(Blake, William) Gay, JohnBiblio.com
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1793259455London: Printed for John Stockdale 1793. First Stockdale edition and first with the Blake plates first issue with the long 's' throughout. 2 engraved title-pages with vignette "Gay Monument" frontispiece and 68 illustrations including 12 etchings by William Blake. ii xii 225; ii vii 188 pp. 2 vols. 8vo 10-3/8 x 6-3/4 inches. Contemporary full straight-grained red morocco covers stamped in gilt with outer roll border flat spines divided into 6 compartments 2 with title and volume number the rest gilt with small tool a.e.g. marbled endpapers. Light wear to extremities some foxing to title-pages. Bookplate of Frasier W. McCann. First Stockdale edition and first with the Blake plates first issue with the long 's' throughout. 2 engraved title-pages with vignette "Gay Monument" frontispiece and 68 illustrations including 12 etchings by William Blake. ii xii 225; ii vii 188 pp. 2 vols. 8vo 10-3/8 x 6-3/4 inches. A tall copy in contemporary binding of the Stockdale edition of Gay's Fables with 12 engravings by Blake who freely adapted his source material. Ray considers this one of the best examples of Blake's work as a reproductive engraver. Bentley & Nurmi 371A; Ray England 1; Essick William Blake's Commercial Book Illustrations XXVI Printed for John Stockdale unknown
178531510London: Printed for J. Johnson 1785. A New Edition Corrected. Fourth Edition first was 1774 plates dated 1780. This edition was issued with and without plates. Only one plate is signed Blake. Frontispiece and 3 plates after Stothard engraved by Blake Sharp and Heath 2 plates. 1 vols. 8vo. Contemporary calf brown morocco label. Skilfully rebacked rubbed some light offsetting from plates and light browning at front else a very clean and good copy with the 1797 signature of Richard Garnons Jun on the title. A New Edition Corrected. Fourth Edition first was 1774 plates dated 1780. This edition was issued with and without plates. Only one plate is signed Blake. Frontispiece and 3 plates after Stothard engraved by Blake Sharp and Heath 2 plates. 1 vols. 8vo. Essick #I Bentley #453 Printed for J. Johnson unknown
178353851783. London: Printed in the Year 1783. London: Noel Douglas 1926. <br /> <br /> 8vo original paper over boards. Very good.<br /> <br /> § Trade edition of this handsome facsimile of the very rare original edition of 1783. Bentley 132. "The original 1783 copies were seventy-two pages in length printed in octavo by John Flaxman's aunt who owned a small print shop in the Strand and paid for by Anthony Stephen Mathew and his wife Harriet dilettantes to whom Blake had been introduced by Flaxman in early 1783. Each individual copy was hand-stitched with a grey back and a blue cover reading "POETICAL SKETCHES by W.B." It was printed without a table of contents and many pages were without half titles. Of the extant copies eleven contain corrections in Blake's handwriting. Poetical Sketches is one of only two works by Blake to be printed conventionally with typesetting; the only other extant work is The French Revolution in 1791 which was to be published by Joseph Johnson. However it never got beyond the proof copy and was thus not actually published.<br /> <br /> Even given the modest standards by which the book was published it was something of a failure. Alexander Gilchrist noted that the publication contained several obvious misreadings and numerous errors in punctuation suggesting that it was printed with little care and was not proofread by Blake thus the numerous handwritten corrections in printed copies. Gilchrist also notes that it was never mentioned in the Monthly Review even in the magazine's index of "Books noticed" which listed every book published in London each month signifying that the publication of the book had gone virtually unnoticed. Nevertheless Blake himself was proud enough of the volume that he was still giving copies to friends as late as 1808 and when he died several unstitched copies were found amongst his belongings." Wikipedia. unknown
