Abbreviations

Illuminated Books

The Book of Thel. Leigh, Sotheby and Son, London, auction of 20 Dec. 1803, A Catalogue of the Valuable Library, Prints, and Books of Prints, of Mr. Henry Bankes, of Lincoln, Bankrupt, #154 under “Quarto”-size books, no author indicated, “The Book of Thel, plates, coloured” (price and purchaser unknown). This sale, not previously recorded, is the earliest known appearance at auction of one of Blake’s illuminated books. The information in this cat. is too minimal to associate this copy of Thel with any extant copy, although a few acquired directly from Blake and not sold by the original owner until after 1803, such as George Cumberland’s copy A, can be ruled out. According to the records of the Office of Commissioners of Bankrupts held in the National Archives at Kew, Henry Bankes of Lincoln was a “maltster and china manufacturer (dealer and chapman)” who was declared bankrupt on “1803 August 11; renewed 1819 August 4.”Bankruptcy records kindly supplied by Paul Sternberg. The entire 1803 auction cat. is available online at <https://​books.​google.​com/​books?id=0bdfAAAAcAAJ>. See also Cumberland, Thoughts on Outline, under Letterpress Books with Engravings by and after Blake.

Europe pls. 1 (uncolored) and 4 (upper design only, hand colored). Leaves 25.1 x 18.4 cm. (pl. 1) and 14.3 x 17.0 cm. (pl. 4). BB pp. 161-62. Given 2018 to the Fitzwilliam Museum by the Sir Geoffrey Keynes Will Trust. See also Jerusalem pl. 1, below.

The First Book of Urizen pls. 1 and 3, designs only, color printed, from Small Book of Designs copy B. Leaves 26.0 x 18.2 cm. (pl. 1) and 9.9 x 15.0 cm. (pl. 3). BB pp. 182-83. Given 2018 to the Fitzwilliam Museum by the Sir Geoffrey Keynes Will Trust.

Jerusalem pl. 1, unique proof with inscriptions not printed in any other impression, with Europe pl. 2 on the verso. Leaf 25.7 x 19.3 cm. BB pp. 162, 261. Given 2018 to the Fitzwilliam Museum by the Sir Geoffrey Keynes Will Trust.

Jerusalem pls. 4 and 37 printed recto/verso and hand colored. Leaf 6.7 x 16.0 cm., with both pls. trimmed to roughly the top one-third of the design and text. BB pp. 227, 261-62; BBS p. 87. Given Feb. by Paul L. Herring to the Israel Museum, Jerusalem.

Songs of Innocence copy W. Windle, Feb. online Short Title List for the California Antiquarian Book Fair, #2, pl. 19 (“Holy Thursday”) only ($150,000). For illus., see the 2016 sales review, Blake 50.4 (spring 2017): illus. 4.

The 22 pls. of copy W are dispersed among the following owners:

Songs of Innocence copy Y. Windle, Feb. online Short Title List for the California Antiquarian Book Fair, #1, pls. 16-17 (“A Cradle Song”) only ($250,000). Sold April to a private collector, Daniel Crouch Rare Books, London, acting as agent for the purchaser. Rumor in the trade whispers that the new owner is Paul David Hewson (Bono), one of the world’s most famous rock musicians. His band, U2, recently produced albums titled Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience. Previously sold SNY, 1 Nov. 2007, #21, illus. ($115,000 to Alan Parker). For a black-and-white illus. of pl. 16, see the 2007 sales review, Blake 41.4 (spring 2008): illus. 5. For an illus. of pl. 17, see the 2017 sales review, Blake 51.4 (spring 2018): illus. 1.

The 15 pls. of copy Y are dispersed among the following owners:

Copy Y and the 9 pls. of copy R (Keynes Collection, Fitzwilliam Museum) were originally part of the same (presumably complete) copy of Innocence.

Visions of the Daughters of Albion pl. 10, design only, color printed, from Small Book of Designs copy B. Leaf 27.0 x 18.4 cm. BB p. 478. Given 2018 to the Fitzwilliam Museum by the Sir Geoffrey Keynes Will Trust.

Drawings and Paintings

A Girl Full-Faced with Bare Breasts. Pencil sketch from the smaller Blake-Varley Sketchbook, leaf approximately 15.5 x 20.5 cm., c. 1819. Butlin #692.82. Jonny Yarker, London art dealer, Nov. private offer ($10,000). Previously sold CL, 15 June 1971, #148 (£147 to Alfred Essex, London).

