The Grave A Poem.
1808109096London: Printed by T. Bensley for R.H. Cromek 1808. Rare first edition subscriber's copy of Robert Blair`s famous poem which initiated a fashion for mortuary poems illustrated with 11 etchings by William Blake. Quarto bound in three quarters morocco marbled endpapers with the famous engraved frontispiece portrait of William Blake after the painting by Phillips engraved title page with 11 additional plates engraved by Louis Schiavonetti after Blake's drawings designed at the request of Cromek. With the poem dedicated to the Queen by Blake list of subscribers four-page prospectus for the Procession of Chaucer`s Pilgrims to Canterbury by Thomas Stothard at rear. In very good condition. Ownership inscription. Rare and desirable. In October 1805 Blake was commissioned by the engraver and would-be publisher Robert H. Cromek to prepare 40 drawings for Robert Blair's Grave from which Cromek planned to select twenty for this deluxe edition of the poem. While The Grave originally appeared in 1743 this 1808 edition was to become famous for its illustrations demonstrating "the rare imaginative power of William Blake" Magnusson 162. A dispute over a preliminary etching "in white-line" called "Death's Door" which Cromek rejected resulted in Blake's being prevented from engraving his own designs so the 12 drawings eventually selected were rendered by Louis Schiavonetti "with a mingled grace and grandeur which won for them a wider popularity. Never has the theme of death been handled in pictorial art with more elevation and beauty" DNB. Printed by T. Bensley for R.H. Cromek unknown books
Raptis Rare Books · États-Unis2 000,00 $US≈ 1 692,20 €
