Abbreviations

Illuminated Books

“The Ancient of Days” (Europe pl. 1). Relief and white-line etching with hand coloring, 2^nd st., 1794. Designated as copy D of “The Ancient of Days” in BB pp. 109, 339 (#100), 340 (#F1). Windle, March cat. 65, #3, illus. (“sold”). Sold April 2016 to Alan Parker, London; see the 2016 sales review, Blake 50.4 (spring 2017): par. 4, entry under Illuminated Books, and illus. 1.

For the Sexes: The Gates of Paradise copy N (see BBS pp. 78-80). Windle, March cat. 65, #5-10, pls. 4-6, 8, 13, 14 only, all except pl. 8 illus. ($40,000 each); same group, Aug. online cat., all illus. ($30,000 each); the group acquired by Essick in Oct. For discussion about copy N and earlier sales of pls. from it, see the 2016 sales review, Blake 50.4 (spring 2017): entry under Illuminated Books and illus. 2-3. The 10 pls. constituting copy N are now divided between the E. J. Pratt Library, Victoria University, Toronto (pl. 3) and Essick (pls. 4-8, 13-15, 17).

Songs of Innocence copy W. Windle, March cat. 65, #4, pl. 19 (“Holy Thursday”) only, illus. (price on request); Sept. Dreams and Visions cat., #13, illus. (price on request). Priced at $150,000 in Windle’s handlist for the New York Book Fair, 9-12 March, #3, and in his handlist for the Boston Antiquarian Book Fair, 10-12 Nov., #1. For information about copy W and sales of other pls. from it, see the 2015 sales review, Blake 49.4 (spring 2016): par. 3-7 and illus. 1-3. For illus. of pl. 19, see the 2016 sales review, Blake 50.4 (spring 2017): illus. 4.

Songs of Innocence copy Y. Windle, Sept. Dreams and Visions cat., #12, pls. 16-17 (“A Cradle Song”) only, both pls. illus. (price on request). Priced at $250,000 in Windle’s handlist for the Boston Antiquarian Book Fair, 10-12 Nov., #2. For earlier sale at auction for $115,000, see the 2007 sales review, Blake 41.4 (spring 2008): 140, 146, and illus. 5 (pl. 16 in black and white). For the rediscovery of copy Y, see Detlef W. Dörrbecker, “Innocence Lost & Found: An Untraced Copy Traced,” Blake 15.3 (winter 1981–82): 125-30. See illus. 1.

1. “A Cradle Song,” 2^nd pl. of 2, from Songs of Innocence copy Y, BB pl. 17 (see enlargement of design). Relief etching in light-brown ink, hand colored with some motifs outlined in pen and black ink, numbered “16” top right by Blake in pen and black ink, on wove paper with a “BUTTA[NSHAW]” watermark. Probably printed c. 1802, with some coloring added at that time but possibly touched up and numbered c. 1811. Image 11.3 x 7.1 cm. on leaf 20.9 x 14.4 cm. Photo courtesy of John Windle.

Drawings and Paintings

The Complaint of Job (recto); Standing Figure (verso). Wash drawing, 32.5 x 46.0 cm. Butlin #163, then untraced. Windle, March cat. 65, #2, on loan from a “Private Collection, San Francisco” (collection of Robert Bransten), illus. (“N.F.S.”—not for sale).

The Counseller, King, Warrior, Mother & Child, in the Tomb, an illus. to Robert Blair’s The Grave. Pencil, pen and ink, brown wash, 15.0 x 23.4 cm. SNY, 25 Jan., #110, illus. ($125,000 to Windle acting for Essick; estimate $100,000-150,000). Previously offered SNY, 2 May 2006, #13, illus. (not sold; highest bid $500,000 on an estimate of $700,000-$1,000,000). See illus. 2.

2. The Counseller, King, Warrior, Mother & Child, in the Tomb (see enlargement). Pencil, pen and ink, brown wash, 15.0 x 23.4 cm., datable to 1805. Essick collection. One of Blake’s illus. for Robert Blair’s The Grave commissioned by Robert H. Cromek in Oct. 1805. The washes on the figures show Blake’s subtle skill at shading and modeling. The arrangement of figures follows The Counsellor, King, Warrior, Mother and Child (Butlin #136), Blake’s monochrome wash drawing of a battlefield scene datable to c. 1780–85, offered CL, 7 July 2015, #93, unsold at the auction but later sold by private treaty—see the 2015 sales review, Blake 49.4 (spring 2016): illus. 4. The framing lines shown here are on the original mount, possibly dating from 1805–06, not the leaf bearing Blake’s drawing. Except for some minor variations in the small reclining figures in the sculpted base of the tomb, Louis Schiavonetti’s engraving, published in Cromek’s 1808 ed. of the poem, reproduces this Grave design faithfully. For a prepublication proof of the pl., see the 2013 sales review, Blake 47.4 (spring 2014): illus. 15.

Head of Jonathan. Pencil, 25.4 x 18.4 cm. Windle, Sept. Dreams and Visions cat., #15, illus. (“sold”). Acquired July by Elaine Klemen, Chicago. See illus. 3.

3. Head of Jonathan (see enlargement). Visionary Head, pencil, 25.4 x 18.4 cm., inscribed top left in pencil (by John Varley?) “[Jona]than the / [trimmed off] of David.” Datable to c. 1819–20. Leaf of wove paper, 26.1 x 18.4 cm., with a “JH / 1818” watermark. Collection of Elaine Klemen, Chicago; photo courtesy of John Windle.

Not in Butlin because not discovered until 1985, but see Butlin #693 and 699, both Visionary Heads dated to c. 1819–20, for the same watermark. The lightness of the pencil lines and their slightly smudged appearance under magnification suggest that this is either a counterproof or the original from which a counterproof was taken. No other version of the drawing has been recorded.

Provenance: Possibly acquired by John Linnell and one of the untitled Visionary Heads sold from his collection, 15 March 1918, in lots 162, 163, and 165 (all 3 sold to the dealer E. Parsons, £16.16s., £44.2s., and £46.4s. respectively); apparently in a private collection or series of private collections until sold CL, 9 July 1985, #110, no illus. (£4428 to the dealer Colnaghi, probably acting for Ian Woodner); Woodner family collection, which had the drawing restored; CL, 9 July 1991, #85, black-and-white illus. after restoration (£2420 to Alan Parker); on consignment from Parker’s collection with Windle, June 2017, label of the “Ian Woodner Family Collection” on the back of the frame removed (according to Windle’s Sept. Dreams and Visions cat., #15); sold to Elaine Klemen, Chicago, July 2017 ($29,500). For a black-and-white illus. of this drawing before restoration, see the 1985 sales review, Blake 20.1 (summer 1986): 16, illus. 3.

When sold in 1985, this drawing was in very poor condition, with tears and stains in the right and bottom margins, a large tear in the center of the left margin, a disfiguring stain over the figure’s mouth, and various small stains throughout. As the present illus. shows, the restoration executed between 1985 and 1991 was only partly successful. The areas of whiter paper at the margins, particularly evident on the left, were once covered by a mat and thus not exposed to light. The most disturbing remaining damage is the brown stain over Jonathan’s mouth.

The Virgin Hushing the Young Baptist, Who Approaches the Sleeping Infant Jesus. Tempera, 1799. Butlin #406. Windle, March cat. 65, #1, illus. (not priced). Sold Dec. 2016 to Alan Parker, London; see the 2016 sales review, Blake 50.4 (spring 2017). For illus. and discussion, see the 2015 sales review, Blake 49.4 (spring 2016): illus. 7 and its caption.

Whilst Surfeited upon Thy Damask Cheek, an illus. to Robert Blair’s The Grave. Watercolor, 19.6 x 13.3 cm. SNY, 25 Jan., #108, illus. (not sold; highest bid $160,000 on an estimate of $180,000-240,000). Previously offered SNY, 2 May 2006, #5, illus. (not sold; highest bid $520,000 on an estimate of $700,000-$1,000,000). See illus. 4.

4. Whilst Surfeited upon Thy Damask Cheek, an illus. to Robert Blair’s The Grave (see enlargement). Watercolor, 19.6 x 13.3 cm., datable to 1805. One of Blake’s illus. for Blair’s Grave commissioned by Robert H. Cromek in Oct. 1805 but not engraved for the 1808 ed. For a brief discussion, see the caption to illus. 3 in the 2006 sales review, Blake 40.4 (spring 2007): 122. Photo courtesy of Sotheby’s New York.

First Editions of Blake’s Writings First Published in Letterpress in Blake’s Lifetime

Poetical Sketches, 1783, BB and BBS copy E. Windle, June private offer, on consignment from the collection of Alan Parker (price on request). For earlier sales, see the 2007 sales review, Blake 41.4 (spring 2008): 147. For a black-and-white illus. of the title page, including John Flaxman’s presentation inscription, see Blake 40.4 (spring 2007): back cover.

Separate Plates and Plates in Series

“Chaucers Canterbury Pilgrims,” hand-colored impression. Kaminski auction, Beverly, Massachusetts, 20 Aug., #1385, 5^th (final) st., evenly stained light brown and with serious mat burn, illus. ($1500; estimate $200-400). The auctioneer reported to Windle on 16 Aug. that the leaf size is 43.8 x 101.6 cm. and that the paper shows a “FRANCE” watermark. The watermark makes it certain that this is an impression printed by the Philadelphia book dealer Charles Sessler in 1941 (see SP p. 86). The hand coloring imitates (with a few exceptions) the coloring of Blake’s tempera painting of the design, Butlin #653.

“Chaucers Canterbury Pilgrims,” uncolored impressions. Windle, March cat. 65, #12, 5^th (final) st., Colnaghi printing on laid India, “recently cleaned and matted,” illus. (“sold” fall 2016 to a private collector, Vancouver, British Columbia); another impression, same st. and paper, “recently cleaned,” Sept. Dreams and Visions cat., #11, illus. ($25,000). David Lay auction, Penzance, 26 Oct., #676, 3^rd st., inscriptions below title trimmed off, vertical center crease, illus. (£259.60; estimate £30-60).

Dante engravings. R. E. Lewis & Daughter, Feb. online cat., #31, pl. 3 only, laid India, probably the 1892 printing, “a few fox marks,” illus. ($8500). Windle, March cat. 65, #27, complete set, early printing on laid paper, illus. ($350,000); #28-31, 1892 printing on laid India, pls. 2, 4-6 only, all illus. ($6500-$12,500 each); #32, 1953/54 printing, pl. 1 only, illus. ($7500); part 3, p. 85, #9, pl. 1 only, 1968 printing, included in the deluxe issue of Blake’s Illustrations of Dante, Trianon Press for the Blake Trust, 1978, illus. ($7500); part 3, p. 85, #10, pl. 6 only, 1968 printing, included in the deluxe issue of the Blake Trust vol. as above, illus. ($5500). SW, 2 May, #249, pl. 3 only, laid India, illus. ($7500). SL, 27 Sept., #116, complete set on laid India, “with varying degrees of foxing and pale staining” and “with light-staining throughout, each framed,” from the family of W. B. Yeats, illus. (£15,000). For information on the Windle set on laid paper, see Essick, “The Printings of Blake’s Dante Engravings,” Blake 24.3 (winter 1990–91): 84-85, and the entry on the Dante engravings in the 2016 sales review, Blake 50.4 (spring 2017).

“George Cumberland’s Card.” Windle, March cat. 65, #11, “printed in black ink on thick card … trimmed very close to the image,” illus. ($20,000).

“Industrious Cottager,” after George Morland. Chiswick auction, London, 18 July, #30, brown ink, laid paper with an oddly shaped, undecipherable watermark, leaf trimmed inside the platemark to 25.5 x 29.8 cm. and thus with the imprint cut off, 2^nd st. with the title in open letters, the only traced impression in this st., illus. (£234 to Windle acting for Essick).

Job engravings. Windle, March cat. 65, #13, complete set, published “Proof” printing on laid India, “matted, a brilliant set, with the original printed label preserved,” illus. ($125,000); #14-20 and an unnumbered entry for pl. numbered 2 following #14, published “Proof” printing on laid India, title page and pls. numbered 2, 4, 6, 9, 16, 18, 19 only, all illus. (pl. 2 “sold,” others $1450-3250 each); #21, complete set on laid India, the 1874 printing, “enclosed in a blue morocco box,” illus. ($47,500); #22-26, 1874 printing on laid India, title page and pls. numbered 6-8, 17 only, all illus. ($1500-1800 each). FM, 30 March, #450, pl. numbered 11 only, apparently a published “Proof” impression on French paper, leaf 38.0 x 26.0 cm., illus. (£1625); #451, pl. numbered 13 only, same printing as previous lot, leaf 37.5 x 26.0 cm., illus. (£2125); 10 July, #413, pl. numbered 9 only, 1874 printing on laid India, leaf 45.0 x 34.0 cm., illus. (not sold; estimate £800-1200); same impression of pl. numbered 9, 26 Sept., #44, illus. (£812.50). Freeman’s auction, Philadelphia, 6 April, #25, pl. numbered 5 only, 1826 printing on wove after removal of the “Proof” inscription, leaf 36.0 x 26.0 cm., illus. ($1560). Rachel Davis Fine Arts auction, Cleveland, 10 June, #3, pl. numbered 18 only, published “Proof” st., described as a “posthumous impression” but possibly the 1826 printing on French paper, illus. ($1149.50). Veilinghuis Bernaerts auction, Antwerp, 21 June, #1043, pl. numbered 21 only, published “Proof” on laid India, illus. (€1225.50). SL, 11 July, #85, complete set, published “Proof” printing on French paper, leaves 41.5 x 27.4 cm., “minor loss to fore-edge of sheet of plate 11 (not affecting image), some light spotting,” full morocco with the arms of Harrow School on upper cover, illus. (£25,000); same copy, Sims Reed, Dec. cat., #16, illus. (£60,000); SL, 27 Sept., #113, complete set, published “Proof” printing on laid India, badly foxed, framed, from the family of W. B. Yeats, illus. (£10,000). SW, 19 Sept., #4, pl. numbered 18 only, published “Proof” on laid India, illus. ($4500). JL, Sept. online cat., pl. numbered 6 only, apparently the 1826 printing on wove after removal of the “Proof” inscription, “minor foxing to lower portion of image and stains to margins,” illus. ($7700 Australian). LFA, Dec. online cat., pls. numbered 5 and 16 only, 1826 printing on wove after removal of the “Proof” inscription, both illus. (£2750 each).