A Girl in Profile, Perhaps Corinna. Pencil sketch from the smaller Blake-Varley Sketchbook, leaf approximately 15.5 x 20.5 cm., c. 1819. Butlin #692.80. Maas Gallery, Jan. online cat., titled “Head of a Woman,” illus. (not priced). David Bindman, in an e-mail of 2 Feb., tells me that the price is £28,000. Previously offered CL, 15 June 1971, #146, illus. black and white (“b[ought]t. in” at £441 by “Spurling,” according to Butlin), and CL, 20 March 1990, #152, illus. black and white (not sold; estimate £1500-2000); previously sold DW, 6 Oct. 2016, #349, illus. (£15,312.50 to an anonymous bidder on the telephone; estimate £5000-8000). See illus. 1.

1. A Girl in Profile, Perhaps Corinna (see enlargement). Pencil drawing of a visionary head from the smaller Blake-Varley Sketchbook, leaf 15.5 x 20.5 cm. Butlin #692.80, the verso described as “blank save for a slight scribble.” Butlin states that this may be the ancient Greek poet Corinna (flourished c. 500 BC) because the sketch is “comparable with the inscribed drawing of Corinna (No. 708; see also No. 709).” Butlin #708, showing both frontal and profile views, is inscribed, probably by John Linnell, “Corrinna the Rival of Pindar” and “Corrinna the Grecian Poetess.” The similarities with this drawing are slight. Butlin #709 is a much closer parallel, but it is not inscribed with the subject’s name. Photo courtesy of Rupert Maas, Maas Gallery, London.

A Seated Monarch with an Agonized Expression. Pencil sketch from the smaller Blake-Varley Sketchbook, leaf approximately 15.5 x 20.5 cm., c. 1819, inscribed in pencil by Blake “Crimson” on the man’s shirt or cloak and “Green” on his breeches. Butlin #692.64. Jonny Yarker, London art dealer, Nov. private offer ($10,000). Previously sold CL, 15 June 1971, #158, illus. black and white (£252 to Alfred Essex, London).

Tiriel Denouncing His Sons and Daughters. Monochrome wash drawing, 18.2 x 27.0 cm., c. 1788–89. Butlin #198.8. Given 2018 to the Fitzwilliam Museum by the Sir Geoffrey Keynes Will Trust.

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

Poetical Sketches, 1783, BB and BBS copy E. Windle, Feb. Blake Books online cat., no item #, modern morocco, title page with presentation inscription by John Flaxman and binding illus. ($250,000); same copy and price, Feb. online Short Title List for the California Antiquarian Book Fair, #3, May online list for the London Antiquarian Book Fair, #5, May Short List 10 (New Series), #3, title page and binding illus., July online list for the Melbourne Rare Book Fair, #4, and Nov. online Short Title List for the Boston Antiquarian Book Fair, #6. See the 2017 sales review in Blake 51.4 (spring 2018) for additional information.

Separate Plates and Plates in Series

“Chaucers Canterbury Pilgrims,” 3 impressions: 2^nd st. (hand colored), 3^rd st., 5^th st. SP impressions 2B, 3O, 5KK. Given 2018 to the Fitzwilliam Museum by the Sir Geoffrey Keynes Will Trust.

“Chaucers Canterbury Pilgrims,” 5^th st. Windle, Feb. online Short Title List for the California Antiquarian Book Fair, #7, Colnaghi printing on laid India ($25,000); same impression and price, Sept. cat. 69, #4, illus. black and white.

Dante engravings. Sims Reed, July cat., no item #, complete set on laid India, loose as issued, illus. (£60,000). EB, Aug., pl. 4 only, 1968 printing on wove paper, inscribed in pencil by Ruthven Todd “Proof pulled by Harry Hoehn; received in crumpled condition and damped, August 5, 1968 Ruthven Todd—given to John Ulbricht, 19 August 1968,” illus. (offered at the “buy it now” price of $2000 or “best offer”); same impression, Sept., illus. (offered at the “buy it now” price of $1000 or “best offer”).

“George Cumberland’s Card.” Windle, Feb. online Short Title List for the California Antiquarian Book Fair, #9, apparently the impression in black ink on thick card previously offered in Windle’s March 2017 cat. 65, #11 ($20,000); same impression and price, Sept. cat. 69, #3, illus. black and white.

“The Idle Laundress,” after Morland, 1788. Windle, June private offer, 2^nd st., color printed and with touches of hand coloring, leaf of wove paper 28.9 x 32.5 cm., all inscriptions and full platemark present, paper browned from overexposure to light, marginal stains (acquired, in exchange for another impression, and cleaned by Essick). In poor condition when acquired, but the only impression with the platemark I’ve ever seen on the market. Reeman Dansie auction, Colchester, 20 June, #1205, 2^nd st., with the companion print, “Industrious Cottager” after Morland, 3^rd st., titles and imprints cut off and pasted to the backing mats, both printed in brown ink and uncolored, both illus. (£528 the pair to Windle for stock); Windle, same pair, Sept. online cat., now “cleaned” and with “titles mounted below the prints,” illus. ($6750).

