compiling this review to Marcia Allentuck, Anna Lou Ashby, Martin Bailey, Nancy Bialler, David Bindman, Harriet Drummond, William Drummond, William Goyder, Robin Hamlyn, Christine von der Linn, Tim Linnell, Joseph Viscomi, Rachel Weinstein, Steve Weissman, Angus Whitehead, and John Windle. My special thanks go to Alexander Gourlay for his generosity in keeping me abreast of internet auctions. Once again, Sarah Jones’ editorial expertise and John Sullivan’s electronic imaging have been invaluable.

Abbreviations

BA Bloomsbury Auctions, London
BB G. E. Bentley, Jr., Blake Books (Oxford: Clarendon P, 1977). Plate numbers and copy designations for Blake’s illuminated books follow BB.
BBS G. E. Bentley, Jr., Blake Books Supplement (Oxford: Clarendon P, 1995)
BH Bonhams, auctioneers, London
BR (2) G. E. Bentley, Jr., Blake Records, 2nd ed. (New Haven: Yale UP, 2004)
Butlin Martin Butlin, The Paintings and Drawings of William Blake, 2 vols. (New Haven: Yale UP, 1981)
cat. catalogue or sales list issued by a dealer (usually followed by a number or letter designation)

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CL Christie’s, London
CNY Christie’s, New York
Coxhead A. C. Coxhead, Thomas Stothard, R. A. (London: Bullen, 1906)
CSK Christie’s, South Kensington
E The Complete Poetry and Prose of William Blake, ed. David V. Erdman, newly rev. ed. (New York: Anchor P, 1988)
EB eBay online auctions
EssickCB Robert N. Essick, William Blake’s Commercial Book Illustrations (Oxford: Clarendon P, 1991)
EssickSP Robert N. Essick, The Separate Plates of William Blake: A Catalogue (Princeton: Princeton UP, 1983)
illus. the item or part thereof is reproduced in the catalogue
K Geoffrey Keynes, A Bibliography of William Blake (New York: Grolier Club, 1921)
pl(s). plate(s)
SL Sotheby’s, London
SNY Sotheby’s, New York
st(s). state(s) of an engraving, etching, or lithograph
Swann Swann, auctioneers, New York
# auction lot or catalogue item number

Illuminated Books

“The Ancient of Days” (the frontispiece to Europe when presumably printed as a separate plate), copy D (see BB 109), printed in dark gray-blue on wove paper (sheet 24.2 × 17.7 cm.) without watermark, partly tinted with watercolors. Mounted in a window cut in another sheet of paper (30.7 × 23.7 cm.) with hand-drawn framing lines in brown ink just outside the printed sheet, the mounting sheet showing evidence of having once been bound along the left margin. The mounting sheet inscribed in pencil “2” (top left) and “From Europe, frontispiece” (bottom left). Probably printed in 1794 with the impressions in the Essick collection (blue-green ink), the Keynes Collection, Fitzwilliam Museum (dark blue ink), and the Yale Center for British Art (brown ink). Presently framed and glazed, with a framer’s label on the backing board inscribed in blue ink, “12-29-76.” Offered for sale by the New York dealer Glenn Horowitz in May to the San Francisco dealer John Windle, but withdrawn. Probably pasted into its present mount, and the mount inscribed, by George A. Smith c. 1853 when the print was included as part of the large collection of Blake prints bound with the manuscript “Order in which the Songs of Innocence and Experience Ought to be Paged” (see BB #125). This impression of “The Ancient of Days” has a subsequent history of ownership to 1938 that can be traced through BB 337-40 (listed as item 100 on p. 339). At the auction of the George C. Smith collection, Parke-Bernet, New York, 2 Nov. 1938, what I believe to be this print was incorrectly described in the cat., #28, as printed in “black” ink and sold for $300 to a “private buyer” (BB 340). According to a handwritten note in black ink on the framer’s label and information kindly supplied by the present owner, the print’s subsequent provenance is as follows: probably the American book collector A. E. Newton (perhaps the purchaser at the 1938 auction); probably the Newton auction, Parke-Bernet, 16 April 1941, #130 (apparently bought-in at $175 or sold to A. E. Newton’s daughter, Caroline Newton); Caroline Newton; given by her shortly after the 1941 auction to the poet W. H. Auden; by bequest upon Auden’s death in 1973 to Chester Kallman; by inheritance in 1975 to his father, Edward Kallman; by inheritance in the early 1980s to his wife, Dorothy Farnan; given by her in 1998 to the present owner, an American private collector. See also the discussion in the essay prefatory to this sales review.

“Introduction” to Songs of Experience. A previously unrecorded posthumous impression in gray-black ink on wove paper without watermark, the sheet trimmed to 17.9 × 11.0 cm. to match the leaf size of a copy of William Pickering’s 1839 ed. of Songs of Innocence and of Experience, into which this impression is bound as a frontispiece. Platemark 12.5 × 7.3 cm. (slightly larger than lifetime impressions, as is the case with all posthumous impressions). Inscribed in pencil below the image, “See P. 37.” (a reference to the page in the Pickering ed. on which the “Introduction” poem begins). Inscribed in pencil on the verso of the print, probably in the same hand, “From a print shop in West Street, / given me by my Bro’ in Law / Mr. W. M. H. / 1857, / A. H.” The recto of the front flyleaf inscribed in ink, “Adelaide A. L. Hewetson. / From her husband, with affection. / 15th Nov. 1861.” Adelaide Hewetson was the wife of John Hewetson (died 1876); they may have been related to H. Bendelack Hewetson, whose book of 1880, The Influence of Joy upon the Workman and His Work, contains reproductions of two of Blake’s illustrations to Robert Blair’s The Grave (see BB #407). In the pencil inscription on the verso of the print, “A. H.” is no doubt Adelaide Hewetson; “W. M. H.” must have been her husband’s brother (possibly one William M. Hewetson?). Another pencil inscription, on the verso of the front free endpaper, briefly describes the life of “Roger Langois,” an artist said to be a “pupil of Flaxman’s.” This inscription seems unrelated to either the print or the book. The end of the “Preface,” xxi, signed in pencil by the editor, “J. J. G. Wilkinson.” On the same page, lower left, inscribed in pencil in a different hand (perhaps Adelaide Hewetson’s), “Finchley Road & / 76 Wimpole St.” Sold BA, 25 Nov., #746, issue of the book lacking “The Little Vagabond,” described only as “Songs of Innocence and of Experience, frontispiece by Blake, slightly foxed and browned, contemporary calf, a little rubbed, gilt spine, 8vo, 1839” (£2618 to J. Windle, in partnership with Maggs Bros., on an estimate of £200-300). The auction house failed to recognize what it was selling, but the price suggests that at least two bidders did know the nature of the inserted print.

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Drawings and Paintings

Christ the Mediator. Tempera, 26.4 × 37.8 cm., datable to c. 1799-1800. Butlin #429. CL, 14 June, #10, “from the collection of the late George Goyder, C.B.E.,” illus. color (£512,000 on an estimate of £500,000-800,000). Illus. 1.

Christ Nailed to the Cross: The Third Hour. Watercolor, 33.2 × 34.6 cm., datable to c. 1800-03. Butlin #496. Acquired c. 1982 by Eugene V. and Clare E. Thaw, New York; currently on

1. Christ the Mediator.   Tempera, 26.4 × 37.8 cm., datable to c. 1799-1800. Butlin #429, where it is pointed out that the painting was restored by Dr. John Hell in 1950. The title was first given to the painting by William Michael Rossetti in his catalogue of Blake’s works published in Alexander Gilchrist, Life of William Blake (London: Macmillan, 1863) 2: 231, #200. The design probably takes its subject from 1 Timothy 2.5-6: “For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.” Christ, assuming a cruciform posture, asks God the Father, sitting in judgment on the right, to be merciful to the female figure in the left foreground who bows in supplication. She is identified as Mary Magdalene by W. Graham Robertson in the manuscript catalogue of his collection, later published as The Blake Collection of W. Graham Robertson, ed. Kerrison Preston (London: Faber and Faber, 1952) 156. Perhaps Christ is preventing, with his own body, the flames of divine wrath from harming the Magdalene. If she is a representative of all sinners, then Christ is performing an act similar to his self-sacrifice on the cross as “a ransom for all.” Winged angels attend upon the scene and also appear to be asking the Father to be forgiving.[e]
[View this object in the William Blake Archive]
deposit at the Pierpont Morgan Library and promised to that institution. Morgan-Thaw depository #EVT 9.

The Ghost of a Flea, Full-Length (recto); A Druidical Building with Figures (verso). Pencil on paper 20.0 × 15.3 cm., datable to c. 1819. Butlin #692.94 (recto) and #692.93 (verso). CL, 9 June, #13, illus. (£86,400 to Alan Parker on an estimate of £4000-6000). See illus. 2 and the essay introductory to this sales review.

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Sketch of the entire figure
                of of the Emblem (or Ghost) of a Flea
                mentioned by Varley in
                “Treatise on Zodiacal
                Physiognomy”
                
                See a paper on this sketch
                in the Portfolio July 71
                by me W.B.S.
2. The Ghost of a Flea, Full-Length, from the Smaller Blake-Varley Sketchbook.   Pencil, approx. 18.0 × 6.0 cm. on paper 20.0 × 15.3 cm., datable to c. 1819. Butlin #692.94. Collection of Alan Parker, London; photo courtesy of Christie’s London, where the drawing was sold on 9 June 2005, #13 (£86,400). Previously sold CL, 15 June 1971, #141 (£2100 to the London bookseller Martin Breslauer), and offered by Breslauer, June 1972 cat. 102, #95 (£3800). Inscribed by William Bell Scott, who owned the sketchbook from 1870 to c. 1890, “Sketch of the entire figure of of [sic] the Emblem (or Ghost) of a Flea mentioned by Varley in ‘Treatise on Zodiacal Physiognomy’” (lower left), and “See a paper on this sketch in the Portfolio July 71 by me W.B.S.” (lower right). Although probably not visible in this illus., the paper is whiter and abraded just left of the creature’s left thigh, extending from his elbow to his right leg. Some of the pencil lines bounding this area may have been strengthened by someone other than Blake.

In his discussion of Blake’s vision of the flea, John Varley notes that “this spirit afterwards appeared to Blake, and afforded him a view of his whole figure, an engraving of which I shall give in this work” (Varley, A Treatise on Zodiacal Physiognomy [London: the author, 1828] 55). Varley intended to issue further installments of his treatise, but none was published and there is no further record or extant impression of the proposed “engraving” of this full-length sketch. The “paper” referenced by Scott in his inscription on the drawing is his essay, “A Varley-and-Blake Sketch-Book,” The Portfolio: An Artistic Periodical 2 (1871): 102-05. The article contains lithographic reproductions of Scott’s copies of drawings in the sketchbook, including the full-length ghost of a flea and the drawing of the head alone on a different leaf (Butlin #692.98, since 1940 in the Tate Collection). Two pls. engraved by John Linnell and published in Varley’s Treatise reproduce this head, both mouth closed and mouth open. The latter is based on a detail of the flea’s open mouth on the same sketchbook leaf as the whole head; only the closed-mouth version is reproduced by Scott in his 1871 essay. Blake’s tempera painting of the full-length flea is not directly related to the pencil sketch illus. here but probably also dates from c. 1819-20 (Butlin #750, since 1949 in the Tate Collection).

Butlin records this pencil drawing in a “Private Collection, Great Britain.” The cat. for the 9 June 2005 auction lists a provenance with no owner intervening between the drawing’s purchase by the firm of Martin Breslauer and its sale “from the Estate of Dr Bernard Breslauer,” Martin Breslauer’s son and successor in the bookselling business. The “Private Collection” was apparently that of Bernard Breslauer, although it is also possible that there was some other owner who returned the drawing to the Breslauer firm and family.

Except for a caricature of John Varley as an elephant (Butlin #690 verso), the drawings of the flea are the only portrayals of an animal (or semi-animal) among Blake’s many so-called “Visionary Heads” he drew at Varley’s behest. Blake’s depictions of the insect were probably influenced by a large, unsigned engraving of a flea, as seen through a microscope, published in Robert Hooke, Micrographia: Or Some Physiological Descriptions of Minute Bodies Made by Magnifying Glasses with Observations and Inquiries Thereupon (London: Martyn and Allestry, 1665), pl. 34 (first pointed out in Charles Singer, “The First English Microscopist: Robert Hooke,” Endeavour 14 [1955]: 12-18). Perhaps Blake associated the segmentation of the flea’s exoskeleton, clearly evident in Hooke’s illustration, with physiognomic and phrenological divisions of the face and head. Many of the Visionary Heads show the influence of those two pseudosciences. In his text, Hooke states that he “perceiv’d him [the flea] to slip in and out” his “tongue or sucker” (211). In the drawing reproduced here, Blake pictures an extended tongue just above the nail or claw on the figure’s extended forefinger. Tongues are also clearly represented in the Tate’s pencil drawing and tempera painting. The spiny fins or wings on the creature’s back, present only in this full-length sketch, may be Blake’s elaboration of the “sharp pinns, shap’d almost like Porcupine’s Quills, or bright conical Steel-bodkins” (Hooke 210) growing from a flea’s scales; they also recall the bat-like wings distinguishing several of the evil characters in Blake’s own designs, including the personification of Death in Death Pursuing the Soul through the Avenues of Life, an 1805 illustration to Robert Blair’s The Grave (Butlin #635), Satan in the c. 1805-06 watercolor illustrations to the Book of Job (Butlin #550.3) and in pl. 21 of For the Sexes: The Gates of Paradise (c. 1820), and the Spectres in pls. 6, 30, 37, and 39 of Jerusalem (c. 1804-20). The suggestion of bat wings on the flea leads us back to another blood-sucking animal, “the vampire [bat] or spectre of Guiana” described and pictured in John Gabriel Stedman, Narrative, of a Five Years’ Expedition, against the Revolted Negroes of Surinam (London: J. Johnson and J. Edwards, 1796), a book Blake knew well and for which he engraved 16 pls. (quotation from 2: 142 and see the facing pl. 57 engraved by Anker Smith). The bat wings in Blake’s designs were probably influenced by the “bat of monstrous size” (2: 142) that attacked Stedman—see Geoffrey Keynes, “Blake’s Spectre,” The Book Collector 28.1 (spring 1979): 60-66.

In his Treatise, Varley claims that “the Flea told him [Blake] that all fleas were inhabited by the souls of such men, as were by nature blood-thirsty to excess, and were therefore providentially confined to the size and form of insects” (55). This comment suggests a thematic connection between a flea’s dining habits and Blake’s criticism of blood sacrifice and vengeance in late works such as The Ghost of Abel (1822). In that text, the “ghost” or spirit of Abel “Cries for Vengeance: Sacrifice on Sacrifice Blood on Blood,” while Satan demands “Human Blood & not the blood of Bulls” (E 272). The anthropomorphized Ghost of a Flea is a pictorial embodiment of the “blood-thirsty” aspect of fallen human consciousness as much as the spiritual from of an insect. My comments here take Blake’s fleas more seriously than does Keynes, who suggests that Blake had “his own tongue in his cheek” when he conjured up the vision for Varley—see Keynes, Blake Studies, 2nd ed. (Oxford: Clarendon P, 1971) 134.
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Nineteen Watercolors Illustrating Robert Blair’s The Grave. Sold Feb. or March by Libby Howie, the London art dealer, to Marburg BVI, a Swiss corporation, for £6 million. Export was stopped until 30 May 2005 by the British Arts Minister, Estelle Morris, acting on a recommendation of the Reviewing Committee, with a possible extension to 30 Sept. 2005, and with a valuation of £8.8 million placed on the watercolors (see the Reviewing Committee report, meeting of 16 March 2005, at <http://213.225.138.141/resources/assets//R/revcom_case043_note_doc_6927.doc>). The export ban was extended (see <http://www.mla.gov.uk/resources/assets//R/Reviewing_Committee_report_2004_5_8704.pdf>, case 29), but since no British purchaser stepped forward, an export license was issued and, as far as I can determine, the watercolors were sent to Switzerland by the end of 2005. I suspect, however, that “Marburg BVI” is a front for a private collector, not necessarily of Swiss nationality. For information about the Grave watercolors, see Martin Butlin, “New Risen from the Grave: Nineteen Unknown Watercolors by William Blake,” Blake 35.3 (winter 2001-02): 68-73; G. E. Bentley, Jr., “William Blake and His Circle: A Checklist of Publications and Discoveries in 2001,” Blake 36.1 (summer 2002): 13-16; Robert N. Essick, “Blake in the Marketplace, 2002,” Blake 36.4 (spring 2003): 116; Alexander S. Gourlay, “‘Friendship,’ Love, and Sympathy in Blake’s Grave Illustrations,” Blake 37.3 (winter 2003-04): 100-04; Essick, “Blake in the Marketplace, 2003,” Blake 37.4 (spring 2004): 116; British Department for Culture, Media, and Sport web site (<http://www.culture.gov.uk/global/press_notices/archive_2005/dcms051_05.htm>), 30 March 2005; First to Inspire Christian Magazine, 31 March 2005, online at <http://www.1st2inspire.co.uk/blairsgrave.php>, with 2 designs illus. color; Daily Telegraph, 31 March 2005, online at <http://www.telegraph.co.uk>; Anon., “Export Stop to Save Blake Watercolours,” Rare Book Review 32 (May 2005): 6; and numerous other British government and newspaper web sites.

Satan Going To and Fro in the Earth, and Another Figure. Pencil, sheet 28.3 × 21.0 cm., datable to the mid-1820s. Not in Butlin; not previously recorded. CL, 17 Nov., #4, illus. color (£7200, on an estimate of £3000-5000, to an anonymous private collector). illus. 3.