178392461783. London: Printed in the Year 1783. London: Noel Douglas 1926. <br /> <br /> 8vo original paper over boards. Gift inscription in front endpaper. Very good.<br /> <br /> § Trade edition of this handsome facsimile of the very rare original edition of 1783. Bentley 132. "The original 1783 copies were seventy-two pages in length printed in octavo by John Flaxman's aunt who owned a small print shop in the Strand and paid for by Anthony Stephen Mathew and his wife Harriet dilettantes to whom Blake had been introduced by Flaxman in early 1783. Each individual copy was hand-stitched with a grey back and a blue cover reading "POETICAL SKETCHES by W.B." It was printed without a table of contents and many pages were without half titles. Of the extant copies eleven contain corrections in Blake's handwriting. Poetical Sketches is one of only two works by Blake to be printed conventionally with typesetting; the only other extant work is The French Revolution in 1791 which was to be published by Joseph Johnson. However it never got beyond the proof copy and was thus not actually published.<br /> <br /> Even given the modest standards by which the book was published it was something of a failure. Alexander Gilchrist noted that the publication contained several obvious misreadings and numerous errors in punctuation suggesting that it was printed with little care and was not proofread by Blake thus the numerous handwritten corrections in printed copies. Gilchrist also notes that it was never mentioned in the Monthly Review even in the magazine's index of "Books noticed" which listed every book published in London each month signifying that the publication of the book had gone virtually unnoticed. Nevertheless Blake himself was proud enough of the volume that he was still giving copies to friends as late as 1808 and when he died several unstitched copies were found amongst his belongings." Wikipedia. unknown
17831008001783. London: Printed in the Year 1783 i.e. London: Noel Douglas 1926. <br /> <br /> 8vo 70pp. Original paper over boards with worn printed glassine wrapper. Pages unopened. Very good.<br /> <br /> § Trade edition of this handsome facsimile of the very rare original edition of 1783. Bentley 132. "The original 1783 copies were seventy-two pages in length printed in octavo by John Flaxman's aunt who owned a small print shop in the Strand and paid for by Anthony Stephen Mathew and his wife Harriet dilettantes to whom Blake had been introduced by Flaxman in early 1783. Each individual copy was hand-stitched with a grey back and a blue cover reading "POETICAL SKETCHES by W.B." It was printed without a table of contents and many pages were without half titles. Of the extant copies eleven contain corrections in Blake's handwriting. Poetical Sketches is one of only two works by Blake to be printed conventionally with typesetting; the only other extant work is The French Revolution in 1791 which was to be published by Joseph Johnson. However it never got beyond the proof copy and was thus not actually published.<br /> <br /> Even given the modest standards by which the book was published it was something of a failure. Alexander Gilchrist noted that the publication contained several obvious misreadings and numerous errors in punctuation suggesting that it was printed with little care and was not proofread by Blake thus the numerous handwritten corrections in printed copies. Gilchrist also notes that it was never mentioned in the Monthly Review even in the magazine's index of "Books noticed" which listed every book published in London each month signifying that the publication of the book had gone virtually unnoticed. Nevertheless Blake himself was proud enough of the volume that he was still giving copies to friends as late as 1808 and when he died several unstitched copies were found amongst his belongings." Wikipedia. unknown
17841266411784. London: Harrison and Co. 1784-1785. <br /> <br /> 2 vols. in one 8vo 1-9 10-485 1; 1-5 6-193 1 pp. Lacking the folding frontispiece but with the 4 other plates engraved by Blake after Samuel Collings. Contemporary half morocco with pebbled cloth boards. A neatly restored copy plates with some closed tears and repairs.<br /> <br /> § Only edition quite scarce. "These are the only caricature prints engraved by Blake. The graphic style is appropriately broad and rugged particularly in the barnyard scene. 'Fun I love but too much fun is of all things most loathsom' Blake to Trusler 1799. Blake may have felt that the great rage for caricature prints in the 1790s was a hindrance to the sale of his own original graphic works." Essick CBE p. 37. Bentley Blake Books 513. Essick William Blake's Commercial Book Illustrations XVI. unknown