“Industrious Cottager,” after Morland. See “The Idle Laundress,” above.

“James Upton,” engraved by Blake and Linnell after Linnell, 1818–19. For a drawing possibly (but rather distantly) related to this pl., see Linnell, The Artist’s Sister, under Blake’s Circle.

Job engravings. EB, Jan., pl. numbered 7 only, published “Proof” impression on laid India, illus. (no bids on a required minimum bid of $2000); same impression, Jan., illus. (offered at the “buy it now” price of $2000 or “best offer”); same impression, March, illus. (offered at the “buy it now” price of $1500 or “best offer”). Clarke auction, Larchmont, New York, 4 Feb., #11, pl. numbered 3 only, apparently the 1826 printing on wove after removal of the “Proof” inscription, illus. ($750). SW, 13 March, #1-3, pls. numbered 2-4 offered individually, published “Proof” impressions on laid India, all illus. ($2750 each); 8 May, #232-34, pls. numbered 6 and 12 (both with the “Proof” inscription, presumably on French paper) and 3 (after removal of the “Proof” inscription, presumably on Whatman paper) offered individually, all illus. (estimates $3000-5000 for pls. 6 and 12, $2000-3000 for pl. 3; none sold); 1 Nov., #172-74, pls. numbered 7, 11, and 20 offered individually, published “Proof” impressions on laid India, all illus. ($3250 for pl. numbered 11, others not sold). Shapero Rare Books, May online cat., complete set, 1826 “Proof” printing on French paper, leaves 42.0 x 27.5 cm., scattered light foxing, original boards “renewed,” later slipcase, illus. (£55,000). Windle, May Short List 10 (New Series), #2, complete set, 1826 “Proof” printing on laid India, leaves 32.0 x 25.4 cm., unbound in mats, illus. ($125,000). SK, 21 Sept., #346, pls. numbered 6, 7, 12, and 15 only, “Proof” printing apparently on French paper, “toning, foxing, staining, not examined out of frames,” illus. ($3198).

“M^rs Q,” after Villiers. Windle, Feb. Blake Books online cat., no item #, 2^nd st., leaf 40.6 x 28.8 cm., repaired tear extending into the design, mat stains, illus. ($1500 to the University of North Carolina Library, Chapel Hill). Mellors & Kirk auction, Nottingham, 29 Nov., #373, pencil and watercolor copy, 27.0 x 21.0 cm., “after” Blake’s engraving, with a pencil and watercolor copy of the companion print by Georges Maile after J. Barrow, “Windsor Castle,” both illus. (£576).

Small Book of Designs copy B. See The First Book of Urizen and Visions of the Daughters of Albion under Illuminated Books.

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

Allen, History of England, 1798. Windle, Feb. Blake Books online cat., no item #, modern calf, illus. ($3750 to the University of North Carolina Library, Chapel Hill).

Allen, Roman History, 1798. Windle, Feb. Blake Books online cat., no item #, imprints trimmed off pls. 1 and 2, contemporary quarter calf worn, illus. ($3750 to the University of North Carolina Library, Chapel Hill). For a proof of pl. 4, see the appendix.

Ariosto, Orlando furioso. Peter Harrington, Jan. private offer, 1783 ed., 5 vols., contemporary calf (£875). Green Ink Bookseller, April online cat., 1783 ed., 5 vols., lacking 1 pl. not by Blake, full “leather” very worn (£300). Black Swan Books, April online cat., 1791 ed., 2 vols., contemporary calf, binding illus. ($200). EB, June, 1783 ed., 5 vols., contemporary boards, cloth spines with printed title labels, illus. (£132); another copy, June-July, 1783 ed., 5 vols., contemporary calf, illus. (no bids on a required minimum bid of $1200); same copy, July, illus. (offered at the “buy it now” price of $900 or “best offer”); same copy, Aug., illus. (offered at the “buy it now” price of $750 or “best offer”); same copy, Sept., illus. (offered at the “buy it now” price of $700 or “best offer”); same copy, Oct., illus. (offered at the “buy it now” price of $550 or “best offer”); same copy, Nov., illus. (offered at the “buy it now” price of $450); same copy, Dec., illus. (offered at the “buy it now” price of $350); July-Aug., 1799 ed., 5 vols., contemporary calf, illus. (offered at the “buy it now” price of $1200); Sept., 1791 ed., 2 vols., foxed, contemporary calf very worn, illus. (offered at the “buy it now” price of £72); Nov., 1783 ed., 5 vols., contemporary calf, illus. ($227.50); Nov., 1785 ed., 5 vols., modern buckram, illus. (offered at the “buy it now” price of $133.50). Ecbooks, Sept. online cat., 1783 ed., 5 vols., later calf very worn, parts of backstrips missing, illus. (£350). Harpo Speaks, Nov. online cat., 1785 ed., 5 vols., contemporary calf worn, illus. ($145).