Sketch for Alternative Title-Page for “The Grave” (recto); Sketch Perhaps for the Same (verso). Pencil on sheet 51.2 × 36.2 cm., datable to c. 1806. Butlin #614. Given in 2001 by Gertrude Weyhe Dennis to the Pierpont Morgan Library in honor of Charles Ryskamp. Call #OS E.2, accession #2001.14.

Visionary Head of a Bearded Man, Perhaps Christ. Pencil, 12.5 × 10.0 cm., datable to c. 1819-20. Butlin #758. Acquired in 1971 by John E. du Pont; sold at an unknown time, possibly through John Howell Books of San Francisco, to Mrs. Peter Duchin; given in 1999 by Mr. and Mrs. Peter Duchin to the Pierpont Morgan Library in honor of the 75th anniversary of the Morgan Library and the 50th anniversary of the Association of Fellows. Call #s Add. E. Box 4, accession #1999.5.

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3. Satan Going To and Fro in the Earth, and Another Figure.   Pencil, sheet 28.3 × 21.0 cm., datable to the mid-1820s. Not in Butlin; not recorded until its appearance in the auction cat., CL, 17 Nov., #4. The standing figure seen from the back includes alternative positions for his left arm, raised and lowered, and perhaps two views of his head, one from the back and one turned to the right. The Christie’s cat. suggests that the main figure is related to the back view of Satan in the marginal design above the central image of the pl. numbered 4 in the Job engravings, and to the similar figure in one of the Dante watercolors, The Schismatics and Sowers of Discord (Butlin #812.57). This may indeed be true, but there are notable differences between this pencil “Satan” and the Job and Dante versions. The sketch lacks large, raised, and bat-like wings—the most striking feature of the other two versions. In the Job engraving, Satan holds a large sword in his left hand, pointing downward and with its tip touching the arc (the rim of the earth?) on which the figure stands. The Dante watercolor shows him holding a very similar sword in his right hand, raised above his head on a diagonal descending slightly from right to left. The figure in this sketch holds a shaft—presumably of a spear—in his right hand rather than a sword. He wears a helmet, or some sort of complex headgear; the Dante figure has curly hair, while the Job figure is bald. The object, probably part of a cloak, descending over his right shoulder and reaching to the right of his upper right leg is also unique to this drawing. In another related pencil sketch, A Devil Holding a Sword (Butlin #824), the wingless figure holds a prominent sword, pointing downward, in his right hand.

Blake seems to have been experimenting with alternative versions of this satanic composition in the 1820s, a composition that hints at Henry Fuseli’s influence. The back view of a heroically proportioned male nude (or semi-nude) recalls his “Fertilization of Egypt,” engraved by Blake for Erasmus Darwin’s The Botanic Garden (1791), and the titular figure in “Satan Rousing His Legions,” engraved by Peltro Tomkins and published in an 1805 edition of Milton’s Paradise Lost. The figure wears a helmet in the latter. In “Satan Encountering Death at Hell’s Gate, Sin Interposing,” engraved by James Neagle after Fuseli for F. J. Du Roveray’s 1802 edition of Paradise Lost, Satan is nude except for a cloak, wears an elaborate helmet, and holds the shaft of a spear in his raised right hand (for an etched proof, see illus. 9).

The sketch (upper left) of a man with a bushy mustache and flame-like hair may portray another devil figure. Christie’s cataloguer interestingly describes this fellow as “a piratical looking man with drooping moustache and a mass of upstanding hair, perhaps an invention akin to Blake’s Visionary Heads.” Photo courtesy of Christie’s London.
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Manuscripts

Letter to William Hayley, 12 March 1804. Given by Charles Ryskamp in Jan. 2005 to the Pierpont Morgan Library in memory of Grace Lansing Lambert. Accession #MA 6334. BB 278 records “Mrs. John Malone” as the then-current owner of this letter. According to the Morgan Library’s provenance records, the letter was purchased by Ryskamp from “Mary E. Malone” (presumably the same person as Mrs. John Malone) in 1976.

Receipt signed by Blake, 5 July 1805 to Thomas Butts for £5.7s. Kenneth Rendell, Jan. Antiques Show, New York ($45,000); John Windle, Nov. cat. 40, #1 (price on application). Previously offered by Windle, Dec. 1995 cat. 26, #9, pasted to the inside front cover of A. E. Newton’s copy of K, from the Joseph Holland collection, illus. (price on request).

Books Owned by Blake

John Quincy, Pharmacopœia Officinalis & Extemporanea (London: J. Osborn and T. Longman, 1733). John Windle, Nov. cat. 40, #68, with a “William Blake” signature on the title page, contemporary calf, title page illus. (price on application). For illus. of the title page and discussion, see Blake 34.4 (spring 2001): 109.

Separate Plates and Plates in Series

“Chaucers Canterbury Pilgrims.” Jeremy Norman & Co., March online cat., 5th st., dated by the dealer to “1920” but probably a Sessler restrike, considerable light brown staining, framed and glazed, illus. color ($7500). John Windle, Nov. cat. 40, #9, 5th st. on laid India, probably a Colnaghi printing but possibly pre-Colnaghi, framed, illus. (price on application).

Dante engravings. John Windle, Nov. cat. 40, #6, complete set of the 7 pls. on laid India, printing date uncertain but probably c. 1892, with the letterpress title label, morocco portfolio, pl. 1 illus. (price on application); #7, 5 pls. sold individually, India paper impressions, printing date uncertain but probably c. 1892, as follows: pl. 1 ($17,500), pl. 2 ($10,000), pl. 4 ($15,000), pl. 5 ($8750), pl. 6 ($7500); #8, 6 pls. only, lacking pl. 1, 1968 printing, cloth portfolio ($17,500).

“George Cumberland’s Card.” BH, 17 May, #238, printed in black ink on a sheet of wove paper, 4.1 × 8.1 cm., a previously unrecorded impression, sold in a lot of approx. 170 pictorial bookplates, illus. (£8640, on an estimate £200-400, to an anonymous bidder on the telephone). John Windle tells me that, in addition to the Cumberland card, the lot contained many rare and important bookplates. The estimate indicates that Bonhams did not consider these prints of much value, but collectors and dealers clearly thought otherwise. John Windle, Nov. cat. 40, #10, printed in brown ink on a sheet of laid paper, 10.2 × 12.8 cm., “with three tiny ink spots within the margins,” illus. (price on application).

Job engravings. Leslie Hindman auction, Chicago, 14 Dec. 2004, #1636, pl. numbered 3 only, apparently the 1826 printing on Whatman paper after removal of the “Proof” inscription, illus. color online ($1000). Go Antiques auction, Nags Head, North Carolina, 15 Dec. 2004, #213586, pl. numbered 8 only, apparently the 1826 printing on Whatman paper after the removal of the “Proof” inscription, framed, illus. color online ($850). SL, 16 Dec. 2004, #296, complete set, 1826 “Proof” printing on so-called “French” wove paper, full margins, later morocco, from the collection of General Archibald Stirling of Keir, pl. numbered 14 illus. color (not sold; estimate £30,000-50,000); #297, complete set, 1826 “Proof” printing on laid India, each pl. framed, pl. numbered 15 illus. color (£15,600). Auctions by the Bay, Alameda, California, 2 May, #214, pl. numbered 5 only, apparently an 1826 impression on Whatman paper after the removal of the “Proof” inscription, illus. color online ($550). Ursus Books, June cat. 253, #13, complete set, 1826 printing on Whatman paper after the removal of the “Proof” inscription, tissue guards, original cloth-backed boards, cover label, previously offered for £40,000 by Sims Reed and for $85,000 by Ursus ($85,000 again). SNY, 16 June, #60, complete set, 1826 “Proof” printing on so-called “French” wove paper, light but extensive foxing, original boards (very worn, front cover loose) with cover label, the word “French” written before the printed word “Proofs” on the label and the address changed to 38 Porchester Terrace (John Linnell’s home), front free endpaper signed Thomas G. Linnell and dated 1872, illus. color (not sold; estimate $35,000-45,000). Swann, 3 Nov., #305A, pl. numbered 18 only, 1826 “Proof” printing on laid India, illus. ($1300). John Windle, Nov. cat. 40, #11, complete set, 1826 “Proof” printing on laid India, scattered foxing in margins, morocco box repaired (price on application); #12, complete set, 1826 “Proof” printing on so-called “French” wove paper, each pl. matted, modern cloth box (price on application); #13, complete set, 1874 printing on laid India, slight marginal foxing, modern cloth box, pl. numbered 12 illus. (price on application); #14, pl. numbered 5 only, 1826 “Proof” printing on “French” wove paper ($3950); #15, pl. numbered 12 only, 1826 “Proof” printing on “French” wove paper ($4500); #16, pl. numbered 19 only, 1826 “Proof” printing on “French” wove paper ($3950). Edwin Epps, Dec. cat., no item #, pl. numbered 9 only, described as a published “Proof” impression, no description of the paper, framed ($2500).

“Mrs Q,” Blake after Villiers. Lawrences Auctioneers, Crewkerne, Somerset, 21 Jan., #1074, with the companion print, “Windsor Castle,” Maile after Barrow, both foxed and discolored, framed, illus. color online (£40). John Nicholson Auctioneers, Haslemere, Surrey, 22 June, apparently trimmed close to the image, bad stain lower right, illus. color online (£120). begin page 157 | back to top Grosvenor Prints, June online cat., #135, with the companion print, “Windsor Castle,” both trimmed to the platemark, illus. color online (£1650). Some of these impressions might be the convincing lithographic reproductions of 1906.

“Rev. John Caspar Lavater,” Blake after an unknown artist. EB, Feb.-March, 3rd st., from the stock of the New York book and print dealer Donald Heald, trimmed within the platemark and mounted, illus. color ($499.95). Probably impression 3I in EssickSP.

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

Allen, New and Improved History of England, 1798. John Windle, Nov. cat. 40, #17, pls. 1, 3, 4 only, loose ($375 each).

Allen, New and Improved Roman History, 1798. John Windle, Nov. cat. 40, #18, later cloth ($1250).

Ariosto, Orlando Furioso. Kennys Book Export Company, July online cat., 1799 ed., 5 vols., contemporary calf rubbed ($736.77). EB, Aug., 1799 ed., 5 vols., pls. foxed, contemporary calf very worn, some covers loose, illus. color ($103). John Price, Nov. cat., #6, 1785 ed., 5 vols., pls. foxed or browned, contemporary calf slightly worn (£300).

Bellamy’s Picturesque Magazine, 1793. See The Cabinet of the Arts, below, and illus. 4-5.

Blair, Grave. Buddenbrooks, Dec. 2004 cat. 126, #236, 1808 quarto, scattered foxing, original boards worn with cover label, rebacked with cloth, “John Quinn’s copy” ($7500); same copy, Pacific Book auction, San Francisco, 24 Feb., #11 ($3000—but apparently bought-in at that price); same copy, Buddenbrooks, Dec. cat. 130, #203 ($7500). Quinn (1870-1924) was an important collector of modernist literature, particularly James Joyce. This is probably the copy sold from Quinn’s library at Anderson Galleries, New York, 12-14 Nov. 1923, #715 ($40). EB, Jan., pl. 2 only, 1813 imprint, illus. color (no bids on a required minimum bid of £29.99); same impression, Jan. (£37.40). Adrian Harrington, Feb. online cat., 1813 “folio” (but probably the quarto), modern morocco (£750). EB, Feb., pl. 2 only, 1813 imprint, possibly the 1926 printing, illus. color ($26.55). BA, 3 March, #90, 1813 quarto, “light spotting and marginal water-staining,” contemporary Russia very worn, covers detached (£428 on an estimate of £150-200). EB, March, 1813 quarto, light staining and foxing on some pls., quarter roan worn, illus. color ($709). BA, 21 April, #656, the 12 pls. after Blake’s designs only, “on India paper laid on board (title only laid on wove),” probably 3rd published sts. as in the 1813 quarto, some soiling, with Illustrations to the Divine Comedy of Dante by William Blake, 1922, lacking 4 reproductions, original portfolio soiled (withdrawn before the auction). Auctions by the Bay, Alameda, California, 2 May, #215, pl. 9 only, 1813 imprint, illus. color online (no bids on a required minimum bid of $150). EB, May, 1813 ed., described as a “folio” but probably the quarto issue, lacking pl. 1, publisher’s cloth of the 1870 ed., rebacked and worn, illus. color ($699.99). Perhaps John Camden Hotten, the publisher of the 1870 ed., acquired some remainder sheets from the 1813 ed. when he acquired the copperplates and issued those sheets in the same binding he used for his new printing. CSK, 7 June, #320, 1813 quarto, “title shaved at upper margin, a little spotting and soiling,” contemporary half morocco “rubbed,” illus. (£540). EB, June, 1813 quarto, engraved title page lightly stained, binding not described, illus. color ($560). George Minkoff, July online cat., 1808 folio, scattered foxing, contemporary leather-backed boards, damaged slipcase ($5000). Pra Antikvariat, July online cat., 1808 quarto, half calf ($2677.79). Houle Rare Books, July online cat., 1808 quarto, contemporary half morocco rebacked ($2500). Antiquariat Gundel Gelbert, July online cat., 1808 quarto, rebound ($2143.40). Anthony Laywood, July online cat., 1808 quarto, modern half calf (£1100). Peter Stern, July online cat., 1813 quarto, foxed, contemporary half morocco worn ($1750). Antiquaries Manasek, July online cat., 1813 “folio” (but probably the quarto), half morocco ($1600). Quaker Hill Books, July online cat., 1808 folio, stained, three-quarter morocco ($1597.75). EB, Aug., pl. 5 only, 1926 printing, illus. color ($49.99). Creighton Davis Gallery auction, McLean, Virginia, 7 Sept., #420, pl. 2 only, 1808 imprint, illus. color online ($100); same impression, 20 Sept., #621 ($70). BH, 3 Oct., #13, the frontispiece portrait of Blake only, apparently an 1808 impression printed on wove paper, illus. color (£384). Phillip Pirages, Nov. cat. 52, #341, 1808 quarto, minor foxing, near-contemporary half morocco slightly worn, illus. ($2500). John Windle, Nov. cat. 40, #19, 1808 quarto, slight soiling, 2 pls. with marginal repairs, later morocco, illus. ($2750); #20, 1813 folio, 9 pls. in the 1808 folio “proof” sts., frontispiece portrait of Blake on laid India, leaves trimmed to 41.9 × 33.3 cm., some foxing and spotting, “early” half morocco ($6750); #21, 1813 quarto, half morocco ($2250); #22, “1813” (actually 1870) folio, publisher’s cloth, hinges repaired ($1250); #23, another copy of the 1870 folio, later morocco, from the Doheny Library ($1250).

Boydell, Graphic Illustrations of . . . Shakspeare, c. 1803. Charles Agvent, July online cat., contemporary half calf worn, covers detached ($3500); another copy, contemporary morocco, front cover detached ($4000).

Bryant, New System . . . of Ancient Mythology, 2nd ed., 1775-76. John Windle, Nov. cat. 40, #24, 3 vols., contemporary calf worn ($1500).

Bürger, Leonora, 1796. John Windle, Nov. cat. 40, #26, pl. 1 stained in margin, bound with the German text (as often) of 1796 and A. Seward, Llangollen Vale (1796), early quarter morocco ($12,750).

begin page 158 | back to top

The Cabinet of the Arts: A Series of Engravings, by English Artists (London: n.p., 1799). EB, July, 2 leaves loose, uncut in original boards, spine very worn, illus. color (£88 to R. Essick). Contains a previously unrecorded printing of Blake’s plate for Bellamy’s Picturesque Magazine, 1793. See illus. 4-5.

Chaucer, Poetical Works, 1782, in Bell’s Edition of the Poets of Great Britain. EB, Feb., vols. 1-10, 13-14 only, but including Blake’s pl. in vol. 13, presentation inscription in vol. 1 from Walter Scott to his friend James Skene, contemporary quarter calf very worn, illus. color ($1025).

Cumberland, Outlines from the Antients, 1829. Marlborough Rare Books, Oct. cat. 205, #37, small-paper issue, pls. foxed, quarter morocco (£135).

Cumberland, Thoughts on Outline, 1796. John Windle, Nov. cat. 40, #27, 22 (of 24) pls. only, lacking pls. numbered 18 (Blake’s pl. 6) and 24 (not by Blake), “on uncut sheets watermarked J. WHATMAN 1794 . . . loosely inserted in old blue wrappers” ($2500).

Darwin, Botanic Garden. EB, Jan.-Feb., 1st ed. of Part 1 (1791), 2nd ed. of Part 2 (1790), 2 vols., vol. 1 modern cloth, vol. 2 original boards very worn, illus. color (no bids on a required minimum bid of £890); same copy, Feb., same result on a required minimum bid of £590; same copy, April, offered only at the “buy it now” price of £425. Quaritch, Feb. cat. 1329, #30, 1st ed. of Part 1 (1791), 3rd ed. of Part 2 (1791), 2 vols. in 1, contemporary Russia worn, “joints tender” (£1500). Dublin Bookbrowsers, July online cat., 1799 ed., vol. 1 (of 2) only, no description of the binding ($371.94). Black Oak Books, July online cat., 1791 ed., apparently 2nd ed. of Part 1, no mention of Part 2, early calf worn, repaired ($1100). John Windle, Nov. cat. 40, #28, pl. 1 (“Fertilization of Egypt”) only, margins foxed ($875).

Enfield, The Speaker. James Cummins, July online cat., 1785 ed., contemporary calf worn, rebacked ($750). BA, 6 Oct., #357, 1781 ed., contemporary calf worn (£119).