17841046721784. London: Harrison and Co. 1784-1785. <br /> <br /> 2 vols. in one 8vo 1-9 10-485 1; 1-5 6-193 1 pp. With a folding frontispiece second version and numerous folding engraved plates of which 5 are engraved by Blake one after Stothard and four after Samuel Collings. Contemporary marbled boards modern-calf backstrip and tips a very good set with good margins around the plates: rare. <br /> <br /> § Only edition. "These are the only caricature prints engraved by Blake. The graphic style is appropriately broad and rugged particularly in the barnyard scene. 'Fun I love but too much fun is of all things most loathsom' Blake to Trusler 1799. Blake may have felt that the great rage for caricature prints in the 1790s was a hindrance to the sale of his own original graphic works." Essick CBE p. 37. Bentley Blake Books 513. Essick William Blake's Commercial Book Illustrations XVI. unknown
1717206651717. Very good condition. Robert Blake 1598 - 1657 was one of the pre-eminent British admirals and naval tacticians of the 17th century the chief contributor to Britain's naval supremacy who built the largest British navy of the day and whose talents are thought to rival or surpass those of Lord Nelson. <br /> <br /> Blake made the first set of rules and regulations for the Navy 'The Laws of War and Ordinances of the Sea' and wrote about his new methods for conducting naval blockades and landings a significant revision of the existing naval tactics 'Sailing instructions and Fighting Instructions'. Blake's naval experience included battles in the English Civil War the Anglo Dutch War and the Anglo Spanish War. <br /> <br /> Engraved by M. V de Gucht. Three quarter length portrait in armor holding truncheon at his right side; naval battle scene in distance. 4 x 6 1/2"; paper 5 1/2 x 7 1/2" unknown
17831087621783. London: C Bathurst T. Payne and others 1783. <br /> <br /> 5 vols 8vo 8 cxxxi 335; 4 407: 4 427; 4 438; 4 16 subscribers and errata 322 vi 55 errata and index pp. with a frontispiece also in each volume and 3 further plates in The Life of Ariosto following the preface in vol. 1. Original calf with moderate wear; carefully restored. Spines with red labels and raised bands all somewhat worn and the label to vol. 5 is missing. Internally a clean set with endpapers a trifle browned page edges slightly dusty and just a few occasional marks throughout the set. Plates are clean; the Blake plate is the frontispiece to vol. 3. Bookplate of Sir Charles Dance in each volume.<br /> <br /> § First edition. Blake's engraving is after a drawing by Stothard depicting the furious Orlando brandishing a huge tree. Essick notes: "In a letter. to William Hayley Blake states that he is 'absorbed' in the study of several poets including Ariosto." Bentley BB 417A. Essick CBI XII. unknown
179061157Printed for J Cooke 17 Paternoster Row. 1790. Hardcover. Very Good. Volume 1 only No date presumed 1790 iv 460pp lacking all plates and maps title page creased odd mark in text. Smartly bound in recent brown cloth leather spine label new endpapers; Quarto . Printed for J Cooke 17 Paternoster Row hardcover
1787g4041London: J Cooke. G : in good condition. Cover worn with loss to leather. Front board loose. Worming extinct to prelims. Occasional foxing and marks. 1787. Reprint. Brown hardback leather cover. 390mm x 260mm 15" x 10". 990pp vi plates. 90 b/w plates 18 b/w maps 8 fold-out. . And Containing a Complete Genuine History and Description of the Whole World . with an Account of the Rise Progress and Present State of Navigation throughout the Known World. 2 volumes bouns as 1. William Cooper His Booke. Heavy book extra shipping needed for overseas. . J Cooke hardcover
1787024881London: J. Cooke 1787 Undated but 1787-1788. 2 vols. Elephant Folio. original full calf gilt spine labels rubbed & worn rebacked with original spines laid-down hinges slackening cloth tape strengthening to hinges both volumes some chipping to leather amateurish repairs internally clean & complete; pp. iv 1-460 with frontispiece 94 plates full-page 1/2 page &1/4 page on 51 sheets 6 folding maps/charts 1 full page; ii title last blank 461-990 page 663 erroneously labelled 635 4 list of Subscribers misbound between p.988 & 989 2 Directions to the Binder for placing the cuts with 70 plates full-page & 1/2 page on 39 sheets 6 folding maps/charts 10 full page see Alan Frost in La Trobe Journal No. 8 October 1971 for a history of the book highlighting differences in content and pagination between editions. Very heavy set 9 kg additional postage may be required for international and domestic delivery. A good copy of an early issue intact but would benefit from some restoration. Ex-libris Charles Scobie ANARE Macquarie Island 1948 with his ownership signature and date 29-5-1941 to rear pastedown. First Edition. Hard Cover. G. J. Cooke hardcover