“Rev.^d Robert Hawker,” after John Ponsford. Roseberys auction, London, 28 June, #1130, size given as “46.6 x 34 cm” and thus trimmed on the platemark, image only without inscriptions illus. (£541.20). Possibly the impression offered CL, 13 May 1986, #53, black-and-white illus. (not sold; estimate £700-900).

“Rev. John Caspar Lavater,” after Johann Heinrich Lips. May private offer from a British dealer who wishes to remain anonymous, a previously unrecorded proof st., trimmed to the image at top and on both sides, stain left of the figure’s nose, other small marks and stains (acquired by Essick). See illus. 5.

5. “Rev. John Caspar Lavater,” etching/engraving by Blake based on a portrait by Johann Heinrich Lips (see enlargement). A previously unrecorded early st., very probably a working proof before the 1^st st. recorded in SP p. 150, a proof before most letters dated Dec. 1787. Design 27.5 x 23.7 cm. in the proof reproduced here on a leaf of laid paper 27.8 x 23.7 cm., trimmed to the image at the top and on both sides but with a narrow margin below the image of 3.0 mm. Inscribed in pen and ink “Lavater” (lower left) and “Blake” (lower right), possibly by Blake. Essick collection.

This proof lacks many subtle but consequential additions found in the previously recorded 1^st st. The most readily apparent are on Lavater’s stock where it curves outward below his chin and jaw. In this proof, the cloth is shaded with hatching strokes; crossing lines were added to several areas of the next st. to create crosshatching. The shading on the long and narrow cloth below this curving stock, possibly Lavater’s shirt, was also converted from hatching to crosshatching. The wisps of hair that form the outer reaches of the curl over his ear have been lengthened slightly and augmented in the previously recorded 1^st st. Similarly, a single strand of hair has been added to the curl behind his neck, upper right side of the curl. Many areas have been darkened considerably, noticeably on the figure’s cheek, the lower right portion of the iris of Lavater’s eye, the central part of the ear, the neck and jaw below his ear, on his coat just below the curl over his neck and on its seam over his shoulder, the eye socket and upper part of the nose left of the eye, and on his upper lip just below and to the right of his nose. The long, shallow folds or ripples in the coat over Lavater’s upper chest have been darkened; two shorter folds have been added right and left. Although some of these darker passages may result from differences in inking, their consistent appearance in 2^nd- and 3^rd-st. impressions suggests that Blake has deepened and widened the dense lines in these areas. The only difference in the portrait itself between the 1^st st. recorded in SP and the later 2 is the addition of a thin border line, touching the rectangular frame on 3 sides and about 0.5 mm. from the frame on the right, and possibly a bit more lightening of the white of Lavater’s eye (see comments on burnishing, below). An impression of the 3^rd st. is in the Yale Center for British Art, accession no. B1970.3.484; see <http://​collections.​britishart.​yale.​edu/​vufind/​Record/​3623105>.

More striking than the additions evident in SP 1^st st. are the subtractions. Blake used his burnisher to lighten several areas. The most important is the elimination of some of the hatching lines in the white of Lavater’s eye immediately right of his iris (hatching further to the right remains). A dull eye is brightened; Lavater now appears to be looking intently. His eyebrow is darker in the proof shown here than in the 1^st st.; Blake trimmed it by deleting several strands of hair. Other work with the burnisher includes the addition of highlights to Lavater’s forehead just above the eyebrow, along the bridge of his nose, and to his cheek right of his nose and below and to the right of his eye. Blake has converted a relatively flat profile into a face with volume and modeling through an increase in the differences between dark and light passages—a harbinger, within a commercial context, of the dramatic interplay of darkness and illumination that characterizes the original intaglio graphics of his final years.

My lamentable limitations at identifying handwriting prompted me to send 1200 ppi details of the pen and ink inscriptions on this proof to Alexander Gourlay, an expert at sorting out the probable, the possible, and the improbable in chirographic forensics. In an e-mail to me of 9 May, Gourlay responded: The inscriptions are too blurred and brief to ascribe to Blake on the basis of the script, but both are within the very wide range of his hand. Both appear to have been dampened or even washed, and there may be graphite under the name ‘Blake.’ The strongest evidence that this is Blake’s work rather than that of an early collector or dealer is the manner and layout of the two names, which are written in tiny letters as close to the image as an engraver’s inscriptions, an unlikely format for anyone other than the engraver. Although the small size of the writing might suggest that the names were squeezed into a narrow space, the bottom edge appears to have been trimmed after the inscriptions were written. The “Blake” inscription is located in the conventional position for the engraver’s name; the name of the artist who created the original drawing or painting would normally be placed lower left. It is unusual to find the name of the person represented in the latter position. Perhaps whoever wrote “Lavater” knew only the subject of the portrait and not its inventor. Lips is not named in any recorded st. of Blake’s pl.

The version of Lips’s portrait on which Blake based his engraving in uncertain. An engraving by Adam Ludwig Wirsing, also dated 1787 and with Lips named as the artist who drew (“gezeichnet”) the portrait in 1786, shows Lavater in right profile with his features more harshly emphasized than in Blake’s version but wearing the same costume and framed within an oval. An impression of Wirsing’s pl. was acquired by the British Museum in 1818, registration no. Bb,2.179. Joan K. Stemmler, in her detailed study of portraits of Lavater, suggests that an unsigned drawing in the Princeton University Library (see SP illus. 67), apparently a copy of a drawing by Lips now in the collections of the Klassik Stiftung Weimar, Germany, might be Blake’s model. See Stemmler, “The Physiognomical Portraits of Johann Caspar Lavater,” Art Bulletin 75.1 (March 1993): 151-68. The only known impression of the 1^st st. of Blake’s pl. listed in SP, then in the collection of the art historian Leo Steinberg (1920–2011), was given by him to the Blanton Museum of Art, University of Texas, Austin, in July 2002, accession no. 2002.1222—see <http://​collection.​blantonmuseum.​org/​Obj3695?sid=13037464&x=4171997>.

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

Adams, New Royal Geographical Magazine, c. 1793 (BBS pp. 251-53, issue C). Keogh’s Books, March online cat., scattered foxing, contemporary calf with “textured leather rebinding” (£1000). Contains Blake’s 3 pls. 1^st published in Seally and Lyons, A Complete Geographical Dictionary, c. 1784—see the copy of Seally and Lyons below.

Allen, Roman History, 1798. Windle, March cat. 65, #63, Blake’s 4 pls. only, all illus. ($1250).

Ariosto, Orlando furioso. Windle, March cat. 65, #64, 1799 ed., 5 vols., contemporary calf worn, illus. ($500; acquired by Stanford University Library); #65, Blake’s pl. only, “undeterminable state but likely the second,” inscriptions top right and left rubbed off, illus. ($200). Am Here Books, April online cat., 1783 ed., 5 vols., contemporary calf worn, 1 cover detached ($1080, previously listed at $1350). Poor Man’s Books, April online cat., 1785 ed., 5 vols., modern cloth, illus. ($147). See also Bray under Stothard, below.

Bible. Royal Universal Family Bible, 1780–81. EB, March, contemporary calf very worn with “significant loss of material,” illus. (offered at the “buy it now” price of £253.81); same copy, April, illus. (offered at the “buy it now” price of £228.81); another copy, Dec., vol. 1 only, some pls. crudely hand colored but not the single Blake pl. in this vol., contemporary calf worn, illus. (no bids on a required minimum bid of $349.99).

Blair, The Grave. EB, Jan., 1813 quarto, lacking Blake’s pls. 6, 10-12, original cover label pasted to “later paper-covered boards” worn, illus. (offered at the “buy it now” price of $695 or “best offer”); Dec., Blake’s pl. 11 only, 1^st published st. from the 1808 folio, trimmed to the image on both sides and at top, imprint trimmed off, illus. (£31). Windle, March cat. 65, #98, 1808 quarto, uncut in original boards with cover label, cloth box worn, illus. ($9750); #99, 1808 folio, frontispiece portrait slightly foxed, half morocco worn, illus. ($8950); #100, 1808 quarto, uncut, modern half calf, binding illus. ($5750); #101-14, Blake’s pls. only from the 1808 quarto offered individually, plus the frontispiece portrait of Blake, pl. 4 trimmed to the image, 1 of 2 impressions of pl. 6 trimmed close to the image, all illus. ($275-875 each); Sept. Dreams and Visions cat., #1-9, Blake’s pls. 1, 3-8, 10, 12 from the 1808 quarto offered individually, all illus. ($575-875 each). Kagerou Bunko Books, April online cat., 1808 quarto, scattered foxing, “faint water stain to lower outer corner of some pages,” uncut in original boards with cover label, “front hinge of binding cracked but holding,” illus. ($4050). Chanticleer Books, April online cat., New York 1858 ed. with the pls. engraved by A. L. Dick, foxed, modern half calf, illus. ($300). Nicholson’s auction, Haslemere, Surrey, 11 July, #207, 1813 quarto, trimmed and with stains, half morocco repaired, with another vol. not described, illus. (not sold; estimate £200-300). DW, 19 July, #408, 1808 quarto, “some light spotting and minor marginal soiling,” contemporary half calf rebacked and worn, illus. (£621.40). Manhattan Rare Book Company, July online cat., 1808 quarto, scattered foxing, uncut in original boards worn and rebacked, label on front cover, illus. ($4500). SL, 24 Oct., #434, Blake’s pl. 5 only, 2^nd st. from the 1808 quarto, from the collection of the artist Howard Hodgkin (1932–2017), illus. (£213). FM, 9 Nov., #85, [1870] quarto, marginal soiling, publisher’s cloth rebacked and repaired, illus. (£400). Christian Hesse auction, Hamburg, 18 Nov., #255, 1808 quarto, scattered foxing, modern half calf, illus. (€2048). Sims Reed, Dec. cat., #12, 1808 folio, contemporary morocco, the copy acquired by Sims Reed at SL, 14 July 2015, #66, for £2500, illus. (£9500).

Bonnycastle, Introduction to Mensuration. See Bray under Stothard, below.

Boydell’s Graphic Illustrations … of Shakspeare, c. 1803. Bauman Rare Books, Nov. online cat., “with an engraver’s etched working proof for nearly every plate,” later three-quarter morocco, probably the copy previously offered at $9000, illus. ($7500).

Bryant, New System … of Ancient Mythology, 1774–76. Francis Edwards, Nov. online cat., 1^st ed., 3 vols., “old calf” worn (£495).

Bürger, Leonora, 1796. Windle, Sept. Dreams and Visions cat., #17, pl. 1 (frontispiece) only, inscriptions below the design trimmed off but retaining the signatures of Blake and Perry, illus. ($1750).

Catullus, Poems, 1795. EB, March, 2 vols., pls. foxed, contemporary calf very worn, illus. (offered at the “buy it now” price of $850 or “best offer”). Santiam Bookseller, April online cat., 2 vols. in 1, scattered foxing, calf worn, covers detached ($749.97, previously listed at $949.97). Companion Books, Nov. online cat., 2 vols., contemporary calf ($600).

Darwin, Botanic Garden. Windle, March cat. 65, #66 in the inserted “Errata” slip, 3^rd ed. of Part 1, 1795, 4^th ed. of Part 2, 1794, 2 vols. in 1, “light spotting and soiling,” modern calf “a bit rubbed” ($3750); another copy, #67 in the cat., p. 35, 2 vols. in 1, 19^th-century calf rebacked and “a bit rubbed,” binding illus. ($3000). Hordern House, April online cat., 1^st ed. of Part 1, 3^rd ed. of Part 2, both 1791, 2 vols. in 1, scattered light foxing, contemporary calf, illus. ($5250 Australian, previously listed at $6500 Australian). Jeremy Norman, April online cat., 1^st ed. of Part 1, 3^rd ed. of Part 2, both 1791, 2 vols. in 1, “minor foxing,” later half calf, illus. ($3750). Books on High/Tri-Village Book Co., April online cat., 2^nd ed. of Part 1, 3^rd ed. of Part 2, both 1791, 2 vols. in 1, pls. foxed, contemporary half calf very worn, covers detached ($630, previously listed at $945). Peachtree & Bennett auction, Atlanta, 8 April, #181, Blake’s pl. 1 only, stains in margins, illus. ($160). EB, May, 2^nd ed. of Part 1, 3^rd ed. of Part 2, both 1791, 2 vols. in 1, scattered light foxing, modern calf, illus. (£343); Oct., 1^st ed. of Part 1, 3^rd ed. of Part 2, both 1791, 2 vols. in 1, Blake’s pl. 1 with diagonal (ink?) lines marring the image, contemporary calf worn and rebacked, illus. (£686.88); Dec., 1799 ed., 2 vols., pls. foxed and some damp stained, contemporary calf worn, illus. ($322.11). SL, 11 July, #316, 3^rd ed. of Part 1, 1795, ed. of Part 2 not indicated but probably the 4^th, 1794, 2 vols., “very occasional spotting or stains,” 19^th-century calf rebacked, with Darwin, Zoonomia, 1794–96, 2 vols., contemporary calf, 4 vols. in all, bindings illus. (£3000); #319, 1^st ed. of Part 1, 3^rd ed. of Part 2, both 1791, 2 vols. in 1, “modern cloth-backed boards,” with Darwin, Temple of Nature, 1803, contemporary calf rebacked, “and one other” vol. not described, 4 vols. in all, illus. (not sold; estimate £500-800). PsychoBabel & Skoob Books, Nov. online cat., 1799 ed., apparently vol. 1 only, contemporary calf worn, binding illus. (£500).