Bible. Protestant’s Family Bible, 1780–81. EB, May, lacking Blake’s pl. 4, foxed, contemporary suede worn, illus. ($670.50 to Windle for stock). Debra Coltham, May London Antiquarian Book Fair, lacking the frontispiece engraved by Joseph Collyer after Stothard but with the Blake pls., title page repaired, contemporary calf worn (£3200 to Windle for stock; the frontispiece from the EB copy added and this vol. sold July to the Charles Deering McCormick Library, Northwestern University). Windle, Sept. online cat., Blake’s pls. 1-3 and 5 only, “a little browned around the edges” ($975 each). Only the 2^nd and 3^rd copies I’ve ever seen on the market.

Blair, The Grave, 1808 folio. Arthur Johnson & Sons auction, Nottingham, 13 Jan., #12, Blake’s pl. 9 only, framed, illus. (£48.80).

Blair, The Grave, 1808 quarto. EB, Jan., foxed, modern half morocco, illus. (offered at the “buy it now” price of $2200). Windle, Feb. Blake Books online cat., no item #, uncut in original boards, cover label, illus. ($9750); another copy, Sept. cat. 69, #1, uncut in half calf, illus. black and white ($5750). D & D Galleries, Feb. online cat., pls. trimmed close, scattered foxing and dust staining, modern half calf, illus. ($2200). Chanticleer Books, April online cat., leaves trimmed to 34.4 x 27.0 cm., “a few finger smudges to text and to margins of a couple of plates,” caption to Blake’s pl. 7 “with some rubbing,” new half morocco ($3750). Shapiro auction, New York, 2 June, #21, 1808 “folio” (but actually the quarto), leaves 36.0 x 29.0 cm., half morocco by Riviere, illus. (not sold; estimate $3000-4000). BHL, 20 June, #15, 1808 “folio” with “text watermarked ‘J. Whatman 1808’” (thus actually the quarto), contemporary half morocco worn, illus. (£350). SL, 9 July, #443, “spotting” on pls., from the collections of “Richard Monckton Milnes, first Baron Houghton (1809–1885), [his] wheatsheaf stamp on binding; his son Robert, Marquess of Crewe (1858–1945), armorial bookplate; his daughter Mary, Duchess of Roxburghe,” half calf worn, illus. (£875); same copy, D & D Galleries, Aug. online cat., illus. ($2900). Second Story Books, Nov. online cat., some foxing and staining, half “leather” worn ($2500). See also R. Blair, The Grave, Frederick Hollyer reproduction, c. 1912, under Interesting Blakeana.

Blair, The Grave, 1813 folio. Windle, March online cat. of New Arrivals, with “6 of the 12 [Blake] plates in the first state,” frontispiece portrait on laid India, “some spotting and foxing mostly to margins,” modern boards with “morocco backstrip” ($9750).

Blair, The Grave, 1813 quarto. EB, Feb., frontispiece and Blake’s pl. 1 water stained, original (?) boards worn with calf spine, illus. (no bids on a required minimum bid of $899); June, frontispiece portrait only, crease lower-left corner, illus. (no bids on a required minimum bid of $0.99). Manfred Nosbuesch, April online cat., “R. Ackerman, 1913” (apparently an error for the 1813 quarto), later calf worn (€1800). Anah Dunsheath, April online cat., “some staining,” contemporary half calf worn, illus. ($1572.51). LH, 13 Nov., #47, “last plate disbound with margins frayed, some light browning or spotting,” contemporary boards worn and backed with roan, illus. ($200).

Blair, The Grave, [1870] folio. EB, March, frontispiece portrait of Blake only, stained lower third torn off but retained, illus. (offered at the “buy it now” price of £40); another impression, Sept., “some light fox marks,” illus. (£45). Roseberys auction, London, 22 March, #241, marginal stains, “half brown pigskin” (£221.40). Kay Craddock, April online cat., publisher’s cloth with later leather spine “with most of the original cloth spine laid on,” illus. ($1500 Australian). Chrisant & Sons, April online cat., worm damage and bad foxing, quarter morocco ($800). Heritage auction, Dallas, 13 Sept., #45266, marginal foxing, publisher’s cloth worn and repaired, illus. ($275). Windle, Sept. cat. 69, #2, publisher’s cloth, illus. black and white ($1500).