Flaxman, Hesiod designs, 1817. EB, March, water stained, foxed, “four plates are defective,” later quarter calf very worn, covers loose, illus. color (£103.87). John Nicholson Auction, Haslemere, Surrey, 5 July, #454-C, original boards with cover label, with Flaxman’s Iliad and Odyssey designs, 1805, the former lacking the title pl., bindings not described, Hesiod front cover illus. color online (£60). McLean Arts & Books, July online cat., modern three-quarter calf ($1200). EB, Aug., scattered foxing, “first 2/3 pages a little grubby,” pls. loose in original boards damaged, cover label, illus. color (£112.87); Oct., scattered light foxing, original boards, cover label, illus. color (no bids on a required minimum bid of £750); same copy and result, Nov.

Flaxman, Iliad designs, 1805. EB, March-April, some foxing, paper evenly browned, apparently unbound, illus. color ($49.99); June-July, lacking 10 pls. but with all 3 by Blake, bound with Flaxman’s Odyssey designs, 1805, lacking 2 pls., light to heavy foxing, later quarter calf, illus. color ($76). John Windle, July online cat., foxed, contemporary half morocco ($450). Avenue Victor Hugo Bookshop, July online cat., bound with Flaxman’s Odyssey designs (1805) and Aeschylus designs (1795), foxed, “19th century binding” worn ($1900). EB, July, lacking the title plate, 2 pls. loose, soiled, foxed, original boards with cover label, spine gone, from the Easton Neston library, illus. color (£91).

Gay, Fables. EB, Dec. 2004, pl. 11 only, light staining, illus. color ($61); pl. 9 only, stained, illus. color ($75.77). Swann, 2 May, #74, 1793 ed., 2 vols., foxed, contemporary calf very worn, covers detached ($375). James Jaffe, July online cat., 1793 ed., 2 vols., later morocco ($4000). Hollett & Son, July online cat., 1793 ed., apparently 2 vols. in 1, later half calf (£550). Jeffrey Thomas, July online cat., [1811] ed., with the Stockdale ed. of Aesop’s Fables, 1793, 4 vols. in all, later calf worn ($4500). EB, Oct., pl. 7 only, elaborately framed, illus. color ($99.99). John Windle, Nov. cat. 40, #29, 1793 ed., 2 vols., top edge gilt, others uncut, “early 19th-century” morocco ($2500); #30, some foxing and offsetting of the pls., later morocco ($1500). Edwin Epps, Dec. cat., no item #, 1793 ed., 2 vols. in 1, some marginal stains and foxing, half calf rebacked ($850).

Hayley, Ballads, 1805. SL, 12 July, #348, early 20th-century calf, pl. 1 (2nd st.) illus. color (£780). John Windle, Nov. cat. 40, #31, all pls. in the 1st st., “original drab grey boards, printed paper label” ($7500); #32, pls. 1-3 in their 2nd sts., later calf ($5750).

Hayley, Designs to a Series of Ballads, 1802. John Windle, Nov. cat. 40, #34, prefatory matter and Ballad 1 only, some offsetting of the pls., half morocco, “the Monckton Milnes, Earl of Crewe, Moss, Todd, Bentley, Essick, Klemen copy,” 1 of only 3 traced copies remaining in private hands with 1 or more of the ballads (price on application; sold to Roger Lipman shortly before cat. 40 was distributed).

Hayley, Essay on Sculpture, 1800. Alex and Emily Fotheringham, Aug. cat. 36, #55, slight foxing on 1 pl., uncut in original boards worn, “Hayley on Sculpture” written in ink on spine, lower third of paper spine missing (£350). John Windle, Nov. cat. 40, #35, “the Gordon Castle—Raymond Lister copy,” quarter calf ($975).

Hayley, Life of Cowper, 1803-04. EB, Jan.-Feb., 1st ed., 3 vols., some foxing and damp staining, later calf, illus. color (no bids on a required minimum bid of £90); same copy, Feb. (£79.77); March, 1st ed., vol. 2 only, contemporary calf worn, illus. color (£9.99); May, 2nd ed., 3 vols., supplement of 1806 bound in vol. 3, some offsetting and minor foxing, contemporary begin page 159 | back to top

THE
                  CABINET of the ARTS.
                  
                  A SERIES OF ENGRAVINGS,
                  BY
                  English Artists,
                  FROM ORIGINAL DESIGNS, BY
                  Stothard, Burney, Harding, Corbould, Van Assen, Potter,
                  Cosway, Paul Sandby, Mather Brown, Catton, &c.
                  
                  London: published by Castildine & Dunn, Copper-Plate Printers, No. 9, Bagnio Court,
Newgate Street, February 3. 1796
                  
                  London,
                  M.DCC.XCIX.
                  PRICE FIVE GUINEAS, BOUND.
4. The Cabinet of the Arts: A Series of Engravings, by English Artists, London: n.p., 1799.   First title page, approx. 18.0 × 11.5 cm. The text in letterpress, the design an intaglio engraving printed in brown ink. Essick collection. For the previously unrecorded reprinting of a pl. by Blake in this volume, see illus. 5. The unillustrated second title page, also printed in letterpress, has a different typography and format, but the same verbal content. The unsigned design on this first title page is attributed to Thomas Stothard in Coxhead 38. The volume contains only the 2 title pages and 64 engravings on the rectos of 64 leaves. All the pls. are probably reprinted from earlier publications; 8 of the 12 pls. after Stothard were first published in Thomas Townshend, Poems, 1796.
begin page 160 | back to top
F: REVOLUTION
                  C. R. Ryley del.
                  Blake sc.
                  Publish’d by T. Bellamy Aug. 1st. 1793
5. “F: Revolution,” etched and engraved by Blake after a design by Charles Reuben Ryley.   Image 16.5 × 11.4 cm., platemark 19.9 × 14.4 cm., untrimmed leaf 24.4 × 16.6 cm. Essick collection. First published in Bellamy’s Picturesque Magazine, vol. 1, 1793, this impression reprinted in The Cabinet of the Arts, 1799 (see illus. 4 and the caption thereto). Printed on wove paper with part of a watermark, “J Wha / 17” (fragments on other leaves indicate that the full mark is “J Whatman / 1794”). The st. of the pl., including the imprint, is identical to the earlier publication. Impressions in the 1793 volume are on larger (28.2 × 22.5 cm., untrimmed) sheets of a softer wove paper with a rougher texture. These differences in paper indicate that the impressions in The Cabinet of the Arts are not remainders from the Magazine printing but new pulls from the copperplate. The attribution of the pl. to William Blake, artist and poet, has been questioned, but it has been accepted by most authorities (for a summary of the arguments, see BBS 192-93). BB and BBS list only 3 traced copies of the 1793 Magazine. The Cabinet contains one further pl. first published in the magazine, “French Revolution,” engraved by Charles Grignion after another design by Ryley. The reprinting of Blake’s pl. in The Cabinet of the Arts has not been previously recorded.
begin page 161 | back to top calf rebacked, illus. color ($306.77). Fisher’s Auction Service, Huntsville, Texas, 26 June, #7436, apparently 1st ed., 3 vols., original calf worn, 1 spine damaged, illus. color online ($1000). Z Antiques, July online cat., vol. 1 only, heavy foxing, binding worn ($75). Heritage Book Shop, July online cat., 1st ed., 3 vols., contemporary calf ($500). Quaritch, July online cat., 1st ed., 3 vols. with the supplement of 1806 bound in vol. 3, contemporary half calf (£1250). EB, Sept.-Oct., pl. 1 only, illus. (no bids on a required minimum bid of $129). John Windle, Nov. cat. 40, #36, 1st ed., 3 vols., early calf worn, hinges repaired ($1375).

Hayley, Life of Romney, 1809. Marlborough Rare Books, Dec. 2004 cat. 202, #100, “library faux-leather” (£350).

Hayley, Triumphs of Temper, 1803. John Windle, Feb. San Francisco Book Fair, large-paper issue, contemporary calf ($2750). James Fenning, Feb. cat. 219, #117, small-paper issue, contemporary calf (£450). EB, March, small-paper issue, some pls. foxed, contemporary calf, illus. color (no bids on a required minimum bid of $824.99); same copy, March, no bids on a required minimum bid of $799.99. Phillip Pirages, Nov. cat. 52, #342, small-paper issue, contemporary calf, illus. ($750). John Windle, Nov. cat. 40, #39, apparently the small-paper issue, foxed, early calf worn ($475).

Hoare, Inquiry, 1806. Henry Sotheran, Nov. cat. 51, #182, contemporary calf worn (£198).

Hogarth, The Beggar’s Opera by Hogarth and Blake, 1965. John Windle, Nov. cat. 40, #40, with the restrike from Blake’s pl. as issued, original folding box worn, illus. ($975).

Hogarth, Works. EB, Dec. 2004, pl. only, st. not identifiable but probably late, illus. color (no bids on a required minimum bid of $295). BA, 26 May, #309, undated Baldwin and Cradock issue, contemporary half sheep, covers detached, “effectively disbound” (£833). CSK, 2 Nov., #374, 1822 ed., later half morocco worn (£1680). BA, 17 Nov., #409, undated Baldwin and Cradock issue, some stains, mostly marginal, contemporary half morocco very worn, covers detached (£952).

Hunter, Historical Journal, 1793. Grant & Shaw, Feb. cat. 65, #40, quarto issue, “large paper copy” (29.5 × 23.8 cm.), later half calf (£3000); same copy and price, Aug. cat. 66, #43. Banfield House, July online cat., octavo issue, later half calf ($3088). CL, 21 Sept., #48, quarto issue, imprint partly cropped, quarter roan worn (not sold; estimate £2000-3000). Gaston Renard, Oct. cat. 385, #112, quarto issue, modern half calf ($9500 Australian).

Josephus, Works. EB, April, pl. 3 only, 3rd st., slight marginal foxing, illus. color ($128.50); April, apparently between issues A and B as listed in BB, scattered foxing and a few marginal stains, contemporary calf worn, covers loose, illus. color ($179.95). Krown & Spellman, July online cat., issue D or E as listed in BB, stains and tears, cloth worn ($850). EB, Sept., issue E as listed in BB, a few leaves stained, contemporary suede, front cover stained, illus. color (£161.22); Nov.-Dec., issue between A and B as listed in BB, a few stains, contemporary calf worn, illus. color ($528.18).

Kimpton, History of the Bible, c. 1781. EB, Jan., lacking about 15 pls., title page repaired, contemporary calf rebacked and repaired, illus. color (offered only at the “buy it now” price of $399.99); June, contemporary calf worn, illus. color (£217). Eric Chaim Kline, July online cat., contemporary calf worn, rebacked ($250). Beckham Books, July online cat., some browning, contemporary calf worn (£210).

Lavater, Essays on Physiognomy. Jeremy Norman, July online cat., 1789-98 ed., 3 vols. in 5, some foxing, later quarter morocco worn ($2750). Ursus Books, July online cat., 1810 ed., 3 vols. in 5, later three-quarter morocco ($3500); same copy and price, Dec. “Christmas” cat., #40, illus. EOS Buchantiquariat Benz, July online cat., 1810 ed., 3 vols. in 5, contemporary calf very worn ($1198). James Cummins, July online cat., “1792” (actually c. 1818) ed., 3 vols. in 5, contemporary calf rebacked ($2000). Sevin Seydi, July online cat., 1810 ed., 3 vols. in 5, contemporary Russia (£1200). Peter Harrington, July online cat., “1792” (actually c. 1818) ed., 3 vols. in 5, later morocco (£2450). Krown & Spellman, July online cat., “1792” (actually c. 1818) ed., 3 vols. in 5, later Russia rebacked ($1300). Down begin page 162 | back to top in Denver Books, July online cat., 1789-98 ed., 3 vols. (in 3?), calf worn ($2500). EB, Aug., 1789-98 ed., vols. 1-2 (of 3) only, marginal foxing and staining, disbound, illus. color (£155). John Windle, Nov. cat. 40, #41, 1789-98 ed., 3 vols. in 5, later calf worn, repaired ($2750); #43, Blake’s pl. 4 only ($200); #44, Blake’s pl. 1 only ($125).

Malkin, Father’s Memoirs of His Child, 1806. James Cummins, April cat. 92, #6, uncut in original boards rebacked, illus. ($1500). John Windle, Nov. cat. 40, #45, uncut in original boards, printed spine label ($2000); #46, contemporary morocco worn ($1875).

Novelist’s Magazine, vol. 9, 1782. EB, Jan., contemporary calf, illus. color (no bids on a required minimum bid of $325.99); same copy, Jan., same result on a required minimum bid of $162.99; same copy, April-May, same result on a required minimum bid of $325.99; same copy, May, same result on a required minimum bid of $162.99. Book Haven, July online cat., foxed, quarter morocco very worn, covers loose ($250).

Olivier, Fencing Familiarized, 1780. New England Book Auctions, Northampton, Massachusetts, 18 Oct., #209, later calf worn, upper cover detached (no price information; estimate $300-500). EB, Nov.-Dec., modern calf, illus. color ($520).

Rees, The Cyclopædia, 1820. EB, Jan., pl. 6 only, illus. color ($9.99). BA, 3 March, #97, complete in 45 vols. (including the 6 pls. vols.), light foxing and soiling, contemporary half calf (£1012 on an estimate of £300-400). EB, March, pl. 3 only (1 of 2 pls. of this image, designated as pl. 3A in EssickCB 110), illus. color ($9.99); another impression, April-May, illus. color (£2.99); another impression, June, illus. color ($9.99); March-April, pl. 7 only, illus. color ($9.99); March-April, pls. vol. 2 only, presumably including Blake’s pl. 2, no description of binding (possibly loose), illus. color (£100); May-June, a group of (6?) pls. illustrating armor and artillery, including Blake’s pl. 1, illus. color (£8.99); pl. 4 only, illus. color ($9.99). Old Book Company, Oct. online cat., pls. vol. 1 only, cloth rebacked ($1595). Robert Frew, Oct. cat., #149, 45 vols. in 26, complete with the pls. vols., some foxing, half calf (£3500).

Ritson, Select Collection of English Songs, 1783. John Windle, Nov. cat. 40, #47, pls. 1, 4, 6-8 only, loose ($300).

Salzmann, Elements of Morality. Jarndyce, Dec. 2004 cat. 162, #214, 1791 ed., 3 vols., some browning, contemporary calf with hinges repaired (£3500). John Gach, April online cat., 1791 ed., 3 vols. in 1, lacking 9 pls. and title pages to vols. 1-2, leaves stained, early 19th-century quarter calf worn ($850). Heritage Book Shop, July online cat., 1792 ed., 3 vols., modern quarter calf ($4750). Parker’s Books, July online cat., 48 pls. only, foxed and stained, some tears, disbound, cloth portfolio ($3000).

Scott, Poetical Works, 1782. Ed Buryn, July online cat., “marbled leather boards”(?), 1 cover detached ($450). John Windle, Nov. cat. 40, #48, pls. 1 and 3 only, loose ($175).

Shakespeare, Dramatic Works, 1802. Heritage Book Shop, July online cat., 9 vols. in 6, contemporary morocco rebacked, rubbed ($10,000). Bauman Rare Books, July online cat., 9 vols., later morocco ($16,000).

Shakespeare, Plays, 1805. EB, Jan.-Feb., 9 vol. issue, contemporary calf worn, 1 vol. repaired with tape, illus. color (£875). John Windle, Feb. San Francisco Book Fair, 10 vol. issue, some marginal foxing on the 2 Blake pls., contemporary Russia (acquired from Blackwell’s and sold 3 days later for $7500). EB, March, 9 vol. issue, contemporary calf very worn, many covers loose, 1 spine missing, illus. color ($201.50 to Windle for stock); June-July, group of 32 unbound pls. only, including Blake’s pl. 1, marginal foxing, illus. color (no bids on a required minimum bid of $700); same group of pls., Aug., same result on a required minimum bid of $400; same group of pls., Sept., same result on a required minimum bid of $350; July, 10 vol. issue, scattered foxing, contemporary calf rebacked, illus. color ($1525); Oct.-Nov., 9 vol. issue, scattered stains and foxing, contemporary calf very worn, illus. color (£88). John Windle, Nov. cat. 40, #50, complete set of the pls. only, some stains and spotting, bound in later calf ($2750). For other pls. from this work, not engraved by Blake, see under Fuseli, below.

Stedman, Narrative, colored copies. CNY, 14 June, #214, 1813 ed., 2 vols., imprints partly trimmed off most pls., some soiling, illus. color ($3120). The hand coloring in this copy is that of the 1st ed. (1796), not the later coloring generally found in the 1806 and 1813 eds. Perhaps there were some remainder impressions of the pls. from the 1796 ed., already hand colored, and these were used in at least this copy of the 1813 ed. Heritage Book Shop, July online cat., 1806 ed., 2 vols., many imprints trimmed off, later half morocco ($8500); same copy and price, cat. for the Oct. Boston Book Fair (no item #). Reg and Philip Remington, Sept. cat. 36, #138, 1806 ed., 2 vols., contemporary calf rebacked (£8000). William Reese, Sept. cat. 242, #159, 1813 ed., 2 vols., modern three-quarter morocco ($9000). EB, Nov.-Dec., pl. 4 only, with 1st-ed. hand coloring, illus. color ($32).

Stedman, Narrative, uncolored copies. Hollett & Son, Oct. private offer, 1796 ed., 2 vols., calf worn (£2750). EB, Nov.-Dec., 1806 ed., 2 vols., considerable foxing, modern quarter cloth, marbled boards, illus. color (no bids on a required minimum bid of $1777).

Vetusta Monumenta, 1767-1835. CNY, 16 Dec. 2004, #696, 6 vols., later half morocco worn ($2151 on an estimate of $400-600). Presumably includes Joseph Ayloffe’s An Account of Some Ancient Monuments in Westminster Abbey (1778) with 7 pls. signed by Basire but attributed, at least in part, to Blake.