Flaxman, Hesiod designs. Windle, March cat. 65, #83, 1870 ed., pls. loose in binding, publisher’s printed boards, illus. ($375; acquired by Stanford University Library). EB, April, 1817 ed., pls. cleaned in the 1970s but still with some minor foxing, original boards with cover label, rebacked with morocco, modern morocco clamshell box, illus. (no bids on a required minimum bid of $1250); same copy, May, offered at the “buy it now” price of $1250. Freeman’s auction, Philadelphia, 16 June, #130, 1817 ed., bound with the Iliad and Odyssey designs, 1805, and the Aeschylus designs, 1831, later morocco, with L’Iliade d’Homère (Paris, 1809), 34 pls. of Flaxman’s Iliad designs, in a separate vol., illus. ($531.25). See also Hayley, Ballads, 1805, below.

Flaxman, Iliad designs, 1805. EB, Jan., foxed, with the Odyssey designs, 1805, 2 vols., later half calf, illus. (offered at the “buy it now” price of $390); another copy, March, apparently bound with other sets of Flaxman’s designs not described, later half calf, illus. (offered at the “buy it now” price of $500 or “best offer”); another copy, May, foxed, later half calf stained, illus. (£74). Windle, March cat. 65, #84, publisher’s boards very worn, with cover label, illus. ($575; acquired by Stanford University Library); #85, half morocco very worn, “title page creased,” illus. ($375). Poor Man’s Books, April online cat., badly foxed, with the Odyssey designs, 1805, 2 vols., half calf ($382.20). See also Hesiod designs, above.

Gay, Fables. Lawrences auction, Bletchingley, Surrey, 31 Jan., #679, “1793” ed. but possibly the [1811] ed., 2 vols. in 1, later half calf, illus. (£246). Windle, March cat. 65, #71, 1793 ed., “possibly large-paper,” 2 vols., contemporary calf “a bit scuffed and untidy,” illus. ($1500); #72, Blake’s pls. 1, 2, 10 only, “hand-colored (not by Blake),” all illus. ($400); #73, Blake’s pls. 3-9, 11, 12 only, all illus. ($750). Argosy Book Store, April online cat., 1793 ed., 2 vols., contemporary morocco ($900); another copy, 1793 ed., 2 vols., damp stains to bottom of leaves, contemporary calf ($850, previously listed at $1200). Book Gallery/Mike Riley, April online cat., 1793 ed., 2 vols., “leather” rebacked, illus. ($1950, previously listed at $2250). Ronald Purmort, April online cat., 1793 ed., 2 vols., “leather” worn ($1000, previously listed at $2000). EB, April, 1793 ed., 2 vols. in 1, scattered foxing and other stains, contemporary half calf very worn, illus. (£108); June, [1811] ed., 2 vols., later morocco, illus. (offered at the “buy it now” price of $1850 or “best offer”); another copy, June, 2 vols., marginal stains, 19^th-century calf, illus. (offered at the “buy it now” price of $895 or “best offer”); another copy, Oct., 2 vols. in 1, contemporary calf worn, illus. (offered at the “buy it now” price of $1095 or “best offer”). SW, 13 June, #175, 1793 ed., 2 vols., later calf, illus. ($875). SL, 11 July, #53, 1793 ed., 2 vols. in 1, early 20^th-century morocco, illus. (£625). FM, 27 Sept., #40, 1793 ed., 2 vols. in 1, contemporary calf worn and rebacked, illus. (£500).

Hartley, Observations on Man, 1791. Windle, March cat. 65, #68, Blake’s pl. (frontispiece portrait of Hartley) only, horizontal creases, removed from an extra-illus. copy of Blair’s Grave, illus. ($750). Arroyo Seco Books, April online cat., contemporary calf ($2500, previously listed at $3500).

Hayley, Ballads, 1805. Windle, March cat. 65, #35, 1^st sts. of the pls., early 20^th-century calf, binding illus. ($5750); #36-39, pls. 1, 3-5 only, 1^st sts., all illus. ($975 each). EB, May, pls. 2 (2^nd st.) and 4 (only st.) only, offered individually, margins stained, illus. (£100 each); Dec., complete copy, 2^nd sts. of pls. 1-3, “light foxing/spotting,” blue paper wrappers, illus. (offered at the “buy it now” price of $3000 or “best offer”). DW, 19 July, #409, lacking pl. 1, “light spotting,” contemporary quarter calf very worn, covers detached, with Hayley, Triumphs of Temper, 1803, “minor spotting,” 19^th-century morocco worn, Lavater, Aphorisms on Man, 1788, contemporary calf very worn, Flaxman, Hesiod designs, 1817, no description of binding, Gilchrist, Life of Blake, 1880, 2 vols., and 3 20^th-century works related to Blake, 9 vols. in all, illus. (£239).

Hayley, Designs to a Series of Ballads, 1802. Windle, March cat. 65, #34, pl. 1 only, “recently cleaned,” illus. ($49,500).

Hayley, Essay on Sculpture, 1800. Windle, March cat. 65, #74, Blake’s pl. 1 only, illus. ($375); #75, Blake’s pl. 2 only, foxed, illus. ($495); #76, Blake’s pl. 3 only, illus. ($595).

Hayley, Life of Cowper, 1803–04. Windle, March cat. 65, #40, 1^st ed., 3 vols., with the supplementary pages of 1806 bound in vol. 3, 2^nd st. of pl. 4, contemporary calf worn, binding illus. ($1250); #41, 2^nd ed., 3 vols., scattered foxing, contemporary half calf, binding illus. ($1250); #42, 2^nd ed., 3 vols., with the supplementary pages of 1806 bound in vol. 3, contemporary calf worn, binding illus. ($975); #43, 2^nd ed., 3 vols., calf rebacked, binding illus. ($975); #44, pl. 4 only, final st. from the 2^nd ed., illus. ($250). DW, 19 July, #410, 1^st ed., 3 vols., “large paper copy,” contemporary half calf worn, illus. (£406.30).

Hayley, Life of Cowper, pl. 1 only, portrait of William Cowper after George Romney, dated 1802 in the imprint. GP, May online cat., #44450, an unrecorded prepublication proof st. (£240 to Essick). See illus. 6.

6. “William Cowper,” etching/engraving by Blake after George Romney (see enlargement). A previously unrecorded early st., very probably a working proof, of BB pl. 1 published as the frontispiece to William Hayley, The Life, and Posthumous Writings, of William Cowper, vol. 1 (Chichester: J. Seagrave for J. Johnson, 1803). Published sts. are dated 5 Nov. 1802 in the imprints. This proof impression is on laid paper, leaf 21.3 x 12.8 cm., right and left sides trimmed into the image approximately 8 mm. Lacking the inscription with Blake’s signature immediately below the design but with the lower part of the margin trimmed off above the area where the title inscription and imprint appear in published sts. I suspect that the copperplate lacked all letters when this proof was pulled. Inscribed in pencil in the lower margin in an unidentified hand “Portrait of M^r Cowper”. All impressions published in copies of the book I have seen are printed on wove paper. Essick collection.

In comparison to the 1^st published st. (of 2), this proof lacks considerable finishing work in the design. The most prominent differences are in the man’s costume. His day cap is darkened in the published sts. with more hatching strokes, particularly just above his forehead, and small areas of crosshatching. The stock where it wraps around his neck and the large bow have been darkened with hatching. Diagonal hatching lines further darken the lapels of Cowper’s coat in the published sts. The changes in his face are subtler. Blake cut more (and probably deeper) lines to darken the irises of both eyes and thereby give Cowper a more intense gaze. Most of the highlight to the left of and under his left eye is darkened with stipple in the published sts. Similarly, the light patches above his left eye, below his left nostril, on his chin just below his lower lip, and on the right side of the philtrum were reduced or eliminated. The differences between the 1^st and 2^nd published sts. are very slight—see CB pp. 86-87. An impression of the 2^nd published st. is available online in the William Blake Archive.

Hayley sent an “unfinish’d” proof of this pl., or possibly BB pl. 3 (a portrait of Cowper after Thomas Lawrence), to John Flaxman with a letter of 18 Jan. 1802. In his reply of 25 Jan., Flaxman comments: “In the Engraving of Cowper I think my friend Blake has kept the spirit of the likeness most perfectly[;] the eyes are exceedingly well, & in the finishing I presume the extremities of the nose & mouth will be softened which at present appear rather harsh …” (BR[2] 117-18). Lady Hesketh, the attentive guardian of Cowper’s posthumous reputation, apparently also saw a “harsh” proof of the pl. copying the portrait by Romney, for in a letter to Hayley of 29 Dec. 1802 she praised the improvements in the published print: “I must tell you that I admire Romneys head of all things! now it is Softened[;] of the engraving I pretend not to Judge, but I like it” (BR[2] 147). Hesketh explicitly references the portrait after Romney and uses the word “softened” in the same way as Flaxman. Thus, it seems probable that Flaxman is indeed commenting on the engraving after Romney, not the one after Lawrence. The proof(s) seen by Flaxman and Hesketh must have been in an earlier st. than the one shown here because there are no significant differences between the “nose & mouth” in it and the published sts.

The highlights on Cowper’s nose in this proof and the published sts.—long and thin along the bridge with a small, independent spot near the tip of the nose—are almost identical to the highlights on Romney’s nose in the engraving of his self-portrait attributed to Blake in Mark Crosby, “‘Ah! Romney!’: Blake’s ‘Supernaculum’ Portrait Engraving of George Romney,” Blake 47.3 (winter 2013–14). This similarity provides additional evidence supporting Crosby’s attribution. Both pls. were sold by Grosvenor Prints, London; their pencil inscriptions appear to be by the same hand. Perhaps these proofs were acquired by Grosvenor from the same collection. Inquiries about the dealer’s source have been fruitless, but could the provenance lead back to Hayley? The engraving of Romney’s self-portrait is available online in the William Blake Archive.

Hayley, Life of Romney, 1809. DY, 11 Jan., #101, large paper copy, inscribed “From the Author,” most pls. stained in margins, later morocco, binding illus. (not sold; estimate $300-500); same copy, 8 March, #445A, title page illus. ($156.25). Windle, March cat. 65, #77, Blake’s pl. only, illus. ($450).

Hayley, Little Tom the Sailor, broadside, 1800. Previously unrecorded copy printed in black ink with the headpiece and tailpiece hand colored by Blake. From the estate of the Duchess of Roxburghe and deposited in the Wren Library, Trinity College, Cambridge. Application, dated 24 Oct. 2016, by the executors of the estate to the British government as an in-lieu gift to mitigate taxes. See illus. 7.

7. Hayley, Little Tom the Sailor, broadside, 1800 (see enlargement). Previously unrecorded copy printed in black ink with the headpiece and tailpiece hand colored by Blake, leaf of wove paper without watermark 55.0 x 18.7 cm., horizontal center crease. Inscribed on the verso “R. M. Milnes from F. T. P. July 1859. / This probably unique broadside came from M^r. Butt’s collection, whose father / obtained it from W. Blake—”. From the estate of the Duchess of Roxburghe and deposited in the Wren Library, Trinity College, Cambridge. Reproduced by permission of the Master and Fellows of Trinity College, Cambridge.

Provenance: Acquired from Blake by Thomas Butts; Thomas Butts, Jr., probably by inheritance in 1845; acquired from T. Butts, Jr., by Francis Turner Palgrave at an unknown time and thence by Richard Monckton Milnes, later 1^st Baron Houghton, in July 1859 (all the above according to the verso inscription); Milnes’s son, the Earl of Crewe, probably by inheritance in 1885; his daughter, the Duchess of Roxburghe (1915–2014), probably by inheritance in 1945; her estate by 2014 with a bequest to Bamber Gascoigne but apparently with legal title retained within the estate; on deposit in the Wren Library, Trinity College, Cambridge, probably no later than 2014. There is a slight possibility that this is the copy of Little Tom sold anonymously (but possibly from the Butts collection), SL, 26 March 1852, #56, “Little Tom the Sailor,” no mention of coloring, with a copy of Hayley’s 1802 Designs to a Series of Ballads (£2.7s. to the dealer Toovey). Both Palgrave and Milnes bought other Blake lots at that auction.

In his letter of 26 Nov. 1800 to Hayley, Blake states that “Little Tom has been of late unattended to, and my wife’s illness not being quite gone off, she has not printed any more since you went to London. But we can muster a few in colours and some in black which I hope will be no less favour’d tho’ they are rough like rough sailors. We mean to begin printing again to-morrow” (E 714). There are 3 other recorded copies of Little Tom with hand coloring attributable to Blake and/or his wife, Catherine: American private collection, British Museum, Maurice Sendak Foundation.

Hayley, Triumphs of Temper, 1803. EB, Jan., small paper issue, pls. lightly browned, extra illus. with 7 pls. of Stothard’s designs for Triumphs 1^st published in 1788, half calf rebacked, boards very worn, illus. (£210); Oct., small paper issue, lacking pls. 1 and 4, pls. 2, 3, 5, and 6 with hand coloring not by Blake, contemporary calf worn, illus. (£125). Windle, March cat. 65, #78, large paper issue, later half morocco, illus. ($2750); #79, small paper issue, foxed, inscribed “W. M. Rossetti / 1868,” contemporary calf, later quarter morocco slipcase, illus. ($975); #80, small paper issue, foxed, contemporary calf rebacked, illus. ($675). James Cummins, Nov. online cat., marginal browning, contemporary calf worn, binding illus. ($500). See also Hayley, Ballads, 1805, above.

Hoare, Inquiry, 1806. Windle, March cat. 65, #82, Blake’s pl. only, illus. ($875). EB, Oct., Blake’s signature on the pl. either poorly printed or abraded, scattered foxing on pl., contemporary quarter calf worn, illus. ($546).

Hogarth, The Beggar’s Opera by Hogarth and Blake, 1965. EB, Jan., restrike of Blake’s worn pl. only, illus. (offered at the “buy it now” price of $120); July, Blake’s pl. badly stained, damage to other leaves, publisher’s folding box damaged, illus. (offered at the “buy it now” price of $216.53 or “best offer”). Windle, March cat. 65, #70, publisher’s folding cloth box, illus. ($975).