Blair, The Grave, 1858 New York ed. with pls. engraved by A. L. Dick. Centerbridge Books, April online cat., foxed, publisher’s cloth, illus. ($175). Second Story Books, Nov. online cat., “moderate water-staining throughout, getting worse towards the rear,” publisher’s boards ($200).

[Blower], Maria: A Novel, 2 vols., 1785. Windle, Aug. private offer, Blake’s pl. only (the frontispiece to vol. 1 and the only pl. in the book), 2^nd st., leaf of laid paper 13.2 x 8.5 cm., SP impression 2C, then in the collection of the American Blake Foundation, trimmed to just below the signatures under the design ($2000; acquired by Essick).At the time I wrote SP, only detached examples of the print were known, and thus they were listed in a section of the cat. titled “Book Illustrations Known Only through Separate Impressions.” The book in which the pl. was published was discovered in 2000 by G. E. Bentley, Jr.; see his “William Blake and His Circle: A Checklist of Publications and Discoveries in 2000,” Blake 34.4 (spring 2001): 138-40, with the pl. (design only) reproduced in black and white from a copy in the Bodleian Library, Oxford. The only impression, in or out of the book, I’ve ever seen on the market.

Brown, Elements of Medicine, 1795. Leigh, Sotheby and Son, London, auction of the library of John Strange, 16 March 1801 “and Twenty-eight following Days,” #5089, “Brown (Jo.) Elements of Medicine, with a biographical Preface by Dr. Beddoes, 2 vol. 8vo (Portr. by Blake) Lond. 1795” (8s. 6d. to “Guthals”?). This auction cat. and its reference to Blake not previously recorded. EB, Aug., vol. 1 only, Blake’s pl. foxed, modern buckram, illus. (€36.50).

Bryant, New System … of Ancient Mythology. EB, March, 2^nd ed., 1775–76, 3 vols., uncut in original boards, later cloth spines worn, illus. (no bids on a required minimum bid of £599.99); same copy, May, illus. (offered at the “buy it now” price of £599.99 or “best offer”); same copy, June, illus. (offered at the “buy it now” price of £549.99 or “best offer”); same copy, July, illus. (offered at the “buy it now” price of £399.99 or “best offer”). Windle, Sept. online cat., 2^nd ed., 1775–76, 3 vols., contemporary calf, illus. ($1250); Oct. private offer, 1^st ed., 1774–76, 3 vols., contemporary calf rebacked ($2500). Frey Fine Books, Sept. online cat., 1^st ed., 1774–76, 3 vols., contemporary calf worn, illus. ($725). LH, 13 Nov., #57, 1^st ed., 1774–76, 3 vols., contemporary calf worn, illus. (no bids on an estimate of $200-400).

Bürger, Leonora, 1796. Windle, Feb. Blake Books online cat., no item #, pl. 1 (frontispiece) only, trimmed to the design on both sides and at top, trimmed just below the signatures at the bottom, illus. ($1750).

Catullus, Poems, 1795. FM, 25 Jan., #241, 2 vols. in 1, “some spotting and light browning,” contemporary calf rebacked, illus. (£375—but possibly bought in); same copy, 22 March, #235, illus. (£390). Peter Harrington, April online cat., 2 vols., slightly later calf, illus. (£1250).

Chaucer, Poetical Works, 1782. EB, Aug., vols. 11-14 only, with Blake’s pl. in vol. 13, light marginal foxing, contemporary calf very worn, illus. (£50).

Cumberland, Thoughts on Outline, 1796. Leigh, Sotheby and Son, London, auction of 20 Dec. 1803, collection of Henry Bankes, #161 under “Quarto”-size books, “George Cumberland on Outline, Sculpture and Art, plates, 1796” (no price or purchaser recorded). For Bankes, see The Book of Thel under Illuminated Books.