178914263London: C. Cooke 1789. 2nd or 3rd edition. Hardcover. Likely to be an original subscriber's copy listed as "Wilson - Crown Court Broad St." likely to be "John Wilson" whose red gilt leather ownership label is mounted into the front board with special blind tooled lines surrounding it. A second or third edition published between 1789 & 1791 according to research by Alan Frost published in the LaTrobe Journal of the State Library of Victoria No. 8 1971. A very bright unsophisticated copy of this work which has become increasingly scarce. Ferguson 59 describes a 1 volume edition & cites only the Mitchell Library copy. <br /> <br /> Many of the illustrations were derived from Cook's Voyages and were the most generally available representations of the natives of the Pacific Northwest Tasmania New Zealand Hawaii & the Pacific accessible to the public at the time. It is these contemporary images which make this work scarce as so many have been broken up. <br /> <br /> Folio. Frontispiece title page verso blank i Royal Licence ii Address to the Reader 1-990 Texts etc. 2 pp Directions to the Binder 2 pp A List of Subscribers Complete with 90 plates & 22 maps the map of Great Britain has original hand color; the map of Europe has been hand colored not unpleasantly but not professionally. Maps and plates are in very good condition with no refolding or cracking which is usual in this work. Bound in period reversed calf red gilt title label on spine. Matching early reverse calf strengthening of outer hinge a couple of splits on leather of spine and very chipped at top and bottom o/w a very nice copy. <br /> <br /> "The geography books which appeared in the closing decades of the eighteenth century. are of considerable significance to students of the history of ideas for the light they shed on English interest in geography and geographical exploration at the end of the eighteenth century. One of the most imposing of these usually quite imposing books is Thomas Bankes Edward Warren Blake and Alexander Cook's A New Royal Authentic and Complete System of Universal Geography. A massive folio volume this was a popular work running to six editions in the ten years from 1787 to 1797."Frost Thomas Bankes's Complete System The La Trobe Journal 1971.<br /> <br /> Extedned title - All the late important Discoveries made by the English and other celebrated Navigators of various Nations in the different Hemispheres from the Celebrated Columbus the first Discoverer of America to the Death of our no less celebrated Countryman Captain Cook & c. and the Latest Accounts of the English Colony of Botany Bay:. C. Cooke hardcover
1795015214London: J. Debrett 1795. Book measures 21x14.cm. 354pp. Bound in period half calf calf corners marble boards flat gilt bands. Binding rubbed worn with loss on edges hinge joints cracked but boards still attached. Internally spotting browning to first and last few pages. Pages in good condition. A good copy. . New Edition. Half Calf. Good Plus. 8vo. J. Debrett Hardcover
1789545361789. London 1789. First edition. London 1789. First edition. Essays Calling for the Abolition of Tithes Reduction of the Public Debt and Other Matters Blake Francis Sir 1738-1818. Political Tracts: Consisting of I. A Proposal for the Liquidation of the National Debt; An Explanation of the Proposal; An Appendix Containing a Narrative of Proceedings Thereon at Various Public Meetings; II. The Efficacy of a Sinking Fund of One Million Per Annum; the Propriety of an Actual Payment of the Public Debt; The True Policy of Great Britain; The Conclusion; III. The Abolition of Tithes and the Reform of the Church Revenue; The Doctrine of Prescription Considered; a Narrative of Proceeding at a County Meeting Held at Morpeth December 22 1784 Respecting the Payment of Tithes; A Letter to the Freeholders of the County of Northumberland On the Same Subject; The Conclusion. London: Printed for J. Debrett 1789. iv 13 14-355 1 pp. Includes one-page publisher list. Octavo 8" x 5". Original paper boards hand-lettered title to spine untrimmed edges. Light