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Virgil, Pastorals, 1821. Justin Schiller, April New York Book Fair, 2 vols., original sheep ($55,000). John Windle, Nov. cat. 40, #51, 2 vols., later calf, from the collection of George Goyder ($29,500); #52, vol. 1 only (containing all of Blake’s wood engravings), publisher’s sheep ($22,500).

Virgil, The Wood Engravings of William Blake for Thornton’s Virgil, 1977. BA, 20 April, #154, original box, illus. color (£3094). John Windle, Nov. cat. 40, #53, original box, illus. ($6500); #54, the wood engravings in 3 frames, original box and introductory text retained ($6500).

Whitaker, The Seraph. John Windle, Nov. cat. 40, #56, BB issue A, “parts 1 vol. 2 and 3 vol. 2 only,” but with the pl. based on Blake’s Night Thoughts design, quarter calf ($325); #57, pl. based on Blake’s design only, from a copy of BB issue C ($125).

Wit’s Magazine, 1784. Keys Fine Art Auctioneers, Aylsham, Norfolk, 24 March, #301, vol. 1 (1784) and part of vol. 2 (1785) bound in 1 vol., lacking pl. 5, 2 pls. damaged, pl. 1 (EssickCB pl. 1A) in the 2nd st., half calf very worn, with The Encyclopaedia of Wit, [1823], calf worn (£140). Kenneth Karmiole, June Pasadena Book Fair, pls. 2 (EssickCB pl. 1B), 4, 5 only, individually framed ($1500 the set). John Windle, Nov. cat. 40, #58, with part of vol. 2 bound in, pl. 1 (EssickCB pl. 1A) in the 2nd st., margin restored, “rebound in contemporary style” ($5750); #59-61, pls. 3-5 only, little soiled ($400 each). Blake’s pls. are in vol. 1 of 1784.

Wollstonecraft, Original Stories. Jarndyce, Dec. 2004 cat. 162, #213, 1791 ed., pl. 1 in the 2nd st., sts. of other pls. not recorded, later morocco, pl. 1 illus. (£2800). Half Moon Books, May online cat., 1796 ed., pls. almost certainly in the 3rd st., some marginal browning, “hardbound leather” ($3500). John Windle, Nov. cat. 40, #62, 1791 ed., all pls. in the 1st st., contemporary calf, upper cover rehinged ($6750); #63, 1791 ed., all pls. in the 2nd st., modern calf ($6750); #64, 1796 ed., all pls. in the 3rd (final) st., a little soiling, from the collection of Douglas Cleverdon with a pencil note that he was given this copy by Geoffrey Keynes, modern boards ($4750). Heritage Book Shop, Nov. cat. 217, #485, 1791 ed., sts. of pls. not recorded, later morocco, front hinge repaired ($4500).

Young, Night Thoughts, 1797, uncolored copies. Maggs, Sept. online cat., with the “Explanation” leaf, “generously-margined copy,” modern half morocco (£5000). Phillip Pirages, Nov. cat. 52, #66, with the “Explanation” leaf, from the collection of George Goyder, fine contemporary morocco, illus. ($19,500). John Windle, Nov. cat. 40, #65, with the “Explanation” leaf “mounted to size,” minor soiling, 1 leaf torn and repaired, uncut on the fore- and lower edges, 19th-century morocco rebacked, illus. ($17,500); #66, lacking the “Explanation” leaf, some pls. trimmed, later morocco ($8250); #67, lacking the “Explanation” leaf, last 2 leaves stained, morocco worn ($6500).

Interesting Blakeana

J. Boehme, Works, the so-called “Law edition,” 1764-81. Swann, 28 April, #22, 4 vols., some foxing, contemporary calf rebacked ($5600). The ed. of Boehme known to Blake and perhaps owned by him—see his comment to Henry Crabb Robinson on the beauty of the “figures” (i.e., the illus.) in “Law’s transln.” (BR [2] 423).

T. Stothard, Portrait of William Blake, c. 1780. See under Stothard, below, and illus. 10.

G. Cumberland, Portrait of Catherine Blake(?), c. 1783-85(?). Pen and ink, black and gray wash, 21.5 × 17.8 cm. on a sheet of wove paper, 23.1 × 17.8 cm. William Drummond, June private offer (acquired, with the assistance of D. Bindman, by J. Windle for R. Essick). Previously unrecorded—see illus. 6.

T. Gray, Poems (London: J. Murray, 1790). Michael Good, Feb. online cat., contemporary calf rebacked ($100). The ed. cut up by Blake and used, in part, as the inset texts for his watercolor illus. to Gray’s poems (Butlin #335). Some of the materials not used by Blake in his illus., including the 7 pls., “A Short Account of the Life and Writings of Mr. Gray,” “The Tears of Genius: An Ode to the Memory of Mr. Gray,” and the notes on the poems were almost certainly known to Blake and may have had some influence on his designs. For example, 3 of the pls. feature lyres and 1 pictures a Welsh harp. Both symbolic motifs appear prominently in Blake’s designs. Not listed in BB 681-705 as one of the “Books Owned by Blake” (perhaps John Flaxman, who commissioned the watercolors, actually owned the book, even while in Blake’s possession).

E. Swedenborg, The Wisdom of Angels Concerning the Divine Providence, 1790. John Windle, Nov. cat. 40, #69, “original sheets sewn but not bound,” modern cloth box ($375). The ed. owned by Blake—see BB #743.

E. Baker, Thirty-Three Years Practice and Observations with Rifle Guns, 5th ed., 1813. Maggs, April online cat., 1 pl. loose, light browning, contemporary morocco rubbed (£500). William Cole discovered, in a collection in Spain, an impression of Blake’s “Albion rose” that was at one time tucked into a copy of Baker’s book. On the verso of the print is a poem, alluding to Baker’s book, which Cole has attributed to Blake—see Cole, “An Unknown Fragment by William Blake: Text, Discovery, and Interpretation,” Modern Philology 96.4 (May 1999): 485-97.

J. and A. Taylor, City Scenes, 1818. Ken Spelman, May cat. 55, #71, slight foxing, quarter roan (£180). Contains Blake’s “Holy Thursday” from Songs of Innocence, illus. with an engraving which, although showing the children being led out of the church by beadles, is not directly related to Blake’s design.

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6. George Cumberland.   Portrait of Catherine Blake(?), c. 1783-85(?). Pen and ink, black and gray wash, 21.5 × 17.8 cm. on a sheet of wove paper without watermark, 23.1 × 17.8 cm. Pasted to a sheet of gray laid paper without watermark, 23.7 × 18.0 cm., this mount inscribed on the verso in pencil, “64.” Loose in an old mat, the cover (window) mat inscribed on the inside in pencil, “Mrs. Blake by George Cumberland” and “10,” in an unidentified hand. Not previously reproduced or recorded. Essick collection.

David Bindman is confident that this drawing is indeed by Cumberland and that the subject is William Blake’s wife, Catherine. The evidence for authorship is primarily stylistic and, in my view, reasonably certain. The identification of the figure is less solid, but not devoid of supporting evidence. Another drawing of Catherine, tentatively attributed to Cumberland, is described and reproduced in The Complete Portraiture of William & Catherine Blake, with an Essay and an Iconography by Geoffrey Keynes (London: Trianon P for the William Blake Trust, 1977) 149-50 and pl. ii (now Keynes Collection, Fitzwilliam Museum, accession no. PD. 189-1985). This pencil and wash drawing shows a female figure wearing a bonnet, sitting in a chair, and warming one foot, and perhaps her hands, at a fire. Keynes dates this work to c. 1785; the figure in the drawing reproduced here appears to be about the same age. One facial feature, the very sharp nose, suggests that these 2 drawings portray the same person. Although the lower portion of the woman’s face is covered by her hand (and perhaps a partly extended finger) in the newly discovered drawing, her upper lip seems to project outward, perhaps the result of an overbite. Her upper lip is full and slightly projected beyond the lower in the Fitzwilliam drawing. The narrowed eyes and overall pensive expression are also similar, even though the woman in the Keynes drawing is not reading.

When Catherine married William Blake in Aug. 1782, she may have been illiterate (see BR [2] 27-28 and Alexander Gilchrist, Life of William Blake [London: Macmillan, 1863] 1: 37-38). Her husband helped her acquire “the useful arts of reading and writing” (Gilchrist 1: 38), and thus by c. 1783-85 she was probably capable of reading, as in the present drawing. Her text may be a newspaper, although the way the sheet seems to loop over at the top suggests it may be galley proofs or a very large broadside. To indulge in a bit of pure speculation, might Catherine be proofreading the galleys of her husband’s Poetical Sketches (1783)?

The history of this drawing lends circumstantial support to the notion that it is a portrait of Catherine Blake. According to information supplied by Bindman and William Drummond, the London art dealer from whom I acquired the drawing, this work has long been associated with Thomas Stothard’s pencil sketch of Blake (see illus. 10). Both were once part of an album of drawings (and perhaps letters) put together by a member or members of the Cumberland family. The number (64) on the back of the mounting sheet of this drawing and the number on the recto of the William Blake portrait (84) appear to have been made with the same pencil by the same hand; perhaps these numbers represent their respective positions in such an album. The inscriptions on the William Blake portrait (see the caption to illus. 10) also associate it with the Cumberland family. At least the 2 portraits were acquired by Sidney Sabin by 1970 (see Keynes, Complete Portraiture 118, provenance of the Stothard sketch of William Blake). Sabin was at that time associated with Sabin Galleries Ltd., the London art dealer. After Sabin’s death, Drummond acquired the 2 portraits early in this century.
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Group Portrait of Numerous Figures the Central Figure Being William Blake, English School Attributed to Thomas Phillips. Oil, unfinished, 60.3 × 49.5 cm., date unknown. BH, 3 Oct., #14, sold from the collection of Roy Davids, illus. color (£5400). Previously sold SL, 15 July 1992, #80, illus. color (£5720 to Philip Mould of Historical Portraits Ltd.). For illus. and discussion, see Blake 26.4 (spring 1993): 148. I remain unconvinced that Blake is portrayed and that the painting is by Phillips.

Hayley, Memoirs, 1823. BookLustr Books, July online cat., 2 vols., bindings very worn, one cover loose (£180). David Strauss, July online cat., 2 vols., contemporary quarter calf (£225). Contains important early references to Blake.

G. Cumberland, An Essay on the Utility of Collecting the Best Works of the Ancient Engravers of the Italian School, 1827. Ken Spelman, Feb. cat. 54, #52, foxed, original boards rebacked (£120); same copy and price, Nov. cat. 56, #153. Quaritch, June cat. 1334, #15, publisher’s cloth rebacked (£250). Cumberland records in his notebook that he “Lent Blake [his] Catalogue to read” in Nov. 1823 (BR [2] 388).

Literary Gazette, 1827. Charles Cox, April cat. 50, #17, contemporary half calf amateurishly rebacked (£125). The Aug. issue, 540-41, contains an important obituary of Blake, possibly written by William Paulet Carey (see BB #1071).

J. T. Smith, Nollekens and His Times. J & S Wilbraham, April online cat. 50, #107, 1828 ed., 2 vols., contemporary half calf rubbed (£75). Ken Spelman, May cat. 55, #128, 1828 ed., 2 vols., contemporary calf rebacked (£195). EB, July, 1829 ed., 2 vols., foxed, publisher’s cloth, illus. color (a bargain at £9.99); Aug., 1828 ed., 2 vols., frontispiece stained, later cloth, illus. color (no bids on a required minimum bid of £39.95); Sept., 1829 ed., 2 vols., publisher’s cloth worn, illus. color (£13.39); Oct., 1828 ed., 2 vols., early quarter calf very worn, illus. color ($36). John Windle, Nov. cat. 40, #374, 1828 ed., 2 vols., extra-illus. with c. 132 pls. (none by Blake), modern morocco ($1750); #375, 1828 ed., 2 vols., calf rebacked and restored ($250). Howes Bookshop, Nov. cat. 314, #122, 1829 ed., 2 begin page 166 | back to top vols., uncut in original boards, spines repaired (£150). Contains an important early biography of Blake.

A. Cunningham, Lives of the Most Eminent British Painters. The Bookpress, March cat. 159, #24, 1st ed., 1829-33, 6 vols., later half calf ($925—probably a record asking price). EB, Sept., New York 1835 ed., 3 vols., “publisher’s original roan and paper boards” worn, illus. color (no bids on a required minimum bid of $34.95). Contains an important early biography of Blake.

P.A. Hanrott, auction cat. of his collection, Evans, 16 July 1833 and 11 following days. CNY, 22 March, #289, 5 parts in 1 vol., annotated with buyers and prices, modern quarter morocco, page with lots 634-44 illus. color ($960); #290, “thick paper” issue, modern calf ($840). Lots 630, 642, 644, 893, and 894 in part 1 are important works by Blake (see BB #544, confusing lot 630 with 642).

R. Heber, auction cat. of his collection, Sotheby’s and Evans, 1834-37. CNY, 22 March, #291, 13 parts in 5 vols., annotated with prices, full morocco ($12,000 on an estimate of $2000-3000); #292, 13 parts in 3 vols., annotated with prices and buyers, modern half calf ($7200 on an estimate of $2000-3000). A copy of Blake’s Poetical Sketches was sold as lot 99 on 8 Dec. 1834.

[R. Southey], The Doctor, 1834-47. Jarndyce, Dec. 2004 cat. 162, #191, 7 vols., contemporary calf rubbed (£950). Simon Finch, July cat., #84, 7 vols., contemporary half calf worn (£750). Vols. 6 and 7, both of 1847, contain references to Blake’s painting, The Ancient Britons, and to the engravings of Blake’s “Ghost of a Flea” in Varley’s Zodiacal Physiognomy, 1828.

W. Blake, Songs of Innocence and of Experience, Pickering ed., 1839. John Windle, Nov. cat. 40, #167, issue without “The Little Vagabond,” publisher’s cloth slightly faded ($6500). The first letterpress ed. For another copy, see the “Introduction” to Songs of Experience under Illuminated Books, above.

J. Jackson [and W. A. Chatto], A Treatise on Wood Engraving, 1839. CSK, 7 June, #384, George Cruikshank’s copy, contemporary half morocco rubbed (not sold; estimate £400-600). Contains an important description of Blake’s relief-etching methods, 715-17.

W. Chatto, Gems of Wood Engraving, 1849. Zarak Books, Dec. 2004 online cat., modern cloth ($245). Contains a brief description of Blake’s relief-etching process (28). Only the 2nd copy I have seen on the market in the last 35 years.

Hogg’s Weekly Instructor, New Series vol. 2, 1849. Barter Books, July online cat., contemporary quarter calf worn (£17). Contains, 17-20, an essay on Blake by the Victorian poet William Allingham (1824-89).

The Illustrated Exhibitor and Magazine of Art, 1852. Chandler & Reed, April online cat., 2 vols. in 1, contemporary calf worn, front cover almost loose ($48). Claude Cox, Sept. cat. 168, #363, 2 vols. in 1, contemporary half calf rebacked (£55). Vol. 1, 369-71, contains 1 of W. J. Linton’s 2 wood engravings of Blake’s “Death’s Door” and an anonymous essay about Blake. See the caption to illus. 7.

Catalogue of the Art Treasures of the United Kingdom Collected at Manchester in 1857. Charles Wood, July cat. 123, #76, contemporary half calf ($175). 2 of Blake’s watercolors were exhibited; see BB #563.

International Exhibition 1862. Official Catalogue of the Fine Art Department. Charles Wood, July cat. 123, #90, original paper wrappers ($250). I Blake tempera and 4 of his watercolors were exhibited; see BB #566.

The Light Blue: A Cambridge University Magazine, 1867. EB, Jan., vols. 1-2, 1866-67 (apparently all published), some spotting, quarter calf, illus. color ($200). Vol. 2 contains a 3-part essay on Blake, signed “P.M.” The essay includes the first publication of 3 poems from Blake’s manuscript, An Island in the Moon. Other passages clearly indicate that the author had access to John Linnell’s collection of Blake’s works. Might Linnell have owned (or at least temporarily possessed) the Island manuscript at the time? BB #74 records no certain provenance prior to 1893, when the manuscript was in the collection of Charles Fairfax Murray. Anne Gilchrist knew of The Island in the Moon in 1863 and had the original or a transcription in her possession (BB 224n1). The only copy of The Light Blue I have ever seen on the market.

A. C. Swinburne, William Blake: A Critical Essay, 1868, with the 1st published state of the title page (“Zamiel” beneath the vignette). J & S Wilbraham, Sept. online cat. 53, #168, publisher’s cloth (£150). EB, Oct., publisher’s cloth, spine darkened, illus. color (no bids on a required minimum bid of $175).

W. C. Bryant, Thanatopsis, c. 1874. EB, April, publisher’s pictorial paper-covered boards and cloth spine, corners worn, pages coming loose, illus. color ($10.50 to R. Essick). See W. J. Linton’s wood-engraved title page, illus. 7.

W. Blake, Jerusalem, Pearson facsimile, [1877]. John Windle, Nov. cat. 40, #90, slight paper damage to the margins of the last few leaves, modern quarter morocco ($1650); #91, slightly foxed, original front wrapper repaired, back wrapper replaced ($1295).

W. C. Bryant, Bryant’s First and Last Poems, 1878-79. Kavanagh Books, April online cat., publisher’s cloth ($20). Contains W. J. Linton’s wood-engraved title page to “Thanatopsis”—see illus. 7 and its caption.