Hogarth, Works. Sanders of Oxford, Feb. online cat., Blake’s pl. only, good impression of the 3^rd st. with all inscriptions, “discolouration and creasing to margins, and hole repair to lower left corner of sheet, outside of image,” not the impression trimmed to the image offered in Sanders’s Jan. 2015 online William Blake, Printmaker cat., #1, for £400, illus. (£900). DW, 2 March, #253, 1790 ed., 88 leaves, “damp-staining … throughout,” contemporary calf worn, rebacked, illus. (£4410; estimate £1800-2200). Windle, March cat. 65, #69, Blake’s pl. only, good impression of the 3^rd st., “wide margins untrimmed,” illus. ($3500). Belvoir Bookmonger, April online cat., undated Baldwin and Cradock issue, “156 fine engravings,” minor foxing, contemporary half calf worn (£2650). Staniland Booksellers, April online cat., 1822 ed., contemporary half morocco worn (£2450). Blackwell’s, May online cat. B189, #9, Blake’s pl. only, described as “second state” but actually 3^rd, “laid down on Japanese tissue,” illus. (£1500). SF, Oct. online cat., Blake’s pl. only, good impression of the 2^nd st. but torn well into the image at top and right margins, bad marginal stains, illus. (“sold”). EB, Oct., Blake’s pl. only, good impression of the 4^th st., slight marginal foxing, illus. (no bids on a required minimum bid of £145).

Hunter, Historical Journal, 1793. Michael Treloar auction, Malvern, Australia, 5 April, #110, octavo issue, Blake’s pl. stained, modern half calf, illus. ($525 Australian); #111, quarto issue, marginal browning of Blake’s pl., contemporary calf worn and rebacked, illus. (not sold; estimate $3000-4000 Australian); 6 April, #163, quarto issue, scattered foxing, later half calf worn, illus. ($2750 Australian). JL, Sept. online cat., Blake’s pl. only, “slight foxing, tears and missing portions to margins and edges,” illus. ($1100 Australian). Maggs, Nov. online cat., quarto issue, original boards and spine label very worn, binding illus. (£4500).

Lavater, Aphorisms. FM, 23 Nov. 2016, #187, 1788 ed., bookplate of Sir William Stirling-Maxwell, contemporary calf worn and rebacked, with another vol. unrelated to Blake, illus. (£125). Windle, March cat. 65, #87, 1789 ed., half calf rebacked, illus. ($595). Louis88Books, April online cat., 1788 ed., contemporary calf worn and rebacked, illus. (£395). EB, Oct., 1788 ed., contemporary calf worn, illus. (£69); another copy, Nov., contemporary calf, illus. (£188). Flora Books, Nov. online cat., 1788 ed., later calf (£220). See also Hayley, Ballads, 1805, above.

Lavater, Essays on Physiognomy. EB, Feb., 1810 ed., 3 vols. in 5, scattered light foxing, contemporary calf, hinges worn, illus. (no bids on a required minimum bid of $825); “1792” (c. 1818) ed., 2½ vols. in 4, lacking the 1^st half of vol. 3, contemporary calf, illus. (no bids on a required minimum bid of $1250); June, Blake’s pl. 4 only, illus. (no bids on a required minimum bid of £25); Sept., Blake’s pl. 2 only, illus. ($12.99). Windle, March cat. 65, #88, Blake’s pl. 2 only, illus. ($400). Bookworks, April online cat., “1792” (c. 1818) ed., 3 vols. in 5, stains and pencil marginalia, calf very worn, covers detached ($750, previously listed at $1000). Abbey Antiquarian Books, April online cat., 1789–98 ed., 3 vols. in 5, lacking 2 pls. not by Blake, scattered foxing, contemporary calf worn and rebacked, illus. (£550). Manfred Nosbuesch, Nov. online cat., “1792” (c. 1818) ed., 3 vols. in 5, contemporary calf (€3800).

Malkin, Father’s Memoirs, 1806. Windle, March cat. 65, #115, uncut in modern half morocco, binding illus. ($1875); #116, contemporary morocco, binding illus. ($1875); #117, Blake’s pl. only, “trimmed to the image, recently cleaned,” illus. ($200); “addendum” to #117, uncut in original boards, printed spine label, binding illus. ($3000). Alkahest Books, Nov. online cat., later morocco ($995).

Mora, Meditaciones poéticas, 1826. Jeffrey Stern, April online cat., pl. 9 (“La caverna”) only, leaf 26.5 x 33.0 cm. (£100).

Novelist’s Magazine. EB, Feb., vol. 8 only, 1782, scattered foxing, contemporary half calf worn, illus. (£151.53). Oldbooks, Feb. online cat., Sterne’s Sentimental Journey only from vol. 9, 1785, half calf very worn, Blake’s pl. terribly foxed, illus., probably the copy offered at the “buy it now” price of $2500 on EB, Jan. 2015 ($850). Antiquariat Düwal, Dec. online cat., vols. 10-11 only, 1783, contemporary half calf worn, bindings illus. (€264). See also Bray under Stothard, below.

Olivier, Fencing Familiarized, 1780. Windle, April online cat., uncut in original boards worn, modern clamshell box, illus. ($975).

Rees, Cyclopædia, London, 1820. Windle, March cat. 65, #86-91 on p. 42, Blake’s pls. 4-7, 3 (CB pl. 3A), and 1, all illus. ($35-45 each). Smarty Pants, April online cat., pls. vol. 1 only, presumably with Blake’s pl. 1, “small stamps from Belfast Free Public Library on nearly every page,” quarter calf worn ($650). West of Denver Books, April online cat., pls. vols. 2 (presumably with Blake’s pl. 2) and 5 (no Blake pls.) only, covers detached with only 2 retained, illus. ($99).

Remember Me!, for 1825. EB, Feb., title inscription on Blake’s pl. bound into the gutter, marginal soiling, contemporary calf very worn, illus. (no bids on a required minimum bid of £8000); same copy, Feb., illus. (£5500 required minimum bid; “listing was ended by the seller because the item is no longer available”). Windle, March cat. 65, #33, full calf by the Parisian binder Purgold, illus. ($30,000).

Ritson, Select Collection of English Songs, 1783. Henry Pordes Books, Nov. online cat., 3 vols., contemporary calf, bindings illus. (£350). See also Bray under Stothard, below.

Salzmann, Elements of Morality, 1791. Wonder Books, April online cat., 3 vols. in 1, lacking title pages to vols. 1-2 and the pls. numbered 1, 5, 12, 21, 30-33, 44, early 19^th-century half calf worn ($690.41, previously listed at $850). Except for the pl. numbered 1, the missing pls. are attributed to Blake in CB pp. 51-59.

Scott, Poetical Works, 1782. A Squared Books, April online cat., foxed and stained, later cloth worn, repaired with tape, binding illus. ($125, previously listed at $266.80). Dreweatts & Bloomsbury auction, Newbury, Berkshire, 27 April, #158, “most plates offset,” contemporary calf rebacked, illus. (not sold; estimate £180-220). Bow Windows Bookshop, Nov. online cat., contemporary calf rebacked, binding illus. (£131). Forest Books, Nov. online cat., contemporary calf very worn, front cover detached (£85). See also Bray under Stothard, below.

Seally and Lyons, Complete Geographical Dictionary, c. 1784. Attic Books, Nov. online cat., 2 vols., “occasional spots and tears,” contemporary calf worn and repaired, illus. ($1000). The only copy with both vols. I have ever seen on the market. A copy of vol. 2 only, with all 3 of Blake’s pls., was sold in Oct. 2011 by HollyPetal Books for £300. See also Adams, New Royal Geographical Magazine, above.

Shakespeare, Dramatic Works, 1802. Bauman Rare Books, Feb. online cat., 9 vols., scattered light foxing, 19^th-century morocco “elaborately gilt-decorated” ($17,500). SW, 14 Nov., #248, 9 vols., modern quarter calf, “intermittent tanning and foxing,” illus. ($3750). The copies of the rare 1832 ed. offered by D & E Lake, April online cat., and by Black Swan Books, Nov. online cat., both priced at $3000, do not contain Blake’s pl.

Shakespeare, Plays, 1805. Windle, March cat. 65, #86, Blake’s pl. 1 only, stained, illus. ($500). Belvoir Bookmonger, Nov. online cat., 10 vol. issue, most pls. with marginal foxing, contemporary calf repaired, illus. (£1350); same copy and “buy it now” price, EB, Dec., illus. EB, Nov., 9 vol. issue lacking vol. 2, contemporary calf worn, illus. (£37).

Stedman, Narrative, pls. hand colored. Eureka Books, April online cat., 1813 ed., 2 vols., later half calf, illus. ($6500, previously listed at $10,000); same copy, EB, Sept., illus. (offered at the “buy it now” price of $3900 or “best offer”). Ketterer Kunst auction, Hamburg, 22 May, #41, 1806 ed., 2 vols., later calf repaired, illus. (not sold; estimate €8000). Windle, handlist for the Boston Antiquarian Book Fair, 10-12 Nov., #12, 1796 ed., vol. 1 only, no description of binding ($12,500).

Stedman, Narrative, uncolored copies. EB, Jan.-Feb., Blake’s pl. 5 only, light foxing, illus. ($46); April-May, 1796 ed., 2 vols., lacking Blake’s pl. 14, scattered foxing, contemporary calf rebacked, copy offered at the same price in 2013–14, illus. (offered at the “buy it now” price of $5500); July, 1796 ed., 2 vols., most pls. foxed and/or stained, early 19^th-century half calf, illus. (offered at the “buy it now” price of £1490, lowered to £1450 or “best offer” in Nov.). Windle, March cat. 65, #92-94, Blake’s pls. 10, 13, 14 only, illus. ($300 each); #95, 1813 ed., 2 vols. in 1, early boards rebacked with calf, binding illus. ($6750); handlist for the Boston Antiquarian Book Fair, 10-12 Nov., #11, 1796 ed., 2 vols., no description of binding ($7500). Sequitur Books, April online cat., 1796 ed., 2 vols., contemporary calf ($3724). Van Stockum’s auction, The Hague, Netherlands, 23 May, #438, 1806 ed., 2 vols., foxed, contemporary calf worn, illus. (no bids on an estimate of €1500-2500). PBA Galleries auction, San Francisco, 29 June, #390, 1806 ed., 2 vols. in 1, pls. foxed, modern quarter calf, illus. ($3600). Charles Agvent, July online cat., 1813 ed., 2 vols., 19^th-century half calf, illus. ($4687.50). Phillip Pirages, Nov. online cat., 1806 ed., 2 vols., modern calf, illus. ($9500).

Varley, Zodiacal Physiognomy, 1828. Windle, April online cat., Blake’s 3 pls. only, his pls. 2-3 in their 1^st sts., recently cleaned ($1500 each). Odyssey Books, Aug. online cat., Blake’s pls. 2-3 in their 2^nd sts., some pls. stained, later cloth, illus. ($6375, previously listed at $10,500).

Virgil, Pastorals, 1821. James Cummins, Jan. online cat., 2 vols., later half morocco worn, the copy with the “Juvenile Library” label on the title page of vol. 1 sold for £8500 to Windle in Jan. 2009 by Christian White of Modernfirsteditions ($20,000; reacquired by Windle for stock). Windle, March cat. 65, #45 on p. 25, 2 vols., inscribed by Thornton to his daughter, publisher’s sheep slightly worn, inscription, binding, and selected pls. illus. ($67,500); “addendum” to #45, 2 vols., copy with the “Juvenile Library” label (see above), binding illus. ($35,000); Sept. Dreams and Visions cat., #16, the 6^th wood engraving only (stormy night with blasted tree and crescent moon), a Linnell impression on India paper printed 1825 or later, illus. ($1275); handlist for the Boston Antiquarian Book Fair, 10-12 Nov., #13, 2 vols., copy with the “Juvenile Library” label (see above), no description of binding ($45,000). PBA Galleries auction, San Francisco, 15 June, #34, 2 vols., inner edges of some of Blake’s wood engravings bound into the gutter, late 19^th-century morocco, illus. ($12,000; estimate $20,000-30,000). Sims Reed, Dec. cat., #15, 2 vols., later morocco by Sangorski & Sutcliffe, illus. (£22,500).

Virgil, The Wood Engravings of William Blake for Thornton’s Virgil, 1977. Windle, March cat. 65, #45 on p. 26, with the prospectus, publisher’s folding box, illus. ($12,500). LFA, Dec. online cat., Blake’s 1^st wood engraving only, leaf 10.4 x 13.4 cm., inscribed in lower margin “Trial impression 7/76” (July 1976), described as a “trial proof prior to the edition of 150 printed … in 1977,” illus. (£650). Sworders auction, Stansted Mountfitchet, Essex, 13 Dec., #666, 3 engravings only, framed, illus. (not sold; estimate £250-350).

Wit’s Magazine, 1784. Windle, March cat. 65, #96, 2 vols., 1784–85, with the 2^nd version of the frontispiece to the Jan. 1784 issue (CB pl. 1B), contemporary calf worn, illus. ($5750); #97, 2 vols. in 1, 1784–85, with CB pl. 1B, contemporary boards with modern calf spine, illus. ($5750). Chiswick auction, London, 22 Nov., #221, Blake’s pl. 3 only, 2 vertical folds, marginal stains, illus. (£159.90). Affiliated Auctions & Realty auction, Tallahassee, Florida, 14 Dec., #4035, CB pl. 1B only, 2 vertical folds, in a group of 4 miscellaneous engravings “with Christmas, family and merriment theme[s],” illus. (no bids on an estimate of $200-400).

Wollstonecraft, Original Stories, 1791. Windle, March cat. 65, #62, Blake’s 6 pls. only, 2^nd sts., imprints trimmed off, removed from an extra-illus. copy of Blair’s Grave, all illus. ($3000).