Darwin, Botanic Garden. Windle, Feb. Blake Books online cat., no item #, 3^rd ed. of Part 1, 1795, 4^th ed. of Part 2, 1794, 2 vols. in 1, “light spotting and foxing,” modern calf “a bit rubbed,” illus. ($3750); same copy, Sept. cat. 69, #12, the binding now described as 19^th-century calf rebacked, illus. black and white ($3000); April online cat., 1^st ed. of Part 1, 3^rd ed. of Part 2, both 1791, 2 vols., uncut in original boards worn, fragment of printed title label on spine of vol. 1, illus. ($2975); Aug. online cat., Blake’s pl. 1 (“Fertilization of Egypt”) only, “margins foxed,” illus. ($875). Tennants auction, Leyburn, North Yorkshire, 7 March, #164, “1791” (apparently the date of the general title page, no information given on dates of the 2 parts), 2 vols. in 1, 1 text leaf torn, uncut in original boards worn, binding illus. (£504—but probably bought in); same copy, 21 April, #284, binding illus. (£176.25). Hordern House, Nov. online cat., 1^st ed. of Part 1, 3^rd ed. of Part 2, both 1791, 2 vols. in 1, light foxing, contemporary calf, the copy previously listed at $4593 in April 2009 online cat., illus. ($3911). Shapero Rare Books, Nov. online cat., 1^st ed. of Part 1, 3^rd ed. of Part 2, both 1791, 2 vols. in 1, “light spotting,” contemporary calf repaired (£1498.53). Keogh’s Books, Nov. online cat., 3^rd ed. of Part 1, 1795, 4^th ed. of Part 2, 1794, lacking 2 pls. in Part 1 (probably Blake’s pls. 1 and 6), pls. spotted, contemporary calf falling apart, binding illus. (£200).

Flaxman, Hesiod designs, 1817. EB, Jan., bound with the Iliad and Odyssey designs, 1805, and the Aeschylus designs, 1831, foxed and badly water stained, 19^th-century calf worn, illus. (€58). Meiwes, April online cat., with the Iliad and Odyssey designs, 1805, and the Aeschylus designs, “1835” (probably an error for 1831), 4 vols., all with foxing, “original boards with cloth spine[s],” previously offered individually (€920). Kensington Estate auction, Clintondale, New York, 6 Aug., #36, with the Iliad designs, 1805, 2 vols., scattered light foxing, both in original boards with cover labels, illus. ($620). Sworders auction, Stansted Mountfitchet, Essex, 11 Sept., #59, foxed, front pastedown inscribed “To the Rev.^d William Gunn with the author’s affectionate respects,” original boards with cover label, with the Iliad and Odyssey designs, 1793, and the Dante designs, 1807, 4 vols., illus. (£516.60). Phantom Tollbooth, Nov. online cat., bound with the Iliad and Odyssey designs, 1805, and the Aeschylus designs, 1831, 19^th-century morocco worn, illus. ($850). Rooke Books, Dec. online cat., bound with the Aeschylus designs, 1831, both with scattered stains and foxing, later half morocco, illus. (£384).

Flaxman, Iliad designs, 1805. Lyon & Turnbull auction, Edinburgh, 14 Feb., #125, scattered foxing, with the Odyssey designs, 1805, and the Aeschylus designs, 1831, 3 vols. in original boards with cover labels, illus. (not sold; estimate £100-150). Bamfords auction, Derby, 15 March, #3746, bound with the Odyssey designs, 1805, later morocco worn, covers detached, binding illus. (£54.45). “mrbooks,” April online cat., foxed, with the Odyssey designs, 1805, 2 vols., half “leather” ($390). Richard Winterton auction, Lichfield, Staffordshire, 11 June, #48, pls. badly stained, 19^th-century vellum, illus. (£82.25). EB, July, scattered light foxing, bound with the Odyssey designs, 1805, and the Aeschylus designs, 1831, 19^th-century vellum, illus. (£119); another copy, Sept., with the Odyssey designs, 1805, 2 vols., both foxed, 19^th-century half calf worn, illus. (£35). Chrisant & Sons, Nov. online cat., bound with the Odyssey designs, 1805, later morocco worn ($305). Honey & Wax Booksellers, Nov. online cat., bound with the Odyssey designs, 1805, and the Aeschylus designs, 1795, scattered foxing and marginal water stains, contemporary half calf repaired, illus. ($3000). See also Flaxman, Hesiod designs, above.

Gay, Fables. Windle, Feb. Blake Books online cat., no item #, 1793 ed., “possibly large-paper,” 2 vols., contemporary calf “a bit scuffed and untidy,” illus. ($1500); no item #, Blake’s pls. 3-9, 11, 12 only, all illus. ($750); another copy, Sept. cat. 69, #14, 1793 ed., 2 vols. in 1, “old calf rebacked,” illus. black and white ($1500). DW, 14 Feb., #37, 1793 ed., apparently 2 vols. in 1, “occasional light spotting,” contemporary calf worn and rebacked (£132). John Price, April online cat., 1793 ed., 2 vols., late 19th-century calf (£1045). Second Story Books, April online cat., 1793 ed., 2 vols., scattered foxing, contemporary calf rebacked ($1000). Pleasant Street Books, April online cat., 1793 ed., 2 vols., “minor foxing,” title pages trimmed, “leather” rebacked ($800). Rosenlund Rare Books, April online cat., 1793 ed., 2 vols., 19th-century half calf ($800). Imperial Fine Books, July online cat., 1793 ed., 2 vols., with Aesop, Fables, 1793, 2 vols., uniformly bound by Zaehnsdorf in morocco, bindings illus. ($7500). EB, Sept., 1793 ed., 2 vols. in 1, some pls. partly hand colored, foxed and stained, later three-quarter buckram, illus. (offered at the “buy it now” price of $1092.50); another copy, Dec., 1793 ed., 2 vols. in 1, contemporary calf worn, illus. (offered at the “buy it now” price of $1095 or “best offer”). Black Swan Books, Dec. online cat., [1811] ed., 2 vols., considerable foxing, half “leather,” illus. ($600). Some of these “1793” copies may be the [1811] ed.