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THANATOPSIS:
                BY
                WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT
7. William James Linton.   Wood-engraved title page for William Cullen Bryant, Thanatopsis (New York and Boston: H. M. Caldwell Co., n.d.). 11.9 × 9.4 cm. Essick collection. A colophon on the verso of the letterpress title page states that the book was “entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1874, by G. P. Putnam’s Sons.” This Caldwell ed. is probably a reprint of the 1874 Putnam ed. In an undated ed. (but possibly 1st ed. with Linton’s illus.?), “G. P. Putnam’s Sons: New York” is printed in letterpress below the wood-engraved title design. The same letterpress below the block appears in Bryant’s First and Last Poems: I. Thanatopsis, II. The Flood of Years. Illustrated by W. J. Linton (New York: Putnam, “1878-9”). In all 4 eds., the illustrations are stated to be “designed and engraved by W. J. Linton” with “indebtedness acknowledged to David Scott and William Blake . . .” (unnumbered page following the wood-engraved title). For unexplained reasons, Linton’s illustrations for “Thanatopsis” are dated to 1879 in F. B. Smith, Radical Artisan: William James Linton 1812-97 (Manchester: Manchester UP, 1973) 190.

The image is based on the old man entering the tomb in Blake’s “Death’s Door,” an illustration to Robert Blair’s The Grave, engraved by Louis Schiavonetti and first published in 1808. It is unlikely that Linton saw either Blake’s original watercolor, or even his white-line etching, “Deaths Door,” the latter known only in a single impression. Linton has reversed the right/left orientation of Schiavonetti’s engraving, deleted the youth rising above the tomb, and substituted additional stones above the lintel for Blake’s hillock. The design is probably meant as an illustration to the once-famous concluding 5 lines of “Thanatopsis”:
Thou go not, like the quarry-slave at night
Scourged to his dungeon, but, sustain’d and soothed
By an unfaltering trust, approach thy grave,
Like one who draws the drapery of his couch
About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams.
Borrowing from a design originally intended as an illustration for The Grave is appropriate because Bryant could “remember reading, at this time [shortly before composing “Thanatopsis,” c. 1811-13], that remarkable poem, Blair’s ‘Grave,’ and dwelling with great pleasure upon its finer passages” (quoted from “An Autobiography of Mr. Bryant’s Early Life” as printed in Parke Godwin, A Biography of William Cullen Bryant [New York: Appleton, 1883] 1:37). Blair’s work was a major influence on Bryant’s, as demonstrated by Charles H. Brown, William Cullen Bryant (New York: Scribner’s, 1971) 59-61.

Linton also executed 2 wood engravings of the full “Death’s Door” design, one (21.9 × 13.8 cm., with top corners rounded, image reversed in relation to Schiavonetti’s engraving) published in The Illustrated Exhibitor and Magazine of Art 1 (1852): 369, and in The Ladies’ Drawing Room Book (London: Cassell, c. 1852). The other (20.9 × 12.1 cm., corners not rounded, image not reversed) was published in Thirty Pictures by Deceased British Artists Engraved Expressly for The Art-Union of London by W. J. Linton ([London?]: n.p., 1860), and in John Jackson and W. A. Chatto, A Treatise on Wood Engraving, 2nd ed. (London: Bohn, 1861).
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W. Muir facsimiles of Blake’s illuminated books. Simon Finch, cat. for the Feb. San Francisco Book Fair, #11, There is No Natural Religion, 1886, Muir’s copy #20, original wrappers ($2000). John Windle, Feb. San Francisco Book Fair, all sold to a private collector, copy numbers not recorded by Windle if not given here: The Book of Thel, 1920, original wrappers ($2250); There is No Natural Religion, 1886, original wrappers ($1675); The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, 1885, with the manuscript “Order of the Songs” and “A Divine Image,” later cloth, original wrappers bound in, no Muir copy number but inscribed “For the Times,” presumably as a review copy ($2500); Europe, 1887, Muir’s copy #38, original wrappers ($5750); Songs of Innocence, Muir’s copy #41, with Songs of Experience, Muir’s copy #22, both 1885, 2 vols., original wrappers, modern slipcases ($5500); Songs of Innocence, with Songs of Experience, both 1927, both Muir’s copy #12, original wrappers ($3500); Visions of the Daughters of Albion, 1885, Muir’s copy #49, original wrappers foxed and chipped ($2500); The Book of Thel, 1884, with Visions of the Daughters of Albion, 1884, and There is No Natural Religion, 1886, in 1 vellum vol. ($8750). John Windle, Nov. cat. 40, #37, Little Tom the Sailor (“one of the separate issues”—see also The Century Guild Hobby Horse, below), center fold, slight marginal stains ($2500); #73, America, hand-colored issue, Muir’s copy #34, original wrappers ($9500); #77, The Book of Thel, 1885, Muir’s copy #2, with “a 2 page manuscript note on Thel by Muir and an old Quaritch note on the Muir facsimiles,” modern boards, original wrappers retained ($4500); #84, Europe, 1887, Muir’s copy #8, original wrappers, “backstrip perished, leaves loose,” title page illus. ($8500); #89, The Gates of Paradise, 1888, Muir’s copy #26, original wrappers ($4500); #97, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, 1885, apparently no copy number but “inscribed by Muir for the Saturday Review,” presumably a review copy, later morocco, original wrappers retained ($6500); #98, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, 1885, Muir’s copy #15, bound with The First Book of Urizen, 1888, Muir’s copy #13, later morocco, original wrappers retained ($16,500); #102, Milton, 1886, Muir’s copy #30 (struck through and “inscribed by Muir for the Saturday Review”), with a facsimile of Blake’s letter of 16 March 1804 bound in, later morocco, original wrappers retained ($7500); #106, The Song of Los, Muir’s copy #19, “tiny fragments from tissues adhering to 2 plates,” original wrappers ($9500); #111, Songs of Innocence, 1885, Muir’s copy #30, with Songs of Experience, 1885, Muir’s copy #13, 2 vols., quarter vellum, original wrappers retained ($12,500); #112, Songs of Innocence with Songs of Experience, both 1927, both unnumbered but inscribed by Muir “For Review,” 2 vols., original wrappers ($6750); #116, There is No Natural Religion, 1886, Muir’s copy #26, later morocco, original wrappers retained ($4500); #118, Visions of the Daughters of Albion, 1885, issue on Hodgkinson wove paper, Muir’s copy #39, later morocco, original wrappers retained ($5500). Windle tells me that almost all of his Muir facsimiles listed in cat. 40 were sold by Nov.

W. Blake, There is No Natural Religion, Pickering facsimile, 1886. John Windle, Feb. San Francisco Book Fair, large-paper issue, later morocco, original wrappers bound in ($1500).

The Rowfant Library: A Catalogue of the Printed Books . . . Collected by Frederick Locker-Lampson, 1886. CNY, 22 March, #191, with the Appendix published as a separate vol., 1900, both quarter roan ($720). Important works by Blake are listed in the 1886 vol., 138-41 (see BB #582). The 1900 vol., 180, includes a few minor engravings by Blake.

The Century Guild Hobby Horse. John Windle, Nov. cat. 40, #38, vol. 1 no. 4 (1886) with the Muir facsimile of Little Tom the Sailor, original wrappers ($750); #105, vol. 1 no. 7 (1887), with a facsimile of On Homers Poetry [and] On Virgil, original wrappers ($450).

Catalogue of the Library of Bernard Buchanan Macgeorge, 1892. CNY, 22 March, #193, presentation inscription from Macgeorge to Sir Charles Tennant, original half vellum ($300). The important Blake collection is listed on 7-11 (see BB #589). A revised ed. was published in 1906.

W. B. Yeats. Autograph letter signed, 7 pp., to “Mr [John] O’Leary,” not dated (1892 or early 1893?), addressed from “3 Blenheim Road, Bedford Park, Chiswick” an containing a reference to “the article in [on?] Blake you sent me” and to “the pending . . . completion of Blake.” Heritage Galleries and Auctioneers, Dallas, 13 April, #25528, illus. color online ($4750). Yeats lived on and off at 3 Blenheim Road between 1887 and 1894. The pending “completion of Blake” is probably a reference either to The Works of William Blake, ed. E. J. Ellis and Yeats, 1893, or (less probably) to The Poems of William Blake, ed. Yeats, 1893. This letter not in The Letters of W. B. Yeats, ed. Allan Wade (London: Hart-Davis, 1954). In a letter of 2 March 1892 to Katharine Tynan, Yeats states that “Blake is getting through the press—about two thirds, and that the most troublesome part, is gone to press and most of it is already in proof.” In another letter to O’Leary, dated by Wade to “early 1893,” Yeats writes that he is “editing a volume of Blake lyrics for The Muse’s Library [i.e., The Poems] and shall get £25 for it. The Blake book [probably the Works] will be ready some time next week I believe.” Letters, ed. Wade, 204, 227.

Facsimile of the Original Outlines before Colouring of the Songs of Innocence and of Experience, intro. by E. J. Ellis, 1893. John Windle, Feb. San Francisco Book Fair, half morocco, title page foxed ($1750).

Facsimile of . . . Songs of Innocence and of Experience, hand colored, intro. by E. J. Ellis, 1893. John Windle, Feb. San Francisco Book Fair, half morocco worn, repaired ($6750).

W. Blake, The Book of Thel, Songs of Innocence, and Songs of Experience, illus. C. Ricketts, 1897. Bow Windows Bookshop, begin page 169 | back to top May cat. 171, #6, with the signature of William Russell Flint (British artist, 1880-1969) dated 1934, original paper-covered boards, front hinge split (£595).

W. Blake, Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience (Boston: Knight & Millet, 1901). Waldo’s Books, July online cat., publisher’s cloth ($39). BB #174A. Bentley lists a “London, 1901” issue (BB #174B), but the identical typography and format of all but the title page shared by BB #174A and BB #176 (London: R. Brimley Johnson, and Guildford: A. C. Curtis, 1901) indicate that #174B repeats the entry for #176. BB dates #176 to “1911,” but its title page is dated “MDCCCCI” (as in K 278 #158).

W. Blake, Poems, intro. by Alice Meynell (London: Gresham, n.d. [1911?]). EB, May, publisher’s cloth, illus. color (£4.99 to R. Essick). Possibly BB #289A, dated “1911” (#289B is dated “[1927]”). K 286 #181 states that the ed. of “[September 1911]” was published in London by “Blackie and Son Ld.,” measures “15 × 10 cm.,” and was issued as part of the “[Red Letter Library]” (the brackets indicate that this information is not printed in the book). The volume I acquired on EB contains some titles, running heads, and small decorations printed in red; its art nouveau inspired endpaper design of twisting blackberry vines and the gilt-stamped decorations on the spine and front cover suggest a very late 19th- or early 20th-century publication date. However, the book varies in two respects from the description in K: it was published by “The Gresham Publishing Company” and its leaves measure 15.5 × 10.3 cm. Either K is wrong about these two points for the [1911] ed. or my example is an unrecorded issue. What I believe to be the “[1927]” ed. was published in London and Glasgow by “Blackie & Son Limited”; it measures only 13.9 × 8.3 cm. and contains no printing in red. According to the University of Glasgow Archive Services (<http://www.archives.gla.ac.uk>), Gresham was founded in 1898 as a subsidiary of Blackie & Son. Many of the cover and endpaper designs for both firms were designed by Talwin Morris (1865-1911); the (now defunct) web site of Archie MacSporran, the world’s leading authority on the life and works of T. Morris, gave the size of the Red Letter Library eds. as “c 15.5 × 10 cms.” Perhaps the book was published in 1911 under both the Blackie and Gresham imprints. The author of the introduction, Alice Meynell (1847-1922), was a poet and journalist and the mother of Francis Meynell (1891-1975), the founder of the Nonesuch Press in 1923. Several of Geoffrey Keynes’ Blake publications were issued by Nonesuch, beginning with the 3-vol. ed. of The Writings of William Blake in 1925.

National Gallery, British Art. Catalogue of Loan Exhibition of Works by William Blake, London, 1913. EB, Jan., apparently 1st ed., cloth, original printed wrappers bound in, illus. color (£4.99). The only copy I’ve seen without “Second Edition” printed at the top of the front wrapper and title page.

W. Blake, Auguries of Innocence (Flansham, Sussex: Pear Tree P, 1914). Written out by Lillian Frost, both text and decorations etched in intaglio and printed by James Guthrie and S. J. Housley. Marilyn Braiterman, Oct. cat. 29, #79, #7 of 25 copies (of a total ed. of 100) printed in blue and silver, some stains, A. J. Symon’s copy with his book label, original wrappers ($850). Guthrie (1874-1952), who founded the Pear Tree Press in 1899, is an important figure in the history of 20th-century fine printing. See also the Pear Tree Press ed. of Songs of Innocence (1939), below.

G. Keynes, A Bibliography of William Blake, 1921. John Windle, Nov. cat. 40, #321, publisher’s quarter morocco ($2000).

W. Blake, The Act of Creation, small pamphlet printed for A. E. Newton, 1925. John Windle, Nov. cat. 40, #121, original envelope ($75). Includes a color illus. of the frontispiece to Europe, copy E.

W. Blake, All Religions are One, Hollyer facsimile, 1926. John Windle, Nov. cat. 40, #70, original quarter cloth, small-paper issue ($175).

Photographic reproduction, postcard-size, of Thomas Wright “delivering an oration” (from the caption) at the dedication of a memorial to William and Catherine Blake at Bunhill Fields, 12 Aug. 1927. EB, Jan., illus. ($10.50).

Illustrated Books and Original Drawings by William Blake [and] Drawings, Etchings, Lithographs by Muirhead Bone Loaned by Lessing J. Rosenwald. Exhibition cat., Print Club of Philadelphia, 1930. EB, July, original wrappers, illus. color ($6.99). Apparently a rare item; the only copy I’ve seen on the market in the last 35 years.

W. Blake, Songs of Innocence and of Experience (London: New-Church P Ltd., 1936). EB, Nov., publisher’s blue cloth with a large star, title, and author’s name stamped in gilt on the upper cover, illus. color (£5.50 to R. Essick). Apparently BB #182, marked as not seen by Bentley. A reissue, by the same publisher in the same binding, of BB #171C, a reset 1925 republication of the 1839 Pickering ed. of the Songs (issue lacking “The Little Vagabond,” BB #171B). The only difference between the 1925 and 1936 issues is a printed slip of paper in the latter, pasted over the publisher’s name, address, and the 1925 date on the title page; the slip names the same publisher, a new address, and the new date of “1936.” Some copies of the 1925 volume have a slip of paper, pasted over the publication information on the title page, giving a new address for the publisher (20 Hart St., as in the 1936 reissue, rather than 1 Bloomsbury St.) and lacking a date of publication.

W. Blake, Songs of Innocence (Flansham, Sussex: Pear Tree P, 1939). Written out by Helen Hinkley, both text and decorations etched in intaglio and printed in colors by James Guthrie.

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John Windle, Aug. private offer, no. 10 of 300 copies signed by Guthrie, publisher’s vellum and slipcase with engraved label (acquired by R. Essick). The illus. are not related to Blake’s. The only copy I’ve seen on the market in the last 35 years. Perhaps the start of World War II disrupted the project and fewer than the 300 copies noted in the colophon were printed. See also the Pear Tree Press ed. of Auguries of Innocence (1914), above.

W. Blake, The Divine Image, “25 copies printed and illuminated by Valenti Angelo,” New York, 1949. EB, July, original wrappers, illus. color ($76). Not in BB or BBS, although the latter (151) lists an ed. without place of publication or date, tentatively identified as “[?New York. ?1949].” I suspect the undated ed., in gray wrappers and also limited to 25 copies, is earlier and should not be confused with the dated 1949 ed. sold on EB. Yet a 3rd ed., not recorded in BB or BBS, includes the following title page: “William Blake: The Divine Image[.] Printed by Valenti Angelo for the Zamorano-Roxburghe joint meeting, San Francisco 1976.” Angelo printed at least 2 other books containing Blake’s poems: A Cradle Song[,] The Divine Image[,] A Dream[, and] Night, New York, 1949, limited to 125 copies (BB #243); and Auguries of Innocence, Bronxville, New York, 1968, limited to 35 copies (BB #224). The artist, writer, and printer Valenti Angelo (1897-1982) is an important figure in the history of 20th-century American printing by small presses.

W. Blake, Auguries of Innocence, wood engravings by Leonard Baskin, Gehenna P, 1959. EB, Sept., 1 of 250 copies, publisher’s paper wrappers, with the prospectus, illus. color ($495).

W. Blake, A Letter from William Blake, wood engravings by Leonard Baskin, Gehenna P, 1964. EB, Sept., 1 of 500 copies, publisher’s paper wrappers, illus. color ($140).

L. Baskin, Portrait of William Blake, wood engraving, 1964. EB, Oct., signed by Baskin in pencil, illus. color ($122.53). This portrait was published in Baskin’s ed. of A Letter from William Blake, 1964 (see above).

W. Blake, Poems from . . . Songs of Innocence, illus. Maurice Sendak, 1967. John Windle, Nov. cat. 40, #200, original wrappers ($4950).

E. Paolozzi, Newton. Painted plaster and wood, 49.0 cm. high, dated 1993. SL, 24 Oct., #113, illus. color (£30,000). See illus. 8.

J. Viscomi, Blake and the Idea of the Book, 1993. John Windle, Nov. cat. 40, #391, publisher’s cloth, dust jacket ($275). A very scarce book, long out of print and rarely seen on the secondary market.

R. Essick, A Troubled Paradise: William Blake’s Virgil Wood Engravings, with an Afterword on Collecting William Blake by John Windle, 1999. John Windle, Nov. cat. 40, #55, 1 of 13 copies with an original impression of one of Blake’s wood engravings, this copy with the 5th cut, original cloth box ($3500).