Young, Night Thoughts, 1797. Carl Blomgren, Feb. Pasadena Book Fair, 1^st st. of pl. 11 (fly-title to Night the Second), with the “Explanation” leaf, contemporary calf rebacked ($12,000). EB, Feb., lacking “some of the preliminary pages” apparently including the letterpress title page and the “Explanation” leaf, 1^st st. of pl. 11, leaves cockled from water damage, marginal stains, “very early boards, worn and mostly disbound,” illus. (offered at the “buy it now” price of $7500 or “best offer”); same copy, Feb., illus. (no bids on a required minimum bid of $3750); same copy, March, illus. (offered at the “buy it now” price of $3750 or “best offer”). Windle, March cat. 65, #46, with the “Explanation” leaf, 2^nd st. of pl. 11, half morocco worn, illus. ($15,000); #47-61, leaves bearing pls. 6, 9/10, 13/14, 17, 22, 28, 29, 30, 32, 35, 37, 38/39, 40, 42, 43 offered individually, all illus. ($1250 each for leaves with 2 pls., $495 each for leaves with 1 pl.); Sept. Dreams and Visions cat., #18, pl. 43 only ($995), #19, pl. 32 only ($595), both illus. Keys auction, Aylsham, Norwich, 23 March, #1679, lacking pls. 8 and 19, 1^st st. of pl. 11, leaves 31.3 cm. in height, “the ‘explanations of the engravings’ supplied in manuscript (not recent),” contemporary quarter calf very worn, illus. (£1537.50). Christian Hesse auction, Hamburg, 18 Nov., #254, later half calf, illus. (€4608). The 1^st st. of pl. 11 is thought to be rare, but the appearance of 3 copies in Feb. and March with the 1^st st. makes that belief questionable.

Interesting Blakeana

John Quincy, Pharmacopœia Officinalis & Extemporanea; or, a Complete English Dispensatory, London, 1733. Windle, June online cat., inscribed on the title page in brown ink, “William Blake / his Book”, on consignment from the collection of Alan Parker ($49,500); same copy and price, Sept. Dreams and Visions cat., #14, illus. Possibly a copy owned by Blake. For discussion and illus., see Blake 34.4 (spring 2001): 109, illus. 2 and its caption.

Royal Academy exhibition cats., 1784–1861. Marlborough Rare Books, Jan. private offer, 79 cats. including those of 1784, 1785, 1799, 1800, and 1808 that list works by Blake, 4 buckram vols. (£2500).

Male Figure, attributed to Blake. Pencil, 18.4 x 11.4 cm. on leaf of wove paper 36.8 x 30.5 cm. iGavel online auction, New York, 5 Dec., #4838331, illus. (no bids on an estimate of $10,000-15,000). Probably of the period but not by Blake.

“The Novel,” a separate pl. engraved by James Parker after James Northcote, 1787. EB, March, hand colored and possibly color printed, title rubbed off but with inscribed quotation from William Hayley’s poem The Triumphs of Temper, canto 2, lines 47-58, illus. (offered at the “buy it now” price of $347.50 or “best offer”). Parker (1750–1805) was Blake’s fellow apprentice under James Basire and partner with Blake in a print-publishing business in the early 1780s. For another engraving by Parker, see R. G. Watkins, April online cat. 74, #62, “Rasselas Prince of Abissinia,” an illus. to Samuel Johnson’s Rasselas designed by Stothard, separate pl. with imprint dated 1791, illus. (£150).

T. Butts, Jr., “Man on a Drinking Horse,” etching, 1806. EB, July, c. 1942 printing, illus. (no bids on a required minimum bid of $49). Blake probably helped Butts with this etching. For the discovery of this print, see Alexander S. Gourlay, “‘Man on a Drinking Horse’: A Print by Thomas Butts, Jr.,” Blake 37.1 (summer 2003): 35-36.

The Meeting of a Family in Heaven, 2 leaves of light-blue paper, 28.3 x 18.4 cm. and 24.1 x 20.6 cm., with copies of figures from Blair, The Grave, Blake’s pl. 3 in the 1808 ed. Pen and ink, black and gray wash over red chalk, red chalk figure study on verso of 1 leaf. Cobbs auction, Peterborough, New Hampshire, 14 Jan., #49, attributed to Blake, verso of 1 drawing inscribed in pencil “Said to be by William Blake / came from Camden Hotten — T. H. Mayhew[?] 1876,” and inscribed on the back of the frame “Drawing by W.m. Blake bought 1873 from Boughton,” extensively illus. including inscriptions ($2600; estimate $8000-12,000). One drawing shows the embracing adults, the hovering angel on the right, and the embracing children right and left but not the running boy on the right or the hovering angel on the left. The background clouds in this drawing do not correspond to Blake’s design engraved by Louis Schiavonetti for the 1808 ed. The other drawing is of the angel hovering on the right with additional clouds not in the original pl. “Boughton” in the inscription on the frame is probably an error for “Bouton.”

These copies of Blake’s design are a product of the Blake facsimile projects begun by the London publisher John Camden Hotten. Many of these works, most based on images in Blake’s illuminated books, were acquired by the New York dealer J. W. Bouton and sold as originals to American collectors; see his cats. of 1875 (BB #570), 1887, and 1889. Seventeen copies of motifs from the Grave designs were exhibited at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts in 1891, nos. 79-95 in the cat. This group included 1 based on The Meeting of a Family in Heaven (no. 93), picturing the embracing adults and the running boy, but not the 2 drawings offered in the Cobbs auction. All Grave copies were presumably executed prior to Hotten’s acquisition of Schiavonetti’s copperplates of the designs, reprinted and published by Hotten in 1870 (see BB p. 526, issue E, and pp. 528-29). The publisher would have had no reason to commission reproductions of Blake’s Grave illus. once he owned the original pls. For information on Hotten’s facsimiles, see Morton D. Paley, “John Camden Hotten, A. C. Swinburne, and the Blake Facsimiles of 1868,” Bulletin of the New York Public Library 79.3 (spring 1976): 259-96. Paley identifies Henry J. Bellars as the artist who copied Blake’s designs for Hotten.

R. Blair, The Grave with Blake’s illus., an unrecorded reproduction. Michael Manwaring, May private offer, modern half morocco (acquired by Essick). An almost full-size (electrostatic?) reproduction of the 1808 quarto issue, complete text and illus., on modern thick paper with a watermark of a goat and the words “GOAT-SKIN / PARCHMENT PAPER” on every leaf. No indication of publisher, place of publication, or date (second half of the 20^th century?). With imitation platemarks around the engravings; heavy offsetting of text on some leaves. Probably a one-off production never published.

Examiner, vol. 1, Jan.-Dec. 1808. Dave’s Books, July online cat., “crude loose binding” ($900). The 7 Aug. 1808 issue contains Robert Hunt’s review of Cromek’s ed. of Blair’s Grave with Blake’s designs (BB #1912, “an important mocking review”).

Repository of Arts, vol. 4, July-Dec. 1810. N1 Books, July online cat., contemporary half calf very worn, illus. (£200). The Sept. 1810 issue includes an essay “On Splendour of Colours, &c.” by “Juninus” that praises 2 of Blake’s engravings, “The Fall of Rosamond” and “Beggar’s Opera, Act III” (BBS p. 529).

Blake, Songs of Innocence and of Experience, pub. W. Pickering, ed. Wilkinson, 1839. Windle, March cat. 65, #119, issue without “The Little Vagabond,” variant publisher’s cloth, illus. ($17,500); #120, issue apparently without “The Little Vagabond,” publisher’s cloth, binding illus. ($15,000); copy with variant binding (#119, above), June “Short List 8 (New Series),” #3, illus. ($15,000), priced at $17,500 in Windle’s handlist for the Boston Antiquarian Book Fair, 10-12 Nov., #3. DW, 19 July, #407, issue not indicated, publisher’s cloth, “spine not present and upper cover detached,” binding illus. (£740.90). EB, Sept., issue without “The Little Vagabond,” publisher’s cloth rebacked, illus. ($1975).

S. Colman, ed., The Little Keepsake for 1844, Boston, 1843. A Squared Books, Feb. online cat., publisher’s cloth ($22). Includes “A Dream” and “A Cradle Song” from Songs of Innocence, both with unsigned wood-engraved illus. unrelated to Blake’s designs. BB #242 (listing only “A Cradle Song”), BBS pp. 151-52 (both poems listed). For information about Colman’s publications containing Blake’s poems, see Raymond H. Deck, Jr., “An American Original: Mrs. Colman’s Illustrated Printings of Blake’s Poems, 1843–44,” Blake 11.1 (summer 1977): 4-18.

[J. and A. Taylor], City Scenes; or, a Peep into London, London: Harvey and Darton, n.d. Illus. by John Gilbert, engraved on wood by William A. Folkard. Lilian Modlock, July online cat., publisher’s cloth “with gilt illustration of the Royal Exchange on the front” (£85). EB, July, “light to moderate foxing,” modern half calf, illus. (offered at the “buy it now” price of £125). Includes a considerably altered version of Blake’s “Holy Thursday” from Songs of Innocence without indication of title or author. Dated to “c. 1845” in BB p. 954, #260F.

A. Gilchrist, Life of William Blake, 1863, extra-illus. copies only. Windle, March cat. 65, #194, 2 vols., 34 added pls., 19^th-century calf, illus. ($3500). See the 2012 and 2014 sales reviews in Blake 46.4 (spring 2013) and 48.4 (spring 2015) for details.

Songs of Experience, attributable to the Muir circle of facsimilists, possibly E. Druitt, c. 1884–85. Alexandre Antique Prints, London Antiquarian Book Fair, 1-3 June (£2950, acquired by Windle); Windle, June private offer (acquired by Essick). A previously unrecorded facsimile of the “Experience” section of Songs of Innocence and of Experience copy T in the British Museum since 1856, but lacking Blake’s framing lines and numbers upper right on 15 pls. in the original. Completely executed by hand without any printed base. Muir’s published lithographic facsimile of Experience, 1885, has hand coloring in imitation of copy U. This facsimile of copy T on rectos only of laid paper with an “ANTIQUE NOTE” watermark. Date uncertain, but perhaps a one-off production of c. 1884–85. Additional materials not in copy T: “A Divine Image,” hand-drawn copy in yellow ochre ink, bound and numbered as leaf “16,” and a manuscript “Index” of the poems in orange ink bound as the last leaf. Except for Blake’s frontispiece and the “Index,” recto of each leaf numbered in pen and ink 1-27, far upper right (these numbers not corresponding to Blake’s numbers in the original). Gray-blue wrappers, as in Muir’s published facsimiles, but no printed or manuscript statements about the work on the wrappers or bound in the vol. Leaves 23.5 x 18.4 cm., whereas Muir’s published reproductions measure approximately 28.0 x 22.0 cm. Interleaved with tissue guards.

The attribution of this facsimile to Muir or a member of his circle is based on copies of his 1885 facsimile of Visions of the Daughters of Albion on the same paper. Very fine facsimiles in my collection of the frontispiece and the design only of pl. 3 in Visions, based respectively on impressions in the Large and Small Book of Designs in the British Museum, are inscribed in pen and ink “E. Druitt 1884.” Both are completely executed by hand, without a printed base, and are on “ANTIQUE NOTE” paper. Druitt worked with Muir on some of his facsimiles; see the lists of contributors printed on the front wrappers of Muir’s There is No Natural Religion, 1886, America, 1887, and The Song of Los, 1890.

W. Muir, facsimiles of Blake’s illuminated books, 1884–87. Windle, March cat. 65, #137, “a complete set,” 2 vols., folio and quarto, full morocco with the original wrappers bound in, bindings illus. (“sold”); #138, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, 1885, copy no. 31, full calf, original wrappers bound in, illus. ($5750). The complete set was previously offered in Windle’s online cat., April 2016, for $102,500, and sold in that month to a private collector. For a list of contents, see the 2010 sales review, Blake 44.4 (spring 2011): 130. Windle, handlist for the Boston Antiquarian Book Fair, 10-12 Nov., #4, Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience, dated “1885,” 2 vols. in 1, both copy no. 20 ($14,500); #9, America, 1887, copy no. 3 ($12,500); #10, Europe, 1887, copy no. 11 ($12,500). Bauman Rare Books, June online cat., Songs of Innocence, 1885, copy “0” with a presentation inscription by Muir to the editor of the Academy, letter by Muir to the editor laid in loose, publisher’s wrappers, later slipcase, the copy offered by Carpe Diem Books in April 2013 for $8500, illus. ($12,000).

E. Walker and W. Muir, facsimile of Blake’s Little Tom the Sailor, 1886. DW, 2 March, #237, described as from the Century Guild Hobby Horse 1.4 (Oct. 1886) but actually a separate issue on a leaf of laid paper, 54.3 x 22.5 cm., with a “[P] Le bas” watermark, stained at mat edges, framed, illus. (£306.25 to Windle for stock); same copy, Windle, April online cat. ($2000); same copy and price, Sept. Dreams and Visions cat., #10, illus.

Blake, Songs of Innocence, n.d. (c. 1911–12). Calligraphic manuscript with illus., 25 pp. Phillip Pirages, Nov. online cat., colophon reading “This copy of The Songs of Innocence by William Blake has been written out and illuminated by F. Sangorski and G. Sutcliffe for The Grolier Society and will not be duplicated,” jeweled morocco binding by Sangorski & Sutcliffe, illus. ($110,000).

Minutes of the William Blake Trust, 1948–69. Windle, March cat. 65, part 3, p. 82, #1, typescript and manuscript, 240 pp., “all the reports signed by Geoffrey Keynes in his distinctive brown ink, and the text is annotated and otherwise added to by Arnold Fawcus in his distinctive green ink,” half roan worn, illus. ($6500).

L. Baskin, Portrait of William Blake, 1955 cast bronze sculpture, approximately 18 cm. high. Windle, June online cat., “based on the life mask taken in 1823 by James S. Deville,” illus. ($12,500).