soiling moderate edgewear spine heavily abraded front board detached. Toning and light foxing to text. Gift inscription from the author's son Francis Blake Jr. dated 1876 to front free endpaper interior otherwise clean. $450. First edition. Blake a member of Lincoln's Inn was a political reformer who called for the abolition of tithes and later repeal of the Corn Laws. Political Tracts collects his principal essays which were composed between 1786 and 1787. This title was re-issued the following year with some additions and a somewhat different collation but with the same publication date on the title page. Francis Blake Jr. was a notable inventor and photographer. OCLC locates 5 copies all of the later 1789 edition. English Short-Title Catalogue N39972. unknown
17981006531798. London: J. Johnson 1798. <br /> <br /> All 4 full-page copperplate engravings after Fuseli signed by Blake as the engraver. Matted good impressions of the plates complete with the imprints untrimmed.<br /> <br /> § One of Blake's scarcer works seldom seen in the trade or at auction; there was also a volume on English history published in the same year. We have had one other copy in the last seven years and one other separate set of the plates. The plates are strong and lively renditions of moments such as the death of Cleopatra; with the recent discovery of an original drawing by Fuseli for Allen's English History now in the Essick Collection we now are quite sure that the illustrations for both volumes were drawn by Fuseli. Bentley BB 416. Essick CBI XXXVII. unknown
1793287788London: Joseph Johnson 1793. unbound. very good. William Blake. Etching and engraving. 10.25" x 7.75". Minor toning and light foxing at edges otherwise in very good condition. A plate from John Gabriel Stedman's "Narrative of a Five Years' Expedition against the Revolted Slaves of Surinam" London: Joseph Johnson 1796. This book with its graphic depiction of slavery and colonization in the New World became an important reference for early abolitionists.<br/> <br/> Image shows the soldier in full uniform with rifle pistol and saber. Two similar soldiers a fort and three-masted ship can be seen in the background. <br> <br> William Blake 1757-1827 was a British poet painter and printmaker.<br/> <br/> Joseph Johnson unknown
17801106731780. London: Harrison and co. 1780-81. <br /> <br /> Single plate 10 x 7.5 ins. Browned and foxed.<br /> <br /> § First edition thus issued originally in parts and perhaps thus of great rarity. The last copy to change hands was in 1993 when Essick bought his copy; he has not recorded another copy in the marketplace since. That rarity is born out by ESTC which records 4 copies in all two at the BL seriously imperfect one in Oxford Queen's College and one in North America Bentley Blake Collection at Victoria University. It is noteworthy for the profusion of illustrations from classical sources and in the five plates engraved by Blake he shows his knowledge of the work of Rubens and Raphael most likely from reproductions in earlier illustrated books. See Essick CBI VI. Bentley Blake Books 419. Darlow and Moule 1273. unknown
17961246441796. London: by S. Gosnell for William Miller 1796. <br /> <br /> Slim 4to xi 16 pp. With a frontispiece and 2 illustrations headpiece and tailpiece designed by Blake and engraved by Perry. Later full red straight-grain morocco gilt-lettered backstrip a fine copy with a faded inscription on the title-page "Sophia Baillie".<br /> <br /> § First edition with Blake's illustrations ridiculed in the press upon publication. One of the rarest letterpress books to contain illustrations designed by Blake. Four copies have sold in the last 40 years; two have appeared at auction. The year 1796 saw three translations of Burger's Lenore one by J. T. Stanley one by H. J. Pye the Poet Laureate and a third by W. R. Spencer with designs by Lady Diana Beauclerk. Blake was commissioned to create three illustrations for the Stanley translation including the frontispiece "Lenore clasping her spectral bridegroom" which is famous for supposedly having hung as a separate print in C.G. Jung's office. The British Critic for September 1796 spitefully compared Lady Diana's pictures with those of Blake's: "We are highly impressed by the propriety decorum and grace which characterizes all the figures of this elegant artist Lady Beauclerk even those of a preternatural kind; forming a most striking contrast