8. Sir Eduardo Paolozzi (1924-2005).   Newton. Painted plaster and wood, 49.0 cm. high, signed and numbered 1 of 3, inscribed “For Sabina” and dated 1993. Paolozzi’s Newton sculpture, based on Blake’s large color print of the same title, is known to visitors to the British Library, where a monumental version in bronze stands in the forecourt. Although Blake’s figure of Newton is both beautiful and heroic, most Blake scholars have interpreted the color print as representing the contraction of the human mind into the twin prisons of materialism and abstraction. In contrast, Paolozzi’s sculpture has been understood as an icon of human intellect at one of its most expansive, even triumphant, moments of scientific achievement. Photo courtesy of Sotheby’s London.
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Blake’s Circle and Followers

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

BARRY, JAMES

“King Lear” and “The Diagorides Victors at Olympia,” etchings. BA, 26 May, #190, “King Lear” with a horizontal fold and damp staining, “The Diagorides” with a vertical fold and “some browning,” the latter illus. (£167).

Barry, A Letter to the Dilettanti Society, 2nd ed., 1799. Ken Spelman, Feb. cat. 54, #34, contemporary half calf rebacked (£650); same copy and price, Nov. cat. 56, #36.

CALVERT, EDWARD

Leonard Baskin, “Edward Calvert after a Drawing by His Third Son,” wood engraving, c. 1956. EB, Oct.-Nov., signed by Baskin in pencil, illus. color (no bids on a required minimum bid of $110). This portrait was published in Baskin, Blake and the Youthful Ancients (Northampton: Gehenna P, 1956).

FLAXMAN, JOHN

Illustrations to Sophocles’s Ajax. 6 sheets of drawings, 2 with verso pencil sketches, variously pen and ink and pencil with washes, largest 19.0 × 12.0 cm. SL, 24 Nov., #122, 1 illus. color (not sold; estimate £2000-3000). The auction cat. suggests a date in the 1790s, when Flaxman was composing most of his outline illustrations, but the date is possibly a good deal later, when he was also using washes in his Acts of Mercy drawings and a small group of Hesiod designs.

Three Studies of Sleeping Children; Study of a Young Girl; and Study of a Family Group. Pencil, 5 sheets in all, 14.7 × 12.0 cm. and smaller. CL, 17 Nov., #33, 2 illus. color (£2400).

Design for the Shield of Achilles. Pencil, 10.5 × 17.8 cm., inscribed “153.W” top right, paper evenly browned. Skinner auction, Boston, 1 Oct., #169, illus. color online ($200). This drawing is not related to any section of the finished design for the shield.

Figure Mourning beneath an Urn. Pen, wash, 10.2 × 10.2 cm., dated to c. 1810. Abbott and Holder, Jan. cat. 365, #33 (£1400).

The Misses Harrison, Sharpe and Rogers and Mrs. Sharpe at Samuel Rogers’ Party, 1800. Pen and brown ink, 22.7 × 18.6 cm., inscribed with the names of the figures and dated 10 June 1800. W/S Fine Art and Andrew Wyld, June cat., #23, illus. color (£7500).

Prologue to Henry 5th. Pencil, inscribed in ink with verses from Shakespeare’s Henry V, lines 5-8 of the preface, and Julius Caesar, act 3, scene 1, line 273, 38.5 × 24.5 cm., signed and dated 1782. EB, Aug., illus. color ($560). Previously offered as Figure Study, SL, 1 Dec. 2004, #26, in a lot of miscellaneous drawings (not sold).

Woman and Children around an Anchor. Pen, wash, 10.2 × 10.2 cm., dated to c. 1810. Abbott and Holder, Jan. cat. 365, #34 (£1400).

Autograph letter signed, 2 pp., to Dawson Turner, 9 April 1819. BH, 15 March, #582 (£312). For the attempted sale of this letter by the autograph dealer Roy Davids, see Blake 37.4 (spring 2004): 129.

Autograph letter signed, 1 p., to Thomas Lawrence, 21 Feb. 1825. Michael Silverman, Sept. online cat. ($645.33).

Aeschylus designs, 1795. Vallot auction, New York, #206, pl. 28 only, illus. online ($275—a remarkably high price for a single pl.). EB, May, lacking 3 pls., bound but covers gone, illus. color (no bids on a required minimum bid of £95).

Dante designs. EB, Jan.-Feb., 1807 ed., badly water stained, original boards worn, partly repaired, cover label, illus. color ($122.50). John Windle, April private offer, 1802 ed., some foxing (mostly marginal), quarter calf worn ($850). Freeman’s auction, Philadelphia, 19 May, #5228, 1867 ed., contemporary morocco very worn, illus. online ($50). EB, May, 1807 ed., scattered minor foxing, quarter vellum, illus. color ($559.99); Aug., 2 pls. only offered individually, ed. unknown, illus. color (no bids on required minimum bids of $6.99 each); Nov., apparently the 1807 ed., 50 pls. only, some spotting, disbound, illus. color (£22.30).

Odyssey designs, 1805. EB, March-April, some pls. spotted, quarter leather very worn, damaged, illus. color (no bids on a required minimum bid of $299.99); Nov.-Dec., 3 pls. only, loose, illus. color (no bids on a required minimum bid of $9.99).

FUSELI, HENRY

A Lady Kneeling at a Prie Dieu and Studies of Two Nudes (recto); A Striding Nude and Lovers Embracing (verso). Pen and begin page 172 | back to top brown ink, pencil, sheet 16.0 × 22.0 cm., the verso inscribed “Sir Jesus Reynolds / William Hunter / all tog[ether].” SL, 24 Nov., #119, recto illus. color (£3,360).

Meleager Implored by the Aetolians to Defend the City of Calydon. Red chalk, pen and brown ink, brown and gray wash, 29.4 × 38.0 cm., inscribed “Roma [17]76.” CNY, 25 Jan., #212, sold from the estate of Bernard Breslauer, illus. color ($180,000 on an estimate of $50,000-70,000).

A Midnight Modern Conversation, attributed to Fuseli. Pencil, pen and ink, gray wash, 27.2 × 27.2 cm., possibly a work of the mid-1760s indebted to Hogarth. Doyle auction, New York, 26 Jan., #1005, framed and glazed, illus. color online ($500).

Circle of Fuseli, Satan Starting from the Touch of Ithuriel’s Spear. Pencil, pen, gray wash, 52.8 × 68.8 cm. CL, 9 June, #34, illus. color (£4560).

“The Weird Sisters,” mezzotint by Smith after Fuseli. Michael Finney, Sept. online cat., trimmed to the platemark, slight overall browning, laid onto a card, illus. color (£350).

Bible. A Practical Family Bible, published by Wilkie, 1772-73. John King Books, Oct. online cat., 2 vols., stained with preliminary leaves missing, bindings very worn with amateur repairs ($519.75).

Bible, published by Macklin, 1800. EB, 7 vols., contemporary morocco slightly worn, illus. color (offered only at the “buy it now” price of $4999.99).

Boothby, Sorrows Sacred to the Memory of Penelope, 1796. John Windle, cat. for the Feb. San Francisco Book Fair, #41, “large-paper copy,” pl. after Fuseli “before all letters” (but actually with the small Fuseli signature centered below the design), slightly foxed, uncut in original boards, cover label ($4500). James Cummins, Sept. cat. 93, #3, uncut in original(?) boards, later cloth spine ($1000).

Boydell, Collection of Prints . . . Illustrating . . . Shakespeare, 1803. SL, 16 Dec. 2004, #56, 2 vols., contemporary morocco rubbed (£3120). Heritage Book Shop, July online cat., 2 vols., contemporary morocco ($15,000). EB, Nov., 1 pl. only, “Midsummer Nights Dream, Act II, Scene I,” Simon after Fuseli, 1 tear extending into the image, slight marginal stains, illus. color ($127.51).

Cowper, Poems, 1806. EB, Sept., 2 vols., foxed, contemporary calf worn, illus. color (£9.64).

Darwin, Poetical Works, 1806. EB, 1 pl. only, “The Creation of Eve,” Dadley after Fuseli, illus. color ($10.50).

Darwin, The Temple of Nature, 1803. EB, Aug., marginal stains on some pls., scattered browning, later cloth, illus. color (reserve not met; highest bid $510).

Fuseli, Lectures on Painting, 1820. A. D. Constance, July online cat., contemporary calf (£145).

Gray, Poems, Du Roveray ed., 1800. EB, Aug., contemporary morocco worn, illus. color ($78). EB, Nov., contemporary morocco, spine very worn, illus. color (offered only at the “buy it now” price of £29.99).

Lavater, Essays on Physiognomy. EB, July, 1 pl. only, “Head of Satan,” from the 1797 ed. published by Symonds, illus. color ($39.95); Sept., 1 pl. only, “St. John,” Holloway after Fuseli, from the 1789-98 ed. published by Murray, marginal foxing, illus. color ($29.95). John Windle, Nov. cat. 40, #42, 1 pl. only, portrait of Fuseli engraved by Bromley ($200). For copies of the 1789-98 ed., see under Letterpress Books with Engravings by and after Blake, above.

Milton, Paradise Lost, Du Roveray ed., 1802. EB, Feb.-March, 2 vols., small-paper issue, some spotting, contemporary calf worn, illus. color (no bids on a required minimum bid of £500); same copy, March, same result on a required minimum bid of £350; June, pl. 2 (“Satan Encountering Death at Hell’s Gate, Sin Interposing”) only, an etched proof lacking most of the work on the figures, with signatures but no other inscriptions, light foxing, illus. color (£63). For the proof, see illus. 9.

Milton, Poetical Works, 1844. Buddenbrooks, July online cat., three-quarter calf ($495). Rulon-Miller,[e] July online cat., contemporary morocco rubbed ($250).

A Series of Magnificent Engravings to Illustrate the Various Folio or Quarto Editions of the Works of Shakespeare and Milton, published by M’Lean, 1818. BA, 20 April, #217, a few pls. stained, contemporary morocco rubbed (£119). Contains 3 pls. after Fuseli: “Oberon Squeezing the Flower on Titania’s Eyelids,” “Titania Embracing Bottom,” and “The Witches Appear to Macbeth and Banquo.”

Seward, Anecdotes of Distinguished Persons, 1798. Xerxes Books, Oct. online cat., 4 vols., “full leather” slightly worn ($900).

Shakespeare, Plays, 1805. EB, 1 pl. only, “Winter’s Tale,” illus. color ($9.99). See also under Letterpress Books with Engravings by and after Blake, above.

Smollett, Adventures of Peregrine Pickle, 1773. EB, Sept., 4 vols., the pls. by Grignion after Fuseli of the 1769 ed. re-engraved by Lodge, contemporary calf worn, illus. color (£32.77).

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Fuselli R. A pinxit
                  Neagle Sct.
9. James Neagle after Henry Fuseli.   “Satan Encountering Death at Hell’s Gate, Sin Interposing,” pl. 2 in John Milton, Paradise Lost (London: F. J. Du Roveray, 1802). An etched proof, lacking a great deal of engraving (and possibly further etching) on the figures, with scratched signatures of “Fuselli [sic] R. A pinxit” (lower left) and “Neagle Sct,” (lower right). Image (not including the signatures) 11.4 × 8.7 cm. printed on a sheet of laid paper without watermark, 17.5 × 15.0 cm. Essick collection. While such proofs offer insights into an engraver’s methods of developing an image, the signatures suggest that this is not a true “working” proof, pulled so that the craftsman can check the progress of his work, but an early state printed in limited numbers for collectors. For a drawing by Blake that may have been influenced by Fuseli’s representations of Satan, see illus. 3.
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Wieland, Oberon, trans. Sotheby, 1805. EB, Feb., 2 vols., with all pls., quarter calf very worn, covers detached, illus. color (even in this condition, a bargain at £8.39); March, 2 vols., with all pls., contemporary quarter calf, bindings illus. color (another bargain at £14.60).

Young, Catalogue of the . . . Collection of . . . Angerstein, 1823. EB, March, the 3 Fuseli pls. offered individually, illus. color: “Satan Starting from the Touch of Ithuriel’s Spear” ($29.99), “The Birth of Eve” (no bids on a required minimum bid of $29.99), “The Deluge” ($29.99).

LINNELL, JOHN

Cattle Crossing a Stream. Watercolor, 20.0 × 30.0 cm., signed and dated 1851. Sl, 8 Dec., #184, “with a watercolour of figures by a loch by George Fennel Robson,” the Linnell illus. color (£2880).

The Cattle Pond. Oil, 70.0 × 98.0 cm., signed and dated 1874. SL, 24 Nov., #6, illus. color (not sold; estimate £8000-12,000).

Dolwyddelan, North Wales. Pencil and watercolor, 19.1 × 24.8 cm., signed and dated 1813. Lowell Libson, Nov. cat. of “Watercolours and Drawings,” #31, illus. color (£6000).

The Farmer’s Boy. Oil, 62.0 × 45.5 cm., signed and dated 1830. SL, 24 Nov., #75, illus. color (not sold; estimate £60,000-80,000). Previously offered SL, 1 July 2004, #18 (not sold; estimate £100,000-150,000).

Hampstead. Pencil and watercolor, 11.4 × 18.5 cm., signed, probably c. 1824. Lowell Libson, Nov. cat. of “Watercolours and Drawings,” #30, illus. color (£3600).

The Keg. Oil, 45.0 × 60.0 cm., signed and dated 1862. SL, 30 June, #65, illus. color (not sold; estimate £20,000-30,000).

Portrait of Mr. Bolding, and His Wife, Mrs. Bolding, a pair. Oil, each 32.0 × 24.0 cm., both signed and dated 1832. SL, 22 March, #70, both illus. color (£10,800).

Portrait of Mrs. Anna Young. Oil, 32.0 × 25.0 cm., signed and dated 1831. SL, 22 March, #71, illus. color (not sold; estimate £4000-6000).

Study of Goats. Pencil, 10.2 × 16.5 cm., signed and inscribed “From Nature” in ink. EB, Jan., illus. color (£90).

The Three Ages of Man, after Titian. Oil, 86.3 × 148.0 cm., inscribed on the relining of the canvas, “Copy painted in the Royal Academy in the year 1839 by Mr Linnell A. J. Oliver.” CL, 23 Nov., #71, illus. color (£7800).

MORTIMER, JOHN HAMILTON

Head Studies. Pen and ink, recto and verso, approx. 26.0 × 36.0 cm. EB, April-May, recto and verso illus. color (offered only at the “buy it now” price of £380).

The Removal of the Body of Patroclus, attributed to Mortimer. Oil, 68.6 × 86.4 cm. CL, 23 Nov., #59, illus. color (not sold; estimate £5000-8000).

Il Reposo. Pen and ink, 28.0 × 21.0 cm., datable to c. 1778. W. M. Brady & Co., New York, Jan. offer, illus. color in Burlington Magazine 147 (Jan. 2005): [viii] (price on request). Previously sold CL, 18 Nov. 2004, #61, illus. color (£13,145 on an estimate of £3000-5000).

Sheet of Figure Studies, attributed to Mortimer. Pen and ink, approx. 21.0 × 22.0 cm. EB, April-May, illus. color (offered only at the “buy it now” price of £280); another such sheet, 21.0 × 32.0 cm., illus. color (offered only at the “buy it now” price of £220).

“Banditti at Market” and “Banditti Gambling,” etchings by Hall after Mortimer. EB, Oct., offered separately, water stained, illus. color (£14.99 each).

“Boat in a Storm at Sea,” etching by Blyth after Mortimer. EB, Aug.-Sept., water stain in the lower left margin, illus. color (£9.99).

“Captive Family,” etching by Blyth after Mortimer. EB, Sept.-Oct., illus. color ($9.98).

“Fishermen with Nets,” etching by Blyth after Mortimer. Abbott and Holder, March cat. 366, #235, “First Proof” inscribed “J. Mortimer Inv.” in pen and ink (£400). Apparently a proof before most letters of the pl. titled “Fishermen” in John Sunderland, John Hamilton Mortimer: His Life and Works, Walpole Society vol. 52 (London: Walpole Society, 1988) 158 #88a.

PALMER, SAMUEL

Note: All the books offered by Adam Mills are from the collection of Raymond Lister and contain his bookplate.

A Cliff Top View in Cornwall. Black chalk, 10.4 × 17.4 cm. CL, 9 June, #30, illus. color (£1440).

The Forrester’s Horn. Watercolor and body color, 19.0 × 40.0 cm., datable to 1852. CL, 17 Nov., #83, illus. color (£9600).

Landscape with a Glowing Cloud. Watercolor, 6.2 × 12.4 cm., dated by Lister to 1861 but by Wyld to c. 1832. W/S Fine Art and Andrew Wyld, June cat., #50, illus. color (£8500).

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Pistyll Mawddach, North Wales. Watercolor, 35.5 × 41.0 cm., signed and dated 1835. SL, 8 Dec., #180, illus. color (£28,800).

The Rising Moon. Watercolor, 32.5 × 70.8 cm., signed and inscribed “[Ri]sing Moon,” c. 1857. CL, 9 June, #45, in the original gilt-composition frame, illus. color (not sold; estimate £50,000-80,000). This previously unrecorded work, given by Palmer to George Richmond, is very similar to, and possibly the basis for, Palmer’s 1857 etching of the same title.

A Road Past a Farm. Watercolor, 6.7 × 13.0 cm., dated by Lister to 1861 but by Wyld to c. 1832. W/S Fine Art and Andrew Wyld, June cat., #49, illus. color (£8500).

Rustics with Sheep and Goats in a Rocky Landscape. Watercolor, 15.0 × 27.0 cm., signed, datable to 1844. SL, 22 March, #131, illus. color (not sold; estimate £20,000-30,000).

Sabrina, based on Milton’s Comus. Watercolor, 16.5 × 23.5 cm., datable to c. 1855-56. SL, 30 June, #315, illus. color (£66,000). Previously sold SL, 14 June 2001, #34 (£75,000).

Autograph letter signed to the dealer and artist Henry Mogford, 2 pp., undated but possibly 1854. BH, 15 March, #655 (not sold; estimate £350-400).

Autograph letter signed to “Dear Sir” (apparently an exhibition organizer), 3 pp., undated but possibly 1865. BH, 15 March, #656 (not sold; estimate £450-500).