Blake, Songs of Innocence and of Experience, Manchester Etching Workshop, 1983. Windle, March cat. 65, #149, 2 vols., large and small quartos with the pls. both colored and plain, each with a copy of Joseph Viscomi, The Art of William Blake’s Illuminated Prints, 1983, publisher’s bindings and folding boxes, illus. ($16,500); same copy and price, handlist for the Boston Antiquarian Book Fair, 10-12 Nov., #8.

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 pls., book illus.

BARRY, JAMES
Drawings, paintings, and original graphics

“Crowning the Victors at Olympia,” etching and engraving, 1792. EB, July-Aug., 4^th st., probably the 1808 printing, illus. (no bids on a required minimum bid of $500); same impression, Aug., illus. (offered at the “buy it now” price of $4000 or “best offer”).

“Detail of the Diagorides Victors,” etching and engraving, 1795. Roseberys auction, London, 5 Sept., #730, 4^th st., probably the 1808 printing, illus. (not sold; estimate £1000-1500); same impression, 13 Sept. online only auction, #730, illus. (not sold; estimate £1000-1500).

“Elysium and Tartarus or the State of Final Retribution,” etching and engraving, 1792. Galerie Bassenge auction, Berlin, 25 May, #5242, 6^th st., probably the 1808 printing, illus. (€9840).

“Lord Baltimore and the Group of Legislators,” etching and engraving, 1793. DW, 2 March, #235, here titled “Religious & Civil Liberty Established in Maryland in 1649,” 2^nd st., leaf of wove paper 94.0 x 60.0 cm., probably the 1808 printing, illus. (£122.50).

BASIRE, JAMES
Engravings during Blake’s apprenticeship, 1772–79

Cook, A Voyage towards the South Pole, 1777. EB, April-May, 3 pls. only offered individually, Basire after William Hodges, “Woman of the Island of Tanna,” “Man of the Island of Tanna,” and “Man in Christmas Sound,” the 1^st 2 with marginal stains, illus. (£22, £15, and no bids respectively); Nov., 1 pl. only, frontispiece portrait of Cook, Basire after Hodges, imprint partly trimmed off, water stain lower right corner, illus. (offered at the “buy it now” price of $475).

Monro, Works of Alexander Monro, 1781. GP, May online cat., 1 pl. only, the frontispiece portrait of Monro, Basire after Allan Ramsay, dated “1776” following Basire’s signature, imprint trimmed off, illus. (£120). For illus. of the serpent motif in the framing design and comments, see the 2015 sales review, Blake 49.4 (spring 2016): illus. 9.

CALVERT, EDWARD
Early drawings, paintings, and original graphics

Engravings on copper and wood from the Memoir, 1893. Lawrences auction, Crewkerne, Somerset, 14 July, all illus., offered individually as follows: #1639, “The Ploughman” (not sold; estimate £500-800), #1640, “The Cyder Feast” (£878.40), #1641, “The Bride” (£1647), #1642, “The Sheep of His Pasture” (£561.20), #1645, “The Brook” (not sold; estimate £350-450), #1646, “The Lady with the Rooks” (not sold; estimate £350-450), #1647, “The Return Home” (£414.80), #1648, “The Chamber Idyll” (£3294).

“The Cyder Feast,” wood engraving, 3^rd st. from the Memoir, 1893. LFA, Dec. online cat., illus. (£1500).

“The Ploughman,” wood engraving, 3^rd st. from the Memoir, 1893. Campbell Fine Art, Jan. online cat., illus. (£975). David Lay auction, Penzance, 27 July, #583, illus. (£531).

FLAXMAN, JOHN
Drawings and sculpture

See also Flaxman under Letterpress Books with Engravings by and after Blake, above.

Thirty-seven pencil and pen and ink drawings illustrating Hesiod, the same designs as the 1817 engravings by Blake but probably created as an independent work rather than preliminaries for the engravings. Leaves 22.3 x 30.3 cm., 5 leaves with 1809 and 1815 watermarks, bound in a 19^th-century morocco album. Acquired by the British Museum in 2016. According to the online British Museum cat., registration no. 2016,7051.1.1, the album was “presented” to “HM Government” by “Daniel Katz Ltd through the Cultural Gifts Scheme in honour of Ian Jenkins, Senior Curator of Ancient Greece, and allocated to the British Museum, 2016.” For earlier offers to sell and discussion, see the 2009 sales review, Blake 43.4 (spring 2010): 135-36.

Cloaked Figure. Pencil, 19.7 x 12.7 cm. AH, June online cat. 470, #33, “possibly drawn in Rome, circa 1790,” illus. (£1500).

Defense against Pain. Pen and ink, 12.2 x 12.2 cm. SF, Oct. online cat., “drawing of a sculpture” with BUTTANSHAW 1799 watermark, small sketch on verso, illus. (“sold”).

Design for a Monument. Pencil, 17.7 x 13.2 cm. LL, July online cat., “the studies relate to the monument to The Children of Sir Thomas Franklin in the church of all Saints, Great Thirkleby, Yorkshire … commissioned … in 1800,” illus. (not priced).

Design for an Urn (recto), Study of a Mother and Child (verso). Pencil, 19.0 x 13.5 cm., verso signed “J. Flaxman.” LL, July online cat., illus. (not priced).

Design for the Pediment of the Temple of Liberty at Woburn Abbey. Pencil, 19.7 x 69.0 cm. LL, July online cat., work dated to 1803, illus. (not priced).

Drawing of a Statue of Pericles. Pencil, pen and ink, brown wash, 27.0 x 18.0 cm. LL, July online cat., work dated to “about 1800,” illus. (not priced).

Maria Denman, profile portrait of. Pencil, 18.0 x 14.5 cm. LL, July online cat., “relates to a finished drawing now in the Sir John Soane’s Museum, London, which is dated 1817,” illus. (not priced). Denman was Flaxman’s sister-in-law.

Sketch for Apollo and Marpessa. Pencil, 10.1 x 12.1 cm. LL, July online cat., “an early design for Flaxman’s marble relief … presented to the Royal Academy as his diploma work in 1800,” illus. (not priced).

“The Apotheosis of Homer” and “The Apotheosis of Virgil,” 2 Wedgwood plaques based on Flaxman’s designs, each 20.0 x 41.0 cm. Byrne’s Fine Art auction, Chester, 29 Nov., #51, “early 19th Century, … sky blue jasper ground,” both illus. (£3025; estimate £200-300). The Virgil plaque is rare.

FUSELI, HENRY
Drawings, paintings, separate plates, and an inscribed book

A Captive Woman. Black chalk, 45.9 x 31.5 cm., datable to c. 1781. LL, Feb. online cat., illus. (not priced). Previously sold SL, 6 July 2016, #334, illus. (£13,750). As I commented in the 2016 sales review, “the figure looks less like a captive than a hag with a profile similar to Fuseli’s pictures of the witches from Macbeth.” See also the figure in “The Witch and the Mandrake,” Fuseli’s soft-ground etching of 1812.

Design for Erasmus Darwin’s The Temple of Nature: The Power of Fancy in Dreams. Watercolor, with a pencil study of embracing lovers on the verso, leaf 37.8 x 26.7 cm., recto datable to c. 1803. CL, 5 July, #85, illus. (not sold; estimate £80,000-120,000). This design varies considerably from the version engraved by Moses Haughton and published as the frontispiece in Darwin, The Temple of Nature (London: J. Johnson, 1803).

Face of Johann Kaspar Lavater. Pencil on laid paper, 12.0 x 8.5 cm. EB, Oct., from the collection of Marcia Allentuck, illus. ($709). Probably another leaf of the same sheet of paper as Study of a Man, below. David Bindman and I are suspicious of the attribution.

King Amycus of Bebryces. Pen and brown ink over pencil, 44.0 x 28.1 cm., inscribed in Greek lower left. SL, 5 July, #165, illus. (£175,000; estimate £30,000-50,000).

Lysander with Helena and Hermia, from A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Oil, 90.5 x 69.8 cm., datable to c. 1780–85. SL, 7 Dec., #216, illus. (not sold; highest bid £38,000 on an estimate of £40,000-60,000). Previously sold SL, 14 March 1990, #106, illus. (£41,800).

A Male Nude in a Contemplative Pose (recto), Study of a Man (verso). Pencil, pen and brown ink, washes (recto), pencil (verso), leaf 27.9 x 20.3 cm., datable to 1770–78. Christie’s auction, New York, 24 Jan., #90, illus. ($125,000). Previously sold CL, 6 March 1973, #19, titled A Standing Male Figure, illus. (£4333.4s. to William Darby); offered SL, 10 March 1988, #32, titled Standing Figure, illus. (not sold; estimate £20,000-30,000); sold SL, 9 July 2014, #180, titled Standing Figure of a Man in Profile, illus. (£98,500). For a black-and-white illus., see the 1988 sales review, Blake 23.1 (summer 1989): 15 (illus. 10).

The Meeting of Sir Hüon of Bordeaux and Scherasmin in the Libanon Cave, from Wieland’s Oberon. Oil, 61.0 x 45.0 cm., datable to c. 1804–05. SL, 5 July, #62, illus. (£187,500). The design was engraved by James Heath and published in Oberon, a Poem. From the German of [Christoph Martin] Wieland by William Sotheby (London: T. Cadell and W. Davies, 1805), vol. 1, frontispiece.

Melancholical Scene, school of Fuseli. Pen and ink, wash, 28.0 x 21.0 cm. Deutsch auction, Vienna, 31 Jan., #116, oddly misattributed to Flaxman even though the drawing looks nothing like his work, illegible pen and ink inscription, possibly a signature, on verso, illus. (€101.60). Clearly in the style of Fuseli, with the left-handed hatching strokes characteristic of his work, but this drawing is at best attributable to an anonymous artist strongly influenced by Fuseli.

Study of a Man, attributed to Fuseli. Pencil on laid paper, 14.5 x 10.0 cm., inscribed in pen and ink “Zurich Nov 18^th 1778 Fuzzeli.” EB, Oct., from the collection of Marcia Allentuck, illus. ($873). Probably a leaf from the same sheet of paper as Face of Johann Kaspar Lavater, above. Possibly related to the portrait of Bodmer in Fuseli’s oil painting of c. 1778–81, The Artist in Conversation with Johann Jacob Bodmer, but David Bindman and I are suspicious of the attribution.

Tekemessa and Eurysakes. Unicorn Antique auction, Secaucus, New Jersey, 1 Oct., #362, illus. (not sold; estimate $1800-2400). Offered as an “oil painting by Henry Fuseli” but actually a photographic reproduction of the original in the Yale Center for British Art with right and left reversed. Another copy of the same reproduction was offered in Sept.-Oct. on EB at the “buy it now” price of $6.49.

“Ezzelin Musing over the Body of His Wife Meduna,” mezzotint by John Raphael Smith, 1781, issue published by Birchall. Verkäufer Historic Art, Feb. online cat., leaf 56.0 x 65.0 cm., marginal browning, illus. (€490).

“Heavenly Ganymede” or “The Rape of Ganymede,” crayon lithograph by Fuseli, 1804. Campbell Fine Art, Jan. online cat., “early proof printed in 1804, prior to the only published edition,” but in the published st., wove leaf 33.9 x 28.5 cm., illus. (£8500).

“Prince Arthur’s Vision,” engraved by Peltro William Tomkins, 1788. JL, March online cat., #14, leaf trimmed to 48.9 x 35.9 cm., “slight stains and paper loss to upper and lower centre,” illus. ($1650 Australian). EB, March, leaf 53.5 x 40.5 cm., margins browned, illus. (offered at the “buy it now” price of £550 or “best offer”).

“Titania Embracing Bottom,” engraved by Richard Rhodes, imprint dated 1794. EB, Sept., title in open letters, leaf of wove paper 41.1 x 31.2 cm., illus. (€89). Later st., with closed letters and additional inscriptions, published in Seventeen Engravings, to Illustrate Shakspeare (London: A. Woodmason, 1817), but this open letter st. perhaps published as a separate pl. in 1794.

J. J. Winckelmann, Reflections on the Painting and Sculpture of the Greeks, trans. Fuseli, 1765. EB, March, “inscribed by Fuseli to ‘his friend [William?] Vyse,’ and bearing a number of corrections in text in Fuseli’s own hand,” illus. ($885).

LINNELL, JOHN
Early drawings, paintings, and original graphics

Fred. Tatham & Brother Arthur. Pencil, leaf 19.4 x 11.4 cm., inscribed by Linnell in ink with the title recorded here and signed in ink “J. Linnell f”. Donald A. Heald, Oct. online cat., #29275, “the boys would appear to be about five [Frederick] and two in the drawing,” illus. ($2800). If Heald is right about the age of Frederick, the drawing dates from c. 1810.

Portrait of Thomas Cadby. Oil, 29.0 x 22.5 cm., signed and dated 1820. Dreweatts & Bloomsbury auction, Newbury, Berkshire, 27 June, #16, illus. (£2728). Previously sold CL, 26 April 1985, #103, illus. (£2808); previously offered SL, 10 July 1996, #60, illus. (not sold; estimate £4000-6000), and SL, 26 Oct. 2016, #1169, mistakenly dated “1821,” illus. (not sold; estimate £3000-5000).

The Potato Field—Isle of Wight. Oil, 28.0 x 35.7 cm., signed and dated 1829. CL, 11 July, #52, illus. (£50,000). Very fine.

Saint John the Baptist Preaching in the Wilderness. Oil, 99.5 x 138.0 cm., datable to 1818, signed indistinctly “J Linnell 18[…].” SL, 3 May, #299, “hanging in the artist’s studio from 1818, where retouched and finished, 1838,” described as “Linnell’s very first religious painting,” illus. (£20,000; estimate £6000-8000).

Blake almost certainly saw this painting. It may have influenced his execution of Joseph of Arimathea Preaching to the Inhabitants of Britain, dated by Butlin #780 to c. 1820–25. The design of this pencil sketch, 34.5 x 49.0 cm., is a variant of Blake’s earlier and much smaller color print of the same title (Butlin #262.6, SP XI). Perhaps the impressive size of Linnell’s painting prompted Blake to convert his own picture of a biblical figure preaching into a larger work for which this preliminary drawing is the only known record.