Hayley, Ballads, 1805. EB, Jan., 2^nd sts. of pls. 1-3, “light foxing/spotting,” blue paper wrappers, the copy offered Dec. 2017 at the “buy it now” price of $3000 or “best offer,” illus. (no bids on a required minimum bid of $1500); same copy, Jan., illus. (offered at the “buy it now” price of $1400 or “best offer”); probably the same copy, Gordon Hopkins Americana, April online cat., scattered light foxing, “later blue paper covers with cloth spine” ($1500). Windle, Feb. Blake Books online cat., no item #, 1^st sts. of the pls., contemporary calf worn, illus. ($6500); same copy and price, May online list for the London Antiquarian Book Fair, #7, and July online list for the Melbourne Rare Book Fair, #6.

Hayley, Designs to a Series of Ballads, 1802. Windle, Feb. Blake Books online cat., no item #, pl. 1 (frontispiece) only, illus. ($49,500); same impression and price, Feb. online Short Title List for the California Antiquarian Book Fair, #4.

Hayley, Essay on Sculpture, 1800. EB, Feb., large-paper copy, pls. badly foxed, later calf, illus. (offered at the “buy it now” price of $499 or “best offer”); same copy, March, illus. ($116).

Hayley, Life of Cowper, 1803–04. Windle, Feb. Blake Books online cat., no item #, 2^nd ed., 3 vols., “some spotting and foxing,” contemporary calf worn, illus. ($1250); another copy, Sept. cat. 69, #16, 3 vols., “old diaper calf rebacked, new labels,” illus. black and white ($975). EB, March, pl. 3 only, 1^st st., “small crease to paper at the bottom,” illus. (offered at the “buy it now” price of $399); another impression of pl. 3, Aug., 2^nd st., imprint partly trimmed off, “minor water stain lower right corner,” illus. (£109); Sept., pl. 4 only, 2^nd st. from the 1^st ed., illus. (no bids on a required minimum bid of £125); same impression (?) of pl. 4, Dec., 2^nd st., illus. (offered at the “buy it now” price of £145); Sept.-Oct., pl. 2 only, 1^st st., illus. (no bids on a required minimum bid of £120); Sept.-Oct., 1^st ed., 3 vols., half calf very worn, illus. (offered at the “buy it now” price of £220 or “best offer”); Nov., pl. 1 only, 1^st st., illus. (£227).

Hayley, Life of Romney, 1809. Windle, Feb. Blake Books online cat., no item #, “large paper copy,” later half calf, illus. ($3250). City Bookshop, April online cat., foxed, later morocco, illus. (£295). Francis Edwards, Dec. online cat., large-paper copy, some pls. water stained, contemporary half calf, illus. (£495).

Hayley, Little Tom the Sailor, broadside, 1800, hand colored. According to Arts Council England, Cultural Gifts Scheme and Acceptance in Lieu Report 2018 (see note 1), 81, the copy in the estate of the Duchess of Roxburghe “has been temporarily allocated to the Wren Library, Trinity College, Cambridge, pending a decision on its permanent allocation.” For comments on this copy and illus., see the 2017 sales review, Blake 51.4 (spring 2018): illus. 7.

Hayley, Triumphs of Temper, 1803. Windle, Feb. Blake Books online cat., no item #, “large-paper copy,” later half morocco, illus. ($2750); another copy, Sept. cat. 69, #17, apparently small-paper issue, “old calf neatly rebacked,” illus. black and white ($675); another copy, Nov. online cat., “a poor copy” with “an extensive stain, from pages 1 to 40,” pl. 5 stained, contemporary calf very worn ($200). James Cummins, Nov. online cat., apparently small-paper issue, inscription mostly cut away from the top of the title page, contemporary calf worn, illus. ($500). See also Maria Flaxman, Serena Viewing Herself in the Glass, 1803, under Interesting Blakeana.

Hoare, Inquiry, 1806. EB, Feb., Blake’s pl. badly foxed, original boards uncut, printed spine label, illus. (offered at the “buy it now” price of £700 or “best offer”). Addison & Sarova auction, Macon, Georgia, 3 Nov., #79, Blake’s pl. water stained, contemporary calf crudely rebacked with tape, illus. ($281.25).