to the distorted absurd and impossible monsters exhibited in the frontispiece to Mr. Stanley's last edition i.e. Blake's design. Nor can we pass by this opportunity of execrating that detestable taste founded on the depraved fancy of one man of genius which substitutes deformity and extravagance for force and expression and draws men and women without skin with their joints all dislocated; or imaginary beings which neither can nor ought to exist." The Analytical Review chimed in with comments including "perfectly ludicrous instead of terrific." Lenore had a profound effect on the development of Romantic literature throughout Europe7 and a strong influence on the English ballad-writing revival of the 1790s.8 According to German language scholar John George Robertson5<br /> <br /> Lenore exerted a more widespread influence than perhaps any other short poem in the literature of the world. . like wildfire this remarkable ballad swept across Europe from Scotland to Poland and Russia from Scandinavia to Italy. The eerie tramp of the ghostly horse which carries Lenore to her doom re-echoed in every literature and to many a young sensitive soul was the revelation of a new world of poetry. No production of the German "Sturm und Drang"-not even Goethe's Werther which appeared a few months later-had such far-reaching effects on other literatures as Bürger's Lenore; it helped materially to call the Romantic movement in Europe to life.<br /> <br /> In a similar tone English literature scholar Marti Lee claims that:6<br /> <br /> "Lenore" had tremendous influence on the literature of the late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-centuries and in fact today's popular horror books and movies are still feeling the reverberations. . In short Bürger's achievement while minor in itself helped father an international movement that led directly to the massive popularity of Gothic works then and now. . As the Gothic novel borrowed many of its original conventions from the German ballads as popularized by "Lenore" we can fairly say that Bürger is one of the most influential founding fathers of the Gothic and horror genres.Bentley Blake Books 440. Easson and Essick William Blake Book Illustrator vol. 2 XLVI. Bindman Complete Graphic Works of Blake 380-382. unknown
17801106711780. London: Harrison and co. 1780-81. <br /> <br /> Single plate 10 x 7.5 ins. Browned margins foxed and chipped.<br /> <br /> § First edition thus issued originally in parts and perhaps thus of great rarity. The last copy to change hands was in 1993 when Essick bought his copy; he has not recorded another copy in the marketplace since. That rarity is born out by ESTC which records 4 copies in all two at the BL seriously imperfect one in Oxford Queen's College and one in North America Bentley Blake Collection at Victoria University. It is noteworthy for the profusion of illustrations from classical sources and in the five plates engraved by Blake he shows his knowledge of the work of Rubens and Raphael most likely from reproductions in earlier illustrated books. See Essick CBI VI. Bentley Blake Books 419. Darlow and Moule 1273. unknown
17951262351795. London: Johnson 1795-94. <br /> <br /> 2 vols. in one 4to xx 218 124 2 directions to binder and advertisement; 2 viii 200 2 directions to the binder lacking the errata and ads pp. With a frontispiece to each volume ten plates in vol. I and 8 in vol. II. Early half calf marbled boards newly rebacked in calf with gilt-lettered label. A very good copy if a little aged -- early manuscript note loosely inserted about the Portland Vase copied from the Morning Chronicle c. 1796.<br /> <br /> § Best edition. 6 plates are engraved by Blake the best known being Fertilization of Egypt and Tornado both after Fuseli. The third edition of part one is the only edition to include the striking Tornado plate. At page 87 appears the enigmatic circular image of an African man in chains titled "Am I not a man and a brother." Bentley 450B and C. Essick William Blake's Commercial Book Illustrations XXI.<br /> The Morning Chronicle was a newspaper founded in 1769 in London. It was notable for having been the first steady employer of essayist William Hazlitt as a political reporter and the first steady employer of Charles Dickens as a journalist. unknown