PALMER, SAMUEL
Drawings, paintings, letters, and rare states of etchings

Mountainous Landscape, Wales. Watercolor, 12.5 x 17.0 cm., datable to c. 1834. LL, Feb. online cat., illus. (not priced; sold to a “private collection, USA” by June). Previously sold SL, 6 July 2016, #352, illus. (£9375).

On the River Machwy, Wales. Watercolor, 29.0 x 22.5 cm., inscribed “5 July 1837.” SNY, 25 Jan., #100, illus. ($11,875). Previously sold SL, 8 April 1998, #45, illus. (£13,225).

Sabrina. Watercolor and body color, 54.0 x 75.5 cm., datable to 1856. Sold July by Andrew Clayton-Payne to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Previously offered SL, 15 July 1993, #161, illus. (not sold; estimate £30,000-50,000); previously sold SL, 3 April 1996, #168, illus. (£47,700).

Woman and Child in a Landscape, attributed to Palmer. Pen and ink heightened with white, 29.0 x 22.0 cm. Cheffins auction, Cambridge, 15 June, #618, illus. (not sold; estimate £700-1000); 14 Sept., #461, now titled Woman and Her Child in a Cornfield, illus. (£444.50).

A Wooded Landscape. Watercolor, black chalk on buff paper, 36.0 x 52.7 cm., datable to c. 1849. LL, Feb. online cat., illus. (not priced; sold to a “private collection, USA” by June).

Letters to George Richmond, 5 in all, dated 1867, 1880, and 1881. DW, 5 Oct., #259, 3 letters commenting on the death of Palmer’s cousin John Giles (1810–80), “the only letter published from this group is the last one [dated 27 Jan. 1881],” illus. (£2629).

RICHMOND, GEORGE
Early drawings, paintings, and original graphics

The Arcadian Shepherd, attributed to William Blake Richmond (George Richmond’s son, 1842–1921). Pen and brown ink, 14.5 x 18.5 cm., signed “WR” on a tree trunk and dated “1858.” FM, 30 March, #452, illus. (£7500; estimate £800-1200). Apparently purchased by Maas Gallery, London, and sold by them no later than March 2018. Previously offered as Abel the Shepherd Resting in a Landscape with His Flock, FM, 15 Nov. 2016, #134, illus. (withdrawn). For illus. and discussion of why this drawing may be based on a lost work by George Richmond, see the 2016 sales review, Blake 50.4 (spring 2017): illus. 9 and its caption.

A Convolvulus at Shoreham. Watercolor, 18.3 x 12.1 cm., inscribed in pencil “Shoreham 1827 GR.” SL, 5 July, #196, illus. (£5000).

Portrait of Charles Heathcote Tatham. Watercolor and gouache on ivory, 8.7 x 6.9 cm., datable to c. 1830. DW, 5 Oct., #255, “after the portrait by Thomas Kearsley exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1799,” illus. (£693.10). Tatham was Richmond’s father-in-law.

Portrait of the Artist’s Wife, Julia Richmond. Gouache on ivory, oval miniature 3.8 x 3.2 cm., datable to c. 1830. DW, 5 Oct., #256, illus. (£812.60).

A Sheet of Studies. Pencil, pen and ink, 18.0 x 26.5 cm. Chiswick auction, London, 13 June, #356, “including two pencil figure studies and a pen and ink study of the head of Raphael with a pencil study of a landscape verso,” illus. (£231.80).

Study from Michelangelo of David’s Right Arm. Pencil, pen and ink, 27.3 x 9.5 cm., signed with initials and dated 1828, further inscribed “From M Angelo”. Andrew Clayton-Payne, July private offer (price on request).

Study of a Seated Man Wearing a Helmet. Pencil, pen and ink, gray wash, 24.0 x 20.0 cm. on leaf 33.2 x 21.5 cm., inscribed “the attitude of this figure / is a recollection from nature,” datable to c. 1830. Guy Peppiatt Fine Art/Stephen Ongpin Fine Art, Dec. cat. of One Hundred Drawings and Watercolours, #41, illus. (£5500).

A Warrior. Pencil, 21.0 x 9.0 cm. Bearnes Hampton & Littlewood auction, Exeter, 11 April, illus. (£125.20).

Letters to Richmond. See Palmer, Letters, above.

ROMNEY, GEORGE
Drawings and paintings excluding portraits

Five pencil sketches, 1 pen and brown ink drawing. SNY, 25 Jan., #93, “including a study for The Temptation of Christ, circa 1795–6; a seated female nude, perhaps Bathsheba or Susannah Bathing, circa 1770; two studies of men fighting on a boat, circa 1790–5; a reclining nude, possibly connected with Portrait of a lady, called Mrs Elizabeth Hartley, circa 1785–90; and a study of a boy, by another hand,” no sizes given, illus. (not sold; highest bid $3200 on an estimate of $5000-7000).

The Dream of Atossa. Pencil, pen and brown ink, brown wash, 27.9 x 41.6 cm. CL, 5 July, #93, illus. (£81,250; estimate £20,000-30,000). A preliminary study for the large chalk drawing Atossa’s Dream, 101.5 x 127.0 cm., in the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool.

Fall of the Rebel Angels. Pencil, 13.5 x 16.5 cm. LL, July online cat., illus. (not priced). Previously offered SL, 19 March 2003, #127, illus. (not sold; estimate £2500-3500).

Figurative Sketch, attributed to Romney. Pencil, 31.5 x 39.7 cm. British Bespoke auction, Winchcombe, Gloucestershire, 28 Sept., #474, illus. (£547.40). The attribution is convincing; the subject is probably John Howard visiting a lazaretto.

Figure Studies in a Lazaretto. Pencil, 11.5 x 18.5 cm. Adam’s auction, Drogheda, Ireland, 10 Oct., #627, illus. (€1080).

Jupiter Seated on His Globe, His Foot Resting on an Eagle (recto), Three Annotated Costume Studies (verso). Pen and brown ink, leaf 19.0 x 32.0 cm. Bloomsbury auction, London, 27 July, #165, the recto with “a goddess, possibly Thetis or Juno, standing before” Jupiter, “Minerva, Mars, Venus and Cupid to the right,” illus. (£2108).

Prometheus Bound. Pencil, pen and brown ink, brown wash, 27.9 x 41.0 cm. CL, 5 July, #92, illus. (£62,500; estimate £20,000-30,000).

STOTHARD, THOMAS
Drawings, paintings, a pair of dishes, and a few engravings

Apollo Charming the Animals. Watercolor and body color, 8.5 x 6.5 cm. Chorley’s auction, Prinknash Abbey Park, Gloucestershire, 29 March, #812, illus. (£228).

As You Like It Act 1, Scene 2. Monochrome wash drawing, oval, 14.5 x 11.0 cm. Mellors & Kirk auction, Nottingham, 23 March, #651, illus. (£344.40). The preliminary drawing for the engraving by Charles Taylor titled “Rosalind Giving Her Chain to Orlando,” dated 1783 in the imprint and published in The Picturesque Beauties of Shakspeare (London: C. Taylor, n.d.).

Children, Holy Man, and Crucifix. Watercolor, 15.5 x 12.5 cm., inscribed “Stothard.” EB, Jan., illus. (offered at the “buy it now” price of £75, quickly reduced to £49).

Court Scene. Pen and ink, gray wash, oval, 9.5 x 7.5 cm. SF, Oct. online cat., illus. (£116); EB, Oct., illus. (offered at the “buy it now” price of £121).

The Death of Dido. Monochrome wash drawing, 2.6 x 6.0 cm. Sworders auction, Stansted Mountfitchet, Essex, 27 June, #302, with another, similar wash drawing of the same size and possibly of a related subject, both illus. (£224.84). The size and shape of these drawings, both uneven hexagons, indicate that they are preliminaries for engravings in The Royal Engagement Pocket Atlas. I have not been able to determine the text illus. or, if engraved for the Atlas, the year issued. Stothard designed many illus. for this publication, 1790–1826, but none recorded for Virgil’s Aeneid.

The Fates Crowning a Victor. Pen and ink, wash, 10.2 x 10.2 cm. AH, Sept. online cat. 473, #88, illus. (£275).

Figure Study. Watercolor, 9.5 x 4.5 cm. Bellmans auction, Billingshurst, Sussex, 6 Dec., #1505, illus. (£97.60).

Native American Indian Smoking a Pipe. Monochrome wash, 9.0 x 6.8 cm. EB, May, illus. (offered at the “buy it now” price of £560 or “best offer”). A preliminary drawing for the engraving by John Saunders with an 1801 imprint and published as the frontispiece to vol. 1 of William Robertson, The History of America, 3 vols. (London: T. Cadell, W. Davies, and E. Balfour, 1800).

Owl and Sleeping Fairy. Pencil, pen and ink, wash, 7.6 x 10.2 cm. AH, Feb. online cat. 466, #72, illus. (£275). The AH cat. suggests that this may be an illus. to Fable IV in John Langhorne’s The Fables of Flora (1794), but the design does not appear among the engravings after Stothard for that work. See Pansy, below.

Pansy. Monochrome wash, 7.6 x 8.9 cm. AH, April online cat. 468, #74, illus. (£225). Engraved by Andrew Birrell and published as the headpiece to “Fable V. The Violet and the Pansy” in John Langhorne, The Fables of Flora (London: E. and S. Harding, 1794) 33.

Scene with a Couple. Pen and ink, gray wash, size not recorded (but probably small). EB, Oct., inscribed “Stothard,” stained, illus. (offered at the “buy it now” price of €450).

Solicitude. Pen and ink, gray wash, 11.0 x 12.5 cm. Swan Fine Art, Tetsworth, Oxfordshire, online auction, 6 July, #235A, illus. (£216); EB, Sept., illus. (£257.32); London Auctions, Chiswick, 13 Nov., #287, illus. (no bids on an estimate of £200-300). I suspect that the drawing did not sell in July and Sept. and that the reported prices are fabrications. A more finished version of the design is illus. in Iolo A. Williams, Early English Watercolours (London: Connoisseur, 1952) pl. 212.

Spleen, attributed to Stothard. Watercolor, oval, 9.0 x 7.0 cm., inscribed “From the ‘Spleen’” and “Stothard” (not a signature). EB, Jan., illus. (offered at the “buy it now” price of £49, quickly reduced to £35). Not one of the 3 Stothard designs published in Matthew Green, The Spleen, and Other Poems (London: Cadell and Davies, 1796).

Standing Girl. Watercolor, 8.9 x 3.8 cm. AH, July online cat. 471, #67, illus. (£375).

Statesman Attended by the Graces. Pen and ink, brown wash, 20.3 x 17.8 cm. AH, Oct. online cat. 474, #75, illus. (£275).

Studies of Hector, Andromache, and Other Figures. Pen and ink, leaf 19.7 x 15.9 cm. DY, 25 Jan., #47, illus. ($625).

The Vicar of Wakefield. Oil, 31.0 x 41.0 cm. Byrne’s auction, Chester, 20 Sept., #297, illus. (£338.80). Not one of Stothard’s designs illustrating the novel published as engravings.

“Bacchus and Ariadne,” a pair of silver-gilt sideboard dishes, each 77.5 cm. in diameter, after a design by Stothard, executed by Paul Storr for Rundell, Bridge, and Rundell, London, 1813. SL, 5 July, #36, illus. (£668,750).

Bray, Life of Thomas Stothard, 1851. Bonhams auction, New York, 7 June, #23, expanded to 10 vols., extra illus. with “approximately 1,344 additional items,” including “8 original pen, ink and wash drawings by Stothard, 6 original watercolor drawings by Stothard,” and engravings by Blake for Ariosto, Orlando furioso, 1791, Bonnycastle, Introduction to Mensuration, ed. not indicated, Novelist’s Magazine, vol. 8, both pls., vol. 9, pls. 2 and 3, and vol. 10, all 3 pls., eds. not indicated, Ritson, Select Collection of English Songs, 1783, pl. 7, and Scott, Poetical Works, all 4 pls., ed. not indicated, 19^th-century morocco, illus. (no bids on an estimate of $12,000-18,000). Previously offered Bloomsbury auction, New York, 24 Oct. 2007, #118, bindings illus. (not sold; estimate $20,000-30,000), and Donald Heald, Oct. 2008 online cat., #6120, bindings illus. ($28,500).

Illustrations of Moore’s Melodies, from Drawings by T. Stothard, R.A. (London: Rob^t. Jennings, 1824 [actually 1825?]). EB, April, engraved title page and 6 pls. engraved on steel by Charles Heath with 1825 Jennings imprints, designs approximately 9.5 x 6.9 cm., platemarks 21.3 x 14.9 cm., leaves of laid paper 27.8 x 22.3 cm., no letterpress text, disbound but with stabholes in the left margin, illus. (£50 to Essick). Coxhead 166 lists the 6 pls. and comments that they were “designed” for an “edition of [Thomas] Moore’s ‘Irish Melodies,’ published by Robinson” in “1824.” Shelley M. Bennett, Thomas Stothard: The Mechanisms of Art Patronage in England circa 1800 (Columbia: U of Missouri P, 1988) 85, quotes a pencil note accompanying the 6 pls. in the Balmanno Collection, British Museum, stating that they were “never published.” The existence of Jennings’s publication, not recorded by either Coxhead or Bennett, indicates that at least the pls. were published. The framing motifs of garlands and putti surrounding a portrait of Moore in the unsigned title-page vignette, 6.0 x 6.4 cm., were probably designed by Stothard. If Coxhead is correct in stating that the pls. were commissioned by Robinson, perhaps his ed. of Moore never came to be and the pls. were acquired by Jennings, who published them separately with his own imprints and a new title page.