Manuscript, 33 pp., including brief essays entitled “How to Choose Teas” and “Snuff,” sent in a letter to George Richmond, 6 Oct. 1828. John Windle, Nov. cat. 40, #4 ($750).

“The Bellman,” etching. Garton & Co., Aug. cat., no item #, 6th st., illus. color online (£8500).

“The Cypress Grove,” etching. CSK, 5 Oct., #98, 2nd st., with “The Sepulchre,” 2nd st. (not sold; estimate £400-600).

“The Early Ploughman,” etching. CSK, 5 Oct., #101, 5th st., illus. (£2280). Swann, 3 Nov., #351, 5th st., illus. ($650).

“The Herdsman’s Cottage,” etching. EB, Jan., 2nd st. from The Portfolio, 1871, illus. ($600); another impression, Jan., illus. ($400). Abbott and Holder, March cat. 366, #238, st. not identified but probably 2nd (£275). Grogan & Co. auction, Dedham, Massachusetts, 26 Sept., #509, 2nd st., illus. color online ($200).

“The Lonely Tower,” etching. CSK, 5 Oct., #93, 6th st., illus. (£4200).

“Moeris and Galatea,” etching. EB, July, 2nd st., illus. (£207).

“The Morning of Life,” etching. EB, Aug., probably 7th st., illus. color (no bids on a required minimum bid of £400).

“Opening the Fold,” etching. Gorringes auction, Lewes, East Sussex, 8 Sept., #1750, 8th st., illus. online (£320). CSK, 5 Oct., #95, 5th st., illus. (£1020).

“The Rising Moon,” etching. CSK, 5 Oct., #97, 7th st. (£660).

“The Skylark,” etching. CSK, 5 Oct., #94, 7th st., illus. (£540).

“The Sleeping Shepherd,” etching. CSK, 5 Oct., #102, 4th st., illus. (£1200).

“The Weary Ploughman,” etching. CSK, 5 Oct., #99, 8th st., illus. (not sold; estimate £700-900).

“The Willow,” etching. Abbott and Holder, Jan. cat. 365, #241, st. not given, but presumably 2nd or 3rd, “a later but nice impression” (£175). CSK, 5 Oct., #96, 3rd st. (£420).

Adams, Sacred Allegories, 1856. Adam Mills, Feb. cat. of “Samuel Palmer: 1860s Books,” #5, publisher’s morocco (£155).

A Book of Favourite Modern Ballads. Adam Mills, Feb. cat. of “Samuel Palmer: 1860s Books,” #9, n.d. (c. 1860), half morocco worn (£90); #10, 1860 ed., foxed, original cloth (£110); #11, n.d. (c. 1865), the illus. color printed, original cloth worn (£110); #12, “sectional issues of the colour-printed edition,” 2 vols., original cloth (£155).

Dickens, Pictures from Italy, 1st ed., 1846. SL, 23 March, #74, original cloth (£300).

Household Song, 1861. Adam Mills, Feb. cat. of “Samuel Palmer: 1860s Books,” #8, original cloth (£80).

Moore, Lalla Rookh, 1860. Adam Mills, Feb. cat. of “Samuel Palmer: 1860s Books,” #6, original cloth rebacked (£110).

A. H. Palmer, Life and Letters of Samuel Palmer, 1892. John Windle, cat. for the Feb. San Francisco Book Fair, #78, large-paper issue, original cloth with “minor wear” ($975). EB, Nov., apparently the small-paper issue, binding not described (offered only at the “buy it now” price of $595). Contains Palmer’s etching, “The Willow,” 2nd st.

Procter, Legends & Lyrics. Adam Mills, Feb. cat. of “Samuel Palmer: 1860s Books,” #1, 1866 ed., contemporary half morocco (£145); another copy, #2, original cloth rebacked (£145); #3, 1875 ed., full morocco (£155); #4, 1886 ed., original cloth (£75).

Rogers, Pleasures of Memory, n.d. (c. 1865-75). Adam Mills, Feb. cat. of “Samuel Palmer: 1860s Books,” #7, foxed, original begin page 176 | back to top cloth (£175). EB, Nov., original cloth faded, illus. color (offered only at the “buy it now” price of $270).

RICHMOND, GEORGE

A Folio of Figure Studies, 2 by George Richmond (Christ in the Wilderness and Michelangelo—a Recollection on 1 sheet, and a portrait of Samuel Palmer), 5 by William Blake Richmond, and others by Isaac Bird. The drawings by G. Richmond in pen and brown ink, “various sizes.” SL, 22 March, #81, Christ in the Wilderness and Michelangelo—a Recollection illus. color (not sold; estimate £3000-5000).

An Extensive View across a Valley. Watercolor, 19.0 × 39.0 cm. SL, 8 Dec., #182, “indistinctly inscribed in pencil,” illus. color (not sold; estimate £1000-1500).

Head of a Girl. Pen and ink, 18.8 × 12.5 cm., probably dating from the 1830s and perhaps a young boy. BA, 17 Nov., #297, illus. color (£333).

Study of a Figure in Contemplation. Pen and brown ink, 23.5 × 15.2 cm. CL, 17 Nov., #27, illus. color (£504 on an estimate of £500-800). Previously offered Spink-Leger, Sept. 1999 “Head and Shoulders” cat., #36, illus. color (£1400); CL, 5 June 2003, #24, illus. color (not sold; estimate £1500-2000); CL, 18 Nov. 2004, #25, illus. color (not sold; estimate £800-1200). An interesting study in declining expectations.

ROMNEY, GEORGE

The Death of Alcestis. Pencil, pen and brown ink, brown wash, 17.5 × 25.1 cm. Flavia Ormond Fine Arts, pamphlet for the Master Drawings Fair, London, 2-8 July, illus. color (price on request). Previously offered as Figures Grouped around the Bed of a Dying Woman, Agnew’s, Romney cat., 11-28 June 2002, #17, illus. color (£15,000).

The Fortune Teller. Pencil, 38.0 × 55.0 cm. SL, 30 Nov., #110, illus. color (not sold; estimate £1000-1500).

Portrait of Emma Hamilton. Oil, 31.6 × 26.5 cm., datable to c. 1786. SL, 24 Nov., #56, illus. color (£66,000). A study for the head of Miranda in Romney’s painting for Boydell’s Shakespeare Gallery, The Tempest, Act 1.

The Procession. Pencil, 10.2 × 20.3 cm. Abbott and Holder, May online cat. 367, #57 (£1400).

Satan, Sin and Death: An Illustration to Milton’s “Paradise Lost” Book II (recto); Studies of Figures (verso). Pencil, sheet 16.0 × 19.0 cm. CL, 17 Nov., #3, illus. color (not sold; estimate £800-1200).

The Sentencing of Mary Stuart. Pen and gray ink, gray wash, 9.0 × 11.6 cm. oval. CL, 9 June, #26, illus. color (£840).

Studies of Warriors in Combat, recto and verso. Pen and brown ink, 8.9 × 15.3 cm. CL, 9 June, #10, recto illus. color (£1080).

Study of a Gentleman Resting His Chin on His Hand. Pencil, 12.3 × 18.2 cm. BA, 17 Nov., #302, illus. color (£190). Although the auction cat. states that this slight sketch is only “attributed to” Romney, I see no reason to question such an attribution. The use of “attributed to” is a traditional way for auctioneers to express doubt, or at least uneasiness.

Study of a Seated Woman, recto and verso. Pen and brown ink (recto), pencil (verso), 30.5 × 22.8 cm. CL, 9 June, #12, recto illus. color (£4560).

“Portrait of William Hayley,” mezzotint by Jacobé after Romney, 1779. BH, 3 Oct., #67, “surface rubbing and creasing, . . . a later impression,” illus. color (£408).

STOTHARD, THOMAS

2 drawings: 6 girls seated, pen and gray wash (5.6 × 10.0 cm.); man seated, pen and ink (5.8 × 5.3 cm.). EB, Aug., the drawings mounted together on a large card with the pencil date “1787,” illus. color (£47.01). The card mount is similar to those associated with some of Stothard’s preliminary drawings for The Royal Engagement Pocket Atlas, 1790-1826, but these 2 drawings are probably not for that publication. The attribution of the pen and ink drawing to Stothard might be questioned.

The Ambitious Step-Mother. Pen and ink, 9.2 × 9.6 cm. John Windle, cat. for the Feb. San Francisco Book Fair, #94, with an engraving of the design by William Leney ($750). The pl. was published as an illus. to Nicholas Rowe’s The Ambitious Stepmother in Bell’s British Theatre, vol. 25 (1795).

Boccaccio’s Decameron, the Sixth Day. Watercolor, 22.9 × 16.5 cm., c. 1824. EB, June, illus. color (£800.04). A very similar design, with the foreground figures differently arranged, was engraved by Augustus Fox and published by William Pickering as an illus. to his 1825 ed. of the Decamerone (see below); the pls. were also issued separately in portfolio.

Figures Crowding Excitedly. Pen and ink, sepia wash, 15.2 × 10.2 cm. Abbott and Holder, May online cat. 367, #61 (£250).

Hippomenes and Atalanta. Pen and gray wash, 2.7 × 6.2 cm. EB, July, illus. color (no bids on a required minimum bid of £99); Aug., reserve not met (highest bid £49). Possibly a preliminary for The Royal Engagement Pocket Atlas, 1790-1826; previously sold EB, July 2004 ($159.37).

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Maidens in a Landscape, attributed to Stothard. Oil, 36.8 × 25.4 cm., signed “T. Stothard” and dated 1818, damaged. Gorringes auction, Lewes, East Sussex, 25 Aug., #2019, illus. color online (£240). The 4 figures are characteristic of Stothard’s work, but this may be a copy.

Portrait of Stothard and His Studio, English School 19th Century. Oil, 88.9 × 68.6 cm., date uncertain. BH, 3 Oct., #218, illus. color (not sold; estimate £5000-7000). Previously sold CSK, 11 Sept. 1997, #28, illus. color (£3220).

Portrait of William Blake, c. 1780. Pencil, 4.5 × 4.0 cm., on a sheet of laid paper, 21.2 × 19.0 cm., with part of a crown watermark. William Drummond, June private offer (acquired, with the assistance of D. Bindman, by J. Windle for R. Essick). See illus. 10.

“Amyntor and Theodora,” Tomkins after Stothard, 1796. EB, Sept., trimmed close to the image, illus. color (no bids on a required minimum bid of £30).

“The Death of Captain Faulkner,” engraving published by Bowyer, 1801. EB, Oct.-Nov., stained, illus. color (no bids on a required minimum bid of $250).

“Mary, Queen of Scots, Being Told Her Fate”(?), Gaugain after Stothard, 1788. EB, Sept., apparently a proof before title, illus. color (£10).

“Pilgrimage to Canterbury,” Schiavonetti after Stothard. EB, Feb.-March, modern restrike, illus. color (no bids on a required minimum bid of £30).

“The Princess Catherine of France Presented to Henry the 5th of England by the Queen Her Mother & the Duke of Burgundy at the Treaty of Troy in 1419,” Cardon after Stothard, 1797. EB, Feb., the title almost rubbed off, illus. color (£9.99).

“Sailors in Port” and “The Sailors Return,” a pair, mezzotints by Ward after Stothard. Michael Finney, Sept. online cat., color printed and hand colored, slight overall browning, margins repaired, “Sailors Return” foxed, illus. color (£480).

“Sailors in a Storm,” mezzotint by Ward after Stothard, 1798. EB, Sept.-Oct., color printed, framed, illus. color (no bids on a required minimum bid of $500).

Aesop, Fables, 1793. See Gay, Fables, under Letterpress Books with Engravings by and after Blake, above.

Akenside, Pleasures of Imagination. Jarndyce, Dec. 2004 cat. 162, #674, 1803 ed., contemporary calf rubbed (£38). EB, March-April, 1795 ed., contemporary calf worn, illus. color (£16); April, “1794” ed. (but actually 1795?), badly stained, old boards very worn, illus. color ($20.50). Blackwell’s, July cat. B148, #16, 1814 ed., with 3 (of 4?) pls. after Stothard, pls. foxed, contemporary calf worn (£40).

Bacon, Essays Moral, Economical and Political, 1822. EB, Sept., later quarter calf, illus. color (£13.50).

Bell’s Edition of the Poets of Great Britain, 1776-92. John Windle, cat. for the Feb. San Francisco Book Fair, #9, complete in 109 vols., pl. in Chaucer vol. 13 by Cooke (rather than Blake) after Stothard, contemporary calf worn, the Chaucer vols., 1-14, not matching the others ($4750). John Price, “Spring 2005” cat., #113, 7 vols. only, containing Watts, Poetical Works, 1782, full morocco (£350).

Bible, published Macklin, 1800. See under Fuseli, above.

The Bijou. Jarndyce, Dec. 2004 cat. 162, #461, 1828 ed., lacking 1 pl., original boards (£50); #462, 1829 ed., contemporary morocco (£75). EB, April, dated to “1826” but actually the 1828 ed., quarter calf and original boards rubbed, illus. color (no bids on a required minimum bid of $295); probably the same copy, July, no bids on a required minimum bid of $49.99. Claude Cox, July cat. 167, #233, 1828 ed., original quarter roan worn (£50).

Blane, Cynegetica, 1788. EB, May-June, later quarter calf, illus. color (no bids on a required minimum bid of $250).

Boccaccio, Decamerone, published Pickering, 1825. EB, May, vol. 2 (of 3) only, large-paper issue with published “Proof” impressions, scattered foxing, publisher’s cloth very worn, most of spine detached, illus. color (no bids on a required minimum bid of £49.99); same copy, late May, same result on a required minimum bid of £29.99.

Bowles, Sonnets and Other Poems, 1800. EB, March-April, 2 vols., contemporary calf worn, illus. color ($40).

Boydell, Collection of Prints . . . Illustrating . . . Shakspeare, 1803. EB, Aug.-Sept., 1 pl. only, “King Henry the Eighth, Act I, Scene IV,” Taylor after Stothard, illus. color (no bids on a required minimum bid of $20).

Bray, Life of Stothard, 1851, extra-illus. copies only. EB, May, unstated number of added pls. after Stothard, including at least 1 for Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress, full calf, slipcase, illus. color ($17.35).

Bunyan, Pilgrim’s Progress, 1798. EB, June-July, 1 pl. only, “The Affright,” Strutt after Stothard, dated 1791 in the imprint, st. with inscriptions in English and French, light foxing, illus. color (£7.51).

Byron, Works, 1815. EB, Nov., vol. 2 (of 4) only, contemporary morocco, illus. color ($20.50).

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Mr Blake Engraver by
                  Stothard
10. Thomas Stothard.   Portrait of William Blake. Pencil, 4.5 × 4.0 cm., on a sheet of laid paper, 21.2 × 19.0 cm., with part of a crown watermark. Essick collection. Inscribed in pencil below the image, “Mr Blake Engraver by / Stothard,” in a hand identifiable as George Cumberland’s or possibly that of his son, George Cumberland, Jr. Also inscribed in pencil, top left and sideways, “84” (not pictured), in an unidentified hand. The verso contains 11 figure studies in black ink attributable to Stothard on stylistic grounds. Also on the verso is a bold inscription in brown ink, “T. Stothard R. A,” possibly in the hand of George Cumberland, Jr.

This slight and delicate drawing is the earliest known portrait of Blake. It is dated to c. 1780, when Blake was 23-24 years old, in The Complete Portraiture of William & Catherine Blake, with an Essay and an Iconography by Geoffrey Keynes (London: Trianon P for the William Blake Trust, 1977) 118 and pl. 3. Keynes states that the recto inscription is “probably by Cumberland” and that “the expression” of the profile “is similar to the posthumous drawing by Mrs. Blake of her husband at the age of 28,” illus. by Keynes as his pl. 4. While the two drawings are clearly of the same person only a few years apart in age, I find that Catherine Blake’s portrayal is more serious (even heroic) in expression and more idealized. The naturalistic sketch illustrated here suggests the beginnings of a smile, a self-possessed personality in repose, and a certain sweetness of character.

Stothard, Blake, and a “Mr. Ogleby” went on a sketching tour on the River Medway, probably in Sept. 1780 (see BR [2] 22-23). If Keynes’ dating is accurate, perhaps this drawing was produced during the trip, Stothard having already used the other side of the sheet for his figure studies. Although not specifically named as a member of that expedition, Cumberland was a good friend of Stothard’s from at least the mid-1770s and went on similar sketching trips c. 1779-81 (see Shelley M. Bennett, Thomas Stothard: The Mechanisms of Art Patronage in England circa 1800 [Columbia, Missouri: U of Missouri P, 1988] 3, 11). My tentative attribution of the “Stothard” inscription on the verso to Cumberland’s son is based on its similarity, in both letter forms and ink color, to his inscriptions in an album of his father’s prints he assembled in 1848 for presentation to the publisher Mathew Gutch (now Essick collection). For provenance information, see the caption to illus. 6.

Cabinet of the Arts, 1799, with 12 pls. after Stothard. See under Letterpress Books with Engravings by and after Blake, above, and illus. 4-5.

Catullus, Tibullus, et Propertius, published by Pickering, 1824. EB, Jan., publisher’s cloth very worn, illus. color (no bids on a required minimum bid of £50); same copy and result, several times through Dec.

Collins, Poetical Works, 1797. EB, May, contemporary calf worn, illus. color (£10).

Cowper, Poems, 1803. EB, June-July, 2 vols., foxed and stained, contemporary calf very worn, hinges repaired with cloth, illus. color (£13).