179748706London.: R. Noble. 1797. Scarlet morocco-backed contemporary moiré cloth boards gilt titles to front cover and spine. Folio. 415 x 325 mm. Leaf with 'Explanation of the Engravings' recto and verso printed title advertisement pp. iii - viii and 43 leaves with engravings by William Blake surrounding the text; 21 of the leaves retain the publisher's imprints. First edition of Blake's illustrations for Edward Young's Night Thoughts.Night Thoughts is a key work in the Blake canon executed at a crucial point in his career. Sometime in 1795 or 1796 Blake was comissioned by the publisher Richard Edwards to undertake the illustration of each page of Young's bestseller 'Night Thoughts'. It was intended to publish the whole poem of nine nights in installments accompanied by engravings based on Blake's drawings but Edwards went out of business after the first volume consisting of 4 Nights and the project was never completed. 'Blake has undertaken to make designs to encircle the letter press of each page of Young's Night Thoughts Edwards the Bookseller of Bond Street employed him and has had the letter press of each page laid down on a large half sheet of paper. There are about 900 pages - Blake asked 100 guineas for the whole. Edwards said he could not afford to give more than 20 guineas for which Blake agreed. Fuseli understands that Edwards proposes to select about 200 from the whole to have that number engraved by Blake as decorations for a new edition.' Blake Records. R. Noble. hardcover
17971045881797. London: R. Noble 1797. <br /> <br /> Large 4to pp. 87/88 with 2 full-page engravings by Blake surrounding the letterpress text. A loose sheet fore-edges untrimmed some still with deckle minimal trimming to top and bottom edges. Only five leaves in the book have engravings recto and verso.<br /> <br /> § First edition perfect for display or for teaching as the leaves are quite sturdy and can be carefully handled or matted for framing. Blake virtually in a frenzy completed 537 watercolor designs when he was commissioned to illustrate Young's masterpiece. The publisher only issued the first four 'Nights'and had Blake engrave and partially etch 43 plates to test the market. The response must have been poor since no further engravings were requested of Blake. Ironically today the poet Young once compared with Shakespeare and Milton is forgotten save for this edition. Bentley Blake Books 515. Essick and LaBelle Night Thoughts Dover 1975. Ray The Illustrator and the Book in England 1790-1914 3. unknown
17971045861797. London: R. Noble 1797. <br /> <br /> Large 4to pp. 23/24 with 2 full-page engravings by Blake surrounding the letterpress text. A loose sheet fore-edges untrimmed some still with deckle minimal trimming to top and bottom edges. Only five leaves in the book have engravings recto and verso.<br /> <br /> § First edition perfect for display or for teaching as the leaves are quite sturdy and can be carefully handled or matted for framing. Blake virtually in a frenzy completed 537 watercolor designs when he was commissioned to illustrate Young's masterpiece. The publisher only issued the first four 'Nights'and had Blake engrave and partially etch 43 plates to test the market. The response must have been poor since no further engravings were requested of Blake. Ironically today the poet Young once compared with Shakespeare and Milton is forgotten save for this edition. Bentley Blake Books 515. Essick and LaBelle Night Thoughts Dover 1975. Ray The Illustrator and the Book in England 1790-1914 3. unknown
17971046161797. London: R. Noble 1797. <br /> <br /> Large 4to pp. 69/70 with a full-page engraving by Blake surrounding the letterpress text. A loose sheet fore-edges untrimmed some still with deckle minimal trimming to top and bottom edges. Only five leaves in the book have engravings recto and verso.<br /> <br /> § First edition perfect for display or for teaching as the leaves are quite sturdy and can be carefully handled or matted for framing. Blake virtually in a frenzy completed 537 watercolor designs when he was commissioned to illustrate Young's masterpiece. The publisher only issued the first four 'Nights'and had Blake engrave and partially etch 43 plates to test the market. The response must have been poor since no further engravings were requested of Blake. Ironically today the poet Young once compared with Shakespeare and Milton is forgotten save for this edition. Bentley Blake Books 515. Essick and LaBelle Night Thoughts Dover 1975. Ray The Illustrator and the Book in England 1790-1914 3. unknown