TATHAM, FREDERICK
Drawings and paintings

Portraits of a Husband and Wife. Watercolors, each 58.0 x 41.0 cm., signed. Penrith Farmers’ & Kidd’s auction, Skirsgill, Penrith, Cumbria, 12 April, #26, both illus. (not sold; estimate £200-300).

Three Family Portraits … of the Newman Family. Pencil and pastel on buff drawing paper, each approximately 62.0 x 49.0 cm. Special Auction Services auction, Newbury, Berkshire, 5 Dec., #410, illus. (£57.50).

William Blake in Youth and Age, attributed to Tatham and dated to c. 1830. Brown chalk and possibly wash with some highlights in white. Leslie Hindman online auction, Chicago, 20 Oct., #683, described as “after Frederick Tatham,” medium and size not stated, with 2 unrelated works, “Plate 3—The Sportsman’s Reverie by Robert Hopkin” and “a drawing in red chalk by an unknown artist,” sold “to benefit the acquisitions fund of the Denver Art Museum,” all 3 illus. ($50.40 to Windle acting for Essick). See illus. 8-9.

8. William Blake in Youth and Age (see enlargement). Traditionally attributed to Frederick Tatham and dated to c. 1830. Brown chalk in 3 shades (very dark, medium, reddish), possibly brown wash, and some highlights in white. Image 42.2 x 38.6 cm., leaf of buff drawing paper with a rough surface 65.2 x 52.6 cm., pasted to a wood backing board.Tatham’s Three Family Portraits (see under Tatham, above) would appear to be on the same or similar buff drawing paper. Framing lines lightly drawn in pencil on all four sides form a rectangle 60.7 x 51.6 cm. The profile of the youthful Blake is copied from a drawing attributed to his wife, Catherine, now in the Fitzwilliam Museum. The “age” portrait, approximately life size, is presumably Tatham’s own recollection of Blake’s appearance, although Blake’s life mask of 1823 may have served as an aide-mémoire. Essick collection.

Provenance: Possibly acquired from Tatham in the 1830s by Thomas Butts (1759–1845) or his son Thomas Butts, Jr. (1788–1862); possibly the latter’s son Captain Frederick John Butts, by inheritance upon his father’s death in 1862; possibly his widow, by inheritance upon her husband’s death in 1905, or directly to his son Anthony Bacon Drury Butts; sold SL, 19 Dec. 1932, #117, “a replica of the small double portrait by Frederick Tatham,” offered from “the Property of Anthony Bacon Drury Butts, Esq.” (£5 to the Ulysses Bookshop, New York); offered in the Ulysses Bookshop Catalogue of Rare Books, Pictures, Manuscripts & Letters of c. 1933, #3, “a portrait of Blake by Frederick Tatham, … purchased by me [Jacob Schwartz, the owner of the bookshop] from the great-grandson of Thomas Butts” ($500);The murky black-and-white illus. of the portrait on the cover of the Ulysses cat. is based on the Yale Center version (illus. 9) rather than the larger version on offer. It is difficult to explain how this came about; perhaps Schwartz found it more convenient to photograph one of several reproductions of the Yale version published in books than to photograph the work in his possession. Windle suggests in an e-mail to me of 18 Oct. 2017 that Schwartz may have already sold the larger portrait before including it in his catalogue and thus did not have it available for photography. acquired no later than 1939 by T. Edward Hanley;Thompson (see my note 3) 29 states that the Ulysses Bookshop cat. was issued “in early 1933” and that Hanley acquired the drawing “in that year.” He offers no documentary evidence for this; however, he was in contact with Hanley’s widow, Tullah Hanley (1924–92). She may have been the source of this information. his widow, Tullah Innes Hanley, by inheritance upon her husband’s death in 1969; on deposit at the Denver Art Museum by 1969; given by Tullah Hanley to the Denver Art Museum in 1974, accession no. 1974.398; deaccessioned by the museum late 2016 and sold by Leslie Hindman Auctioneers, Chicago, online auction, 20 Oct. 2017, #683, with 2 unrelated works ($50.40 to Windle acting for Essick). Exhibited at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, William Blake 1757–1827: A Descriptive Catalogue of an Exhibition of the Works of William Blake Selected from Collections in the United States, 1939, #216, “Portrait of William Blake, by Frederick Tatham … from the collection of Thomas Butts. Lent by T. E. Hanley,” and in several later exhibitions devoted to the Hanley collection (see Thompson’s essay [his note 7] for a list).

The portrait’s history of ownership, leading back at least to Thomas Butts’s great-grandson, is documented by the 1932 auction cat. and is important in establishing the authenticity of the work. Although this provenance record is solid, the attribution to Tatham and the drawing’s history of production are open to question. In his catalogue of portraits of Blake, Geoffrey Keynes mentions this larger drawing only in his entry on the smaller version, now in the Yale Center for British Art (illus. 9): “Tatham also made an enlarged replica of the drawing for the Butts family, which is not reproduced.”Keynes, The Complete Portraiture of William and Catherine Blake (London: Trianon P for the Blake Trust, 1977) 144. The small version was for many years bound with Tatham’s manuscript biography of Blake, in turn bound with Jerusalem copy E. The statement in the 1932 auction cat., repeated by Keynes, that the larger portrait is a “replica” of the smaller means that the latter was executed first. The larger work is less carefully executed, and less detailed in its rendering of facial surfaces, than the smaller. The background profile is only lightly sketched, as though youth were little more than a fading memory. Thompson (32) correctly indicates that Blake’s youthful nose is misrepresented. If indeed the large portrait is a “replica” of the Yale Center version, then the usual assumption about a chronology of composition, in which less finished versions of a work are taken to be preliminaries for more finished versions, is reversed. But if the customary sequence applies in this instance, then we cannot completely ignore the possibility that the large portrait is primary. See the caption to illus. 9 for further comments on the relationship between the larger and smaller versions of the double portrait.

Keynes’s statement that this large portrait was made by Tatham “for the Butts family” suggests that Thomas Butts or his son saw the small version and commissioned a copy from Tatham. Other narratives of composition and acquisition can be imagined, including one in which the large version was the first executed, that it was purchased by Butts or his son, and that Tatham made a copy (illus. 9) sized for insertion in his biography of Blake before delivery of the larger drawing. It is also possible that someone other than Tatham executed the large version if it is a “replica” of the smaller portrait. It may be significant that the 1932 auction cat. does not state who executed the large portrait; an explicit attribution to Tatham is first proposed in the Ulysses Bookshop cat. of c. 1933 and repeated in the 1939 Philadelphia Museum exhibition cat. If not by Tatham, then an attribution to Thomas Butts, Jr., would be consistent with a Butts family provenance. In 1806 Blake began to give lessons in etching and engraving to the younger Butts, who apparently had some artistic interests and abilities (BR[2] 222-23). There is, however, no evidence that the younger Butts continued work as an artist later in life or that he ever developed an expertise in chalk drawing consistent with the quality of the “age” profile in this portrait.

Given the stylistic similarities between portraits by Tatham and George Richmond, and the latter’s preparation of a portrait of Blake’s wife, Catherine, for Tatham’s biography of her husband (see the caption to illus. 9), an attribution of this large version of the double portrait to Richmond is worth considering. It is possible that Richmond copied Tatham’s smaller portrait to produce the larger. On balance, however, the traditional ascription of the large drawing to Tatham carries the most weight.David Bindman comments that the large portrait “could be [by] Richmond but also it could be [by] Tatham, who also did portrait drawings. I lean towards the latter for the moment” (e-mail, 8 Nov. 2017). For Richmond’s watercolor drawing of Blake’s life mask, see the 2016 sales review, Blake 50.4 (spring 2017): illus. 10.

The Yale portrait was first reproduced as the frontispiece to vol. 1 of The Works of William Blake, ed. Edwin John Ellis and William Butler Yeats (London: Bernard Quaritch, 1893). Could this large version be a copy based on the Ellis and Yeats illus.? That would require an artist with consummate skill at imitating Tatham’s (or Richmond’s) style, even while not copying the model line for line, and the ability to sell the work to Thomas Butts’s grandson, his grandson’s widow, or his great-grandson, all of whom were active in disposing of Blake’s works and are not known to have acquired any except by inheritance. Such a scenario is highly improbable.

9. William Blake in Youth and Age (see enlargement). Traditionally attributed to Frederick Tatham and dated to c. 1830, but possibly by George Richmond after a drawing by Tatham. Pencil, pen and ink, wash, leaf of wove paper 34.3 x 26.7 cm. Yale Center for British Art, accession no. B1992.8.1(101). Inscribed in pen and ink, probably over pencil, in a formal, calligraphic hand: “Portraits of / Will^m Blake / at the ages of 28 & 69 years. / Born November 20^th. 1757. Died August 12. 1827 / Aetat: 69.” Illegible fragments of the pencil inscription, probably a preliminary mock-up for the pen and ink version, lie beneath the 2^nd and 3^rd lines. Formerly bound with Tatham’s manuscript biography of Blake and Jerusalem copy E. The drawing may have been executed specifically for inclusion in the biography with a leaf size of approximately 34.3 x 27.9 cm. (see BR[2] 662). See the caption to illus. 8 for the models for both portraits.

In his cat. of portraits of Blake, Keynes comments that this work was “made posthumously by Frederick Tatham.”See note 7. This Yale Center portrait was first attributed to Tatham in the entry on the larger version in the 1932 auction cat., #117 (see the caption to illus. 8). The basis for this statement is not explained, but the long association of the portrait with Tatham’s biography of Blake may have been for Keynes sufficient evidence for the attribution to Tatham. Patrick Noon, in his cat. for the 1997 Blake exhibition at the Yale Center, attributes the double portrait to “George Richmond (1809–1896), after Frederick Tatham (1805–1878)” without explanation.Noon, The Human Form Divine: William Blake from the Paul Mellon Collection (New Haven: Yale UP, 1997) 86. The same attribution is given in the Yale Center’s online collection cat. Noon does not recall why he attributed the portrait to Richmond (e-mail of 22 Oct. 2017). Scott Wilcox, deputy director of collections at the Yale Center, tells me that the center has no documents concerning the attribution of its double portrait of Blake to Richmond (e-mail of 15 Nov. 2017). The word “after” indicates that, in Noon’s opinion, Richmond copied a work by Tatham. Is he suggesting that the only other known version of this double portrait, reproduced here as illus. 8, was Richmond’s model?

Noon’s alternative attribution may be based on analogy with the portrait of Catherine Blake also in the Yale Center, a companion to this smaller version of the portrait of her husband. This is inscribed in pen and ink “from a Drawing made by the Author”—Tatham, author of the biography of Blake—and lightly signed in pencil “George Richmond.” For this portrait Richmond copied a pencil drawing of Catherine signed by Tatham, dated Sept. 1828, now in the British Museum. The modeling with fine lines in the portraits of husband and wife is very similar, although stylistic parallels between the two works do not necessarily prove an attribution of the smaller portrait of William Blake to Richmond. He married Julia Tatham, Frederick’s sister, in Jan. 1831.Raymond Lister, George Richmond: A Critical Biography (London: Robin Garton, 1981) 22. Both men were developing their skills as portraitists in the 1830s and may have worked together or at least shown their drawings and paintings to each other. Perhaps influence flowed in both directions. Tatham’s portraits of William Williams and his wife (Yale Center for British Art) and the Portraits of a Husband and Wife (see under Tatham, above) exhibit brushwork remarkably close to Richmond’s. Absent an inscribed reference on the Yale portrait of William Blake as being “from” a work by Tatham, much less Richmond’s signature, stylistic similarities are an insufficient basis for an unqualified acceptance of Noon’s reattribution. Nevertheless, the attribution of the Yale portrait of William Blake to Richmond is certainly possible. The speculation that Richmond executed the smaller version of the double portrait by copying Tatham’s larger one, thereby following the same production trajectory as the portrait of Catherine Blake, cannot be dismissed.

The Yale Center also holds 2 impressions of a lithograph, 14.6 x 11.4 cm., of this double portrait of Blake. Each is described as a “print made by George Richmond … after Frederick Tatham” in the center’s online cat. The attribution is not explained.

Corrigendum

In the 2016 sales review I reproduced and briefly commented on Blake’s watercolor The Hymn of Christ and the Apostles (Butlin #490)—see Blake 50.4 (spring 2017): illus. 6. I failed to mention Mary Lynn Johnson’s important discussion of this work in her essay “Blake’s Mary and Martha on the Mount of Olives: Questions on the Watercolour Illustrations of the Gospels,” Women Reading William Blake, ed. Helen P. Bruder (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007) 100-08. Johnson suggests the following identifications of the apostles and women surrounding Christ: John (far left, as in my caption), James (2^nd from left), Andrew (3^rd from left), Mary of Luke 10.38-42 (left of Christ), her sister Martha (right of Christ), Peter (far right).

Appendix: New Information on Blake’s Engravings

Listed below are substantive additions or corrections to Robert N. Essick, The Separate Plates of William Blake: A Catalogue (1983), and Essick, William Blake’s Commercial Book Illustrations (1991). Newly discovered impressions of previously recorded published sts. of Blake’s engravings are listed for only the rarer pls.

The Separate Plates of William Blake: A Catalogue

P. 150, “Rev. John Caspar Lavater.” For a newly discovered proof st., see illus. 5 and its caption. The description of the differences in the portrait between the 1^st and later states listed in SP fails to mention a possible lightening of the white of Lavater’s eye just right of the iris.

P. 165, “Industrious Cottager.” An impression now in Essick’s collection is in the heretofore untraced 2^nd st. with the title in open letters—see under Separate Plates and Plates in Series, above. Unfortunately, the imprint has been trimmed off this impression. The design and signatures of Morland and Blake are as in the 3^rd st.

William Blake’s Commercial Book Illustrations

Pp. 86-87, Hayley, Life of Cowper, pl. 1, portrait of William Cowper after George Romney. For a previously unrecorded proof st., see illus. 6. Reasons for believing that John Flaxman’s comments were a response to an early proof of pl. 1 and not to a proof of pl. 3, a portrait of Cowper after Thomas Lawrence, are set forth in the caption to illus. 6.