Blake william

1839 · 18535 — London: William Pickering 1839. First letterpress edition of Blake’s best-loved works which had been available previously only in the poet’s privately printed and unobtainable hand-painted and engraved editions. Edited with a lengthy 18-page preface by the Swedenborgian James John Garth Wilkinson 1812-1899 who used Charles Augustus Tulk’s copy of the illuminated first edition c.1795-1807 to make his selection. This edition appears in two issues with and without a poem entitled “The Little Vagabond†at page 71. The poem was reportedly canceled by the editor out of prudishness. It is not present in this copy. No priority between the two issues has been established. Keynes 135; Bentley & Nurmi 161B; Bentley Blake Books 171 The English poet and dramatist John Drinkwater’s copy with his ownership signature dated 1923 on the front free endpaper and his bibliographical annotations beneath in pencil and his delightful little gilt embossed leather bookplate on the front endsheet. The book also bears the engraved bookplate of Elizabeth Walbridge on the front endsheet. Elizabeth Walbridge was married to S. Cornell Walbridge a major figure in the glass industry in Toledo Ohio aka “Glass City†and an avid book collector in the early years of the Twentieth Century. There is also a contemporary ownership signature on the front free endpaper that is difficult to decipher: possibly “Miss Mare or Miss Marie†and the remnant of a red wax seal beneath the tipped-in Walbridge bookplate. Head and tail of spine very slightly worn spine faintly sunned with covers fading slightly toward the margins otherwise a remarkably attractive and clean copy of this rare and important edition. 8vo original plum cloth. Head and tail of spine very slightly worn spine faintly sunned with covers fading slightly toward the margins otherwise a remarkably attractive and clean copy of this rare and important edition. William Pickering unknown