Defoe, Robinson Crusoe. EB, Jan., 1820 ed., 2 vols., contemporary calf very worn, illus. color (no bids on a required minimum bid of $92.99); same copy, Feb. ($35.99); Feb., 1790 ed., 2 vols., some spotting, contemporary calf, illus. color (£156); March, 1820 ed., 2 vols., some spotting, later morocco worn, illus. color ($251.50). J & S Wilbraham, April online cat. 50, #124, 1820 ed., 2 vols., minor foxing, later half morocco, vol. begin page 179 | back to top 1 rebacked (£120); same copy, Nov. cat. 54, #180 (£100). EB, May, 1820 ed., 2 vols., slight foxing, slightly later quarter morocco worn, vol. 1 rebacked, illus. color ($306). Book Gallery, June Pasadena Book Fair, 1790 ed., 2 vols., later half calf ($1100). EB, Oct., 1820 ed., 2 vols., contemporary quarter morocco worn, illus. color (no bids on a required minimum bid of $229); Oct., 1790 ed., 2 vols., scattered light foxing, contemporary calf worn, illus. color ($589); Oct.-Nov., 1790 ed., 2 vols., scattered foxing, contemporary calf worn, illus. color (£205); 1790 ed., vol. 2 only, scattered foxing, contemporary quarter calf very worn, most of spine missing, illus. color (£4.99); Nov., 1790 ed., vol. 2 only, foxed, contemporary calf worn, illus. color (reserve not met; highest bid £16); 1820 ed., 2 vols., light stains in margins, near-contemporary quarter calf worn, illus. color ($282).

Falconer, The Shipwreck, 1811. EB, Feb.-March, contemporary calf, illus. color (£10.50).

Fénelon, Adventures of Telemachus, 1795. Marlborough Rare Books, May cat. 204, #354, prospectus for, making mention of Stothard’s designs (£25); #355, another copy at the same price.

Forget-Me-Not, 1828. Jarndyce, Dec. 2004 cat. 162, #481, original printed boards, slipcase repaired (£110); #482, another copy, original printed boards rubbed (£65).

[William Giles], The Refuge, by the Author of The Guide to Domestic Happiness, 8th ed. (London: W. Button & Son, 1815). EB, Oct.-Nov., frontispiece stained at bottom right, calf very worn (no bids on a required minimum bid of £10). The frontispiece, “Lavinia” by Neagle after Stothard, is listed in Coxhead 193-94, but its publication in this book has not been previously recorded.

Goldsmith, Miscellaneous Works, 1806. Eric Moore, April online cat., 4 vols., some foxing on the 6 Stothard pls., early calf rebacked with cloth, worn (£65). Very probably the ed. dated to “1805 or thereabouts” in Coxhead 119.

Goldsmith, Vicar of Wakefield. EB, Jan., published J. Bumpus, London, 1819 (engraved title page dated 1820), original boards very worn, spine mostly missing, illus. color (no bids on a required minimum bid of £4.99); same copy and result, several times through Dec. EB, May, 1792 ed., pls. badly stained, contemporary calf very worn, part of spine missing, illus. color ($39.99).

Gray, Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard, 1836. EB, May, publisher’s cloth worn, illus. color (no bids on a required minimum bid of £25). With 1 wood engraving after Stothard, not previously recorded.

Hall, ed., The Book of Gems, 1836-38. Heritage Book Shop, Dec. 2004 private offer, 3 vols., later morocco ($750). Jarndyce, Dec. 2004 cat. 162, #613, vol. 3 only, contemporary morocco rubbed (£200).

Hume, History of England, Bowyer ed., 1806. EB, Feb.-March, 1 pl. only, “Q. Elizabeth at Tilbury,” Parker after Stothard, illus. color ($12.50); Nov., 1 pl. only, “The Landing of William 3d. at Torbay,” Noble after Stothard, illus. color (no bids on a required minimum bid of $65).

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Johnson, Rasselas, 1796. EB, May, water stained, contemporary calf very worn, spine missing, illus. color (no bids on a required minimum bid of $99.99).

The Keepsake. Jarndyce, Dec. 2004 cat. 162, #535, 1828 ed., original half morocco worn (£120); #536, another copy, original silk worn (£85); #537, another copy, original silk worn (£85); #538, 1829 ed., original silk rubbed (£120); #539, 1830 ed., original silk worn (£150); #540, another copy, original silk very worn (£45); #543, 1832 ed., original silk rubbed (£75); #546, 1834 ed., original silk worn (£65); #547, another copy, original silk very worn, lacking spine strip (£35); #548, 1835 ed., original silk rubbed (£110); #549, another copy, original silk worn (£65); #550, 1836 ed., original silk rubbed (£75). EB, Dec. 2004, 1830 ed., some water staining and foxing, later quarter calf very worn, illus. color (no bids on a required minimum bid of $39.95). CSK, 2 Nov., #69, 12 vols., 1836-47, later morocco (not sold; estimate £600-800). EB, Nov., 1828 ed., Stothard’s 2 pls. only, “The Lady’s Dream” and “The Enchanted Stream,” offered separately, illus. color (no bids on a required minimum bid of $4.99 each); Nov., 1829 ed., Stothard’s pl. only, “Garden of Boccaccio,” illus. color (no bids on a required minimum bid of £3.74); another impression, Nov., illus. color (no bids on a required minimum bid of $4.99).

Lady’s Magazine, 1781-1812. Charles Russell, July online cat., 16 miscellaneous vols., many with pls. after Stothard, contemporary bindings worn (£800).

Lady’s Poetical Magazine, 1781. EB, Jan., contemporary calf worn, illus. color (£9.99).

Milton, Paradise Lost. EB, Aug., 1825 ed., margins foxed, later calf worn, illus. color (£62); Nov., 1822 Sharpe ed., 2 vols., 1 pl. after Stothard first published in Sharpe’s 1816 ed. (this 1822 printing not previously recorded), illus. color (£14.99).

Novelist’s Magazine. EB, Feb., vol. 16, 1784, contemporary calf very worn, illus. color (reserve not met; highest bid $256). J & S Wilbraham, April online cat. 50, #34, vol. 1, 1780, contemporary quarter calf worn (£30). EB, April, vol. 18, 1785, later cloth, illus. color (reserve not met; highest bid $150.50). See also under Letterpress Books with Engravings by and after Blake, above.

[Peregrine Phillips], A Diary Kept in an Excursion to Little Hampton (London: Bew and Davenhill, 1780). Ximenes, Sept. private offer, 2 vols. in 1, frontispiece in vol. 1 by Heath after Stothard, modern half calf, “scarce” (£1500). Not previously recorded as containing a pl. after Stothard.

Pledge of Friendship, 1828. Jarndyce, Dec. 2004 cat. 162, #599, original silk rubbed, original slipcase (£60).

The Rambler, 1785, in Harrison’s British Classics. EB, July-Aug., 4 vols. in 1, early boards newly rebacked, illus. color (£67.55).

Raymond, History of England, c. 1790. EB, Jan., old calf very worn, poorly repaired, illus. color (no bids on a required minimum bid of £59.99).

Ritson, ed., The English Anthology, 1793-94. Heritage Book Shop, Dec. 2004 private offer, 3 vols., later morocco ($1000). EB, March, vol. 3 only (containing the Canterbury pilgrims after Stothard), contemporary calf very worn, illus. color (reserve not met; highest bid $15.50).

Rogers, Italy. EB, April-May, 1842 ed., contemporary calf elaborately tooled, illus. color ($37.78); April-May, 1830 ed., contemporary morocco, illus. color (£51.01). Henry Sotheran, May cat., #294, 1830 ed., with “proofs before letters,” some leaves browned, later fancy morocco (£248). EB, Sept., 1836 ed., scattered foxing, contemporary morocco worn, illus. color (no bids on a required minimum bid of £95); same copy, Oct., same result on a required minimum bid of £85; same copy, Nov., same result on a required minimum bid of £65.

Rogers, Pleasures of Memory. EB, Jan., 1810 ed., small-paper issue, contemporary morocco worn, illus. color (no bids on a required minimum bid of £49); same copy, Feb., same result on a required minimum bid of £45; same copy, April, same result on a required minimum bid of £20; April, 1803 ed., contemporary calf very worn, front cover almost detached, illus. color (no bids on a required minimum bid of £9.99); Aug., 1810 ed., small-paper issue, contemporary calf very worn and damaged, illus. color (no bids on a required minimum bid of £49); Aug.-Sept., 1810 ed., possibly the large-paper issue, few pages stained, scattered foxing, contemporary calf, illus. color ($1.99); Oct.-Nov., 1793 ed., contemporary calf very worn, illus. color (no bids on a required minimum bid of $63); Nov., 1810 ed., apparently the small-paper issue, bound with Rogers, Human Life, 1819, contemporary calf very worn, illus. color (no bids on a required minimum bid of £45).

Rogers, Poems. Heritage Book Shop, Dec. 2004 private offer, 1838 ed., later morocco ($500). EB, Dec. 2004, 1810 ed., small-paper issue, contemporary calf worn, illus. color (reserve not met; highest bid $41). BA, 13 Jan., #191, 1824 ed., with Rogers, Italy, 1830, minor foxing, uniform in contemporary morocco rubbed (£259). Howes Bookshop, Feb. cat. 311, #119, 1834 ed., with Rogers, Italy, 1830, 2 vols., some foxing, uniform in contemporary morocco (£280). EB, April-May, 1834 ed., presentation inscription from Rogers to George Sumner, later presentation inscription from Charles Sumner (senator from Massachusetts in the Civil War era), modern quarter calf, illus. color ($318.65). Bow Windows Bookshop, begin page 181 | back to top May cat. 171, #71, 1822 ed., fancy contemporary calf (£80). EB, June, 1834 ed., contemporary calf very worn, illus. color ($26).

Ruggle, Ignoramus Comœdia, 1787. Swann, 2 May, #115, contemporary morocco ($500).

Shakespeare, The Family Shakespeare, ed. Bowdler, 6th ed., 1831. EB, Jan., letterpress title page and 37 wood engravings only, later quarter morocco, illus. color ($43.99). Not previously recorded as containing at least 3 wood engravings after Stothard.

Shakespeare, The Plays, ed. Wood, 1806. Vangsgaards Antikvariat, Oct. online cat., 14 vols., contemporary calf ($2060).

Shakespeare, The Plays, Pickering ed., 1825. Heritage Book Shop, Dec. 2004 private offer, 9 vols., publisher’s cloth ($1250).

Spenser, Poetical Works, in Johnson’s Works of the English Poets, 1802. About Books, July online cat., 6 vols., complete with the Stothard pls., early calf worn, joints weak ($525).

Sterne, Sentimental Journey, 1792. Ken Spelman, Jan. cat. 53, #37, pls. slightly foxed, contemporary morocco (£200).

Thomson, Seasons. EB, Dec. 2004, 1794 ed., lacking 1 pl., spotted, contemporary calf worn (no bids on a required minimum bid of £40); same copy and result, Jan.; same copy, Feb. (£45). Claude Cox, March cat. 165, #159, 1793 ed., contemporary calf rubbed (£110). EB, Nov., 1794 ed., some stains, contemporary calf very worn, illus. color (£12.50).

Town and Country Magazine. Zubal, July online cat., vols. 15-20, 1783-88, quarter calf very worn ($1838). Atlanta Vintage Books, July online cat., vol. 12, 1780, half calf worn ($160). Apocalypse Books, July online cat., vol. 14, 1782, half calf worn (£170).

Walton, Complete Angler, Pickering ed., 1825. EB, July-Aug., publisher’s cloth very worn, part of spine missing, illus. color ($44.99).

Walton, Complete Angler, Pickering ed., 1836. Heritage Book Shop, Dec. 2004 private offer, 2 vols., some pls. foxed, contemporary morocco rebacked ($1350). BA, 31 March, #320, 2 vols., “extra-illustrated, 35 plates,” not further explained, foxing and browning, later morocco, illus. (£1190). BA, 14 July, #469, 2 vols., “large paper copy,” occasional spotting, full morocco slightly worn, illus. (£300).

Watts, ed., Cabinet of Modern Art. Jarndyce, Dec. 2004 cat. 162, #591, 1837 ed., contemporary morocco rubbed (£65).

Not previously recorded as containing a pl. after Stothard. EB, Jan., 1836 ed., 1 pl. only, “Lalla Rookh,” illus. color (no bids on a required minimum bid of £1.99).

Watts, ed., Literary Souvenir. Jarndyce, Dec. 2004 cat. 162, #577, 1828 ed., with 4 additional pls. bound in, contemporary calf rubbed (£75); #578, another copy, lacking 2 pls., contemporary calf worn (£35); #579, another copy, contemporary morocco worn (£45); #583, 1831 ed., contemporary half calf rubbed (£75); #584, another copy, contemporary morocco rubbed (£55); #585, another copy, original silk worn (£45); #586, 1832 ed., contemporary morocco (£75); #589, 1835 ed., original cloth rubbed (£65); #590, 1836 ed., original cloth rubbed (£65).

Watts, Poetical Sketches, 1824. Second Story Books, Aug. online cat., foxed, old calf worn ($150).

Winter’s Wreath, 1832. Jarndyce, Dec. 2004 cat. 162, #610, original silk worn (£50).

Young, Night Thoughts. EB, Dec. 2004, 1798 ed., some spotting, early morocco ($26.01); Feb.-March, 1798 ed., foxed, contemporary calf very worn, covers detached, illus. color ($39); March, 1798 ed., some pls. foxed in margins, contemporary calf worn, illus. color (no bids on a required minimum bid of $280); May, 1813 ed., badly foxed and stained, contemporary calf worn, front cover almost loose, illus. color (no bids on a required minimum bid of $50).

Appendix: New Information on Blake’s Engravings

Listed below are substantive additions or corrections to Roger R. Easson and Robert N. Essick, William Blake: Book Illustrator, vol. 1, Plates Designed and Engraved by Blake (1972); Essick, The Separate Plates of William Blake: A Catalogue (1983); and Essick, William Blake’s Commercial Book Illustrations (1991). Abbreviations and citation styles follow the respective volumes, with the addition of “Butlin” according to the list of abbreviations at the beginning of this sales review. Newly discovered impressions of previously recorded published states of Blake’s engravings are listed only for the rarer separate plates.

William Blake: Book Illustrator, vol. 1

Note: Revisions pertain only to information about Blake’s plates, not to the bibliographic descriptions of the books.

P. 8, Commins, An Elegy, Set to Music, 1786. An impression of Blake’s very rare plate was acquired by the Pierpont Morgan Library in 1998, the gift of Charles Ryskamp in memory of Michael S. Currier. Accession #P1998.36:5.

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The Separate Plates of William Blake: A Catalogue

P. 65, “Chaucers Canterbury Pilgrims,” impression 3P, with most faces and hands lightly tinted in flesh tones. Acquired by Charles Ryskamp no later than 1993 and given by him in 2005 to the Pierpont Morgan Library in memory of Grace Lansing Lambert. Accession #2005.190.

Pp. 111-22, “George Cumberland’s Card.” For two previously unrecorded impressions, see under Separate Plates and Plates in Series, above.

P. 194, “Mrs Q,” Blake after Villiers, impression 2M, with hand coloring added by Kate Greenaway. Given in 1998 by Charles Ryskamp to the Pierpont Morgan Library in memory of Michael S. Currier. Accession #P1998.36:4.

Pp. 198-99, “Mrs Q.” On 199 I state that the publisher of the plate “was either the J. Barrow who exhibited enamels and miniature portraits in London from 1797 to 1836, or John Barrow, who exhibited portraits at the Society of Artists from 1812 to 1816.” Some years ago, David Worrall offered good evidence that the publisher was the former; see his “The Mob and ‘Mrs Q’: William Blake, William Benbow, and the Context of Regency Radicalism,” Blake, Politics, and History, ed. Jackie DiSalvo, G. A. Rosso, and Christopher Z. Hobson (New York: Garland Publishing, 1998) 169-84. Worrall shows that the miniaturist lived at the same address as that given for the publisher on the plate (“Weston Place, St. Pancras”), and—more surprisingly—that this John Barrow lived at a later time at Fountain Court, Strand, where Blake lived from 1821 to the end of his life (see Worrall, 180nl). In “‘I also beg Mr Blakes acceptance of my wearing apparel’: The Will of Henry Banes, Landlord of 3 Fountain Court, Strand, and the Last Residence of William and Catherine Blake,” Blake 39.2 (fall 2005): 78-99, Angus Whitehead confirms Worrall’s identification and provides a wealth of information about Barrow and his friendship with Henry Banes, Blake’s brother-in-law and landlord. Banes was very probably instrumental in acquiring the engraving commission for Blake.

On 198 of the separate plates catalogue, I suggest that, since Blake is not known to have ever used mezzotint, the mezzotint on “Mrs Q” may have been added by George Maile, the engraver of the companion print, “Windsor Castle.” As his illus. 9 on p. 95 of his essay, Whitehead reproduces a mezzotint dated 1813 and signed “Drawn & Engraved by J. Barrow.” This opens up the possibility that the mezzotint on “Mrs Q” is the work of its publisher, John Barrow, and not Maile.

Pp. 214-19, “Christ Trampling on Satan,” Butts after Blake. The original copperplate was acquired in 2002 by the Pierpont Morgan Library, the gift of Gertrude Weyhe Dennis, accession #2002.62:1. The gift also included 2 previously unrecorded impressions, accession #2002.62:2, 3. On 218 I speculate that the copperplate may have been in the possession of the New York print and book dealer E. Weyhe between c. 1925, when the plate was sold at auction, and c. 1983. This indeed appears to have been the case, for the Morgan Library catalogue indicates that the plate was owned by Erhard Weyhe, New York, and passed by descent to his daughter, Mrs. Dennis.

William Blake’s Commercial Book Illustrations

P. 60, Bellamy’s Picturesque Magazine. Blake’s pl. was reprinted in The Cabinet of the Arts: A Series of Engravings, by English Artists (London: n.p., 1799). See illus. 4-5 in this sales review.

Print Edition

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