Hogarth, The Beggar’s Opera by Hogarth and Blake, 1965. Millea Bros. auction, Boonton, New Jersey, 14 March, #2042, “with water stains and foxing, some foxing and staining to majority of prints,” original folding box worn, illus. (no bids on an estimate of $80-120). EB, March, Blake’s pl. only, illus. (offered at the “buy it now” price of $125); Dec., Blake’s pl. badly stained, damage to other leaves, publisher’s folding box damaged, the copy offered in July 2017 for $216.53 and possibly the same copy in the Millea auction (above), illus. (offered at the “buy it now” price of $154.66 or “best offer”).

Hogarth, Works. EB, Jan., Blake’s pl. only, probably 3^rd st., marginal foxing and water stain in the left margin, illus. (offered at the “buy it now” price of £130). DW, 8 March, #429, Blake’s pl. only, probably 3^rd st., trimmed to the image on both sides and at the top, bottom margin stained, illus. (£84). LH, 1 May, #9, apparently the Quaritch reprint of c. 1880 dated “1822” on the title page, contemporary half morocco worn, Blake’s pl. (7^th st.) illus. ($1625). Windle, Aug. online cat., Blake’s pl. only, “third state,” leaf of wove paper 65.0 x 49.0 cm., illus. ($500). John K. King, Nov. online cat., 1822 ed., half “leather” very worn ($5175).

Hunter, Historical Journal, 1793 quarto. FM, 25 Jan., #40, Blake’s pl. foxed, contemporary calf worn and rebacked, illus. (£750). Michael Treloar, April online cat., foxed, later half calf worn ($5500 Australian); another copy, foxed, “simulated calf” ($3000 Australian). N1 Books, April online cat., modern half calf, illus. (£1750). Peter Harrington, Nov. online cat., scattered marginal foxing, contemporary calf rebacked, illus. (£3250). Lamdha Books, Nov. online cat., foxed, half calf worn, binding and Blake’s pl. (imprint trimmed off) illus. ($3850 Australian). J & S L Bonham, Nov. online cat., foxed, recent half calf (£1750).

Josephus, Works, c. 1785–90. EB, Dec. 2017, BB issue A, Blake’s pl. 2 described as “uncredited” (i.e., not signed?) but actually 2^nd st. with signature, contemporary calf very worn, illus. (offered at the “buy it now” price of $1500 or “best offer”); same copy, March, Blake’s pl. 2 properly described, illus. (offered at the “buy it now” price of $1150 or “best offer”); same copy and price, Sept., illus.; June, BB issue B, contemporary calf rebacked and very worn, illus. (£52). Caliban Book Shop, April online cat., BB issue A, contemporary calf very worn, illus. ($1005). Bärbel Hoffmann, April online cat., BB issue B or C, contemporary calf very worn, binding illus. (€195).

Kimpton, History of the Holy Bible, c. 1781. Windle, Feb. private offer, marginal tears in a few leaves, scattered foxing and other stains, later half morocco ($975 to the University of North Carolina Library, Chapel Hill).

Lavater, Aphorisms. Windle, Sept. cat. 69, #18, 1794 ed., 2^nd st. of the pl., “with many aphorisms having a faint pencil cross or squiggle alongside,” contemporary calf worn and repaired ($295); another copy, Nov. online cat., 2^nd st. of the pl., “old tree calf” ($495). EB, Dec., 1789 ed., 1^st st. of the pl., contemporary calf rebacked, illus. (no bids on a required minimum bid of £520); same copy, Dec., illus. (offered at the “buy it now” price of £520 or “best offer”); same copy, Rooke Books, Dec. online cat., illus. (£336).

Lavater, Essays on Physiognomy. EB, March-April, 1810 ed., 3 vols. in 5, scattered foxing, contemporary Russia, spines worn, illus. (£299.95); another copy, April, 3 vols. in 5, contemporary calf, illus. (no bids on a required minimum bid of $300); same copy, July, illus. ($255); July, vols. 1-2 only, 1789, 1792, foxed, contemporary quarter calf very worn, most covers loose, illus. (£176.33). Lawrences auction, Crewkerne, Somerset, 8 June, #1543, 1810 ed., 3 vols. in 5, “some staining and spotting, a few leaves torn, contemporary vellum-backed boards” worn (£97.60). Argosy Book Store, Nov. online cat., 1810 ed., 3 vols. in 4, lacking a 5^th vol. containing the part of the work designated as vol. 3 part 2 in the printed text, marginal foxing, contemporary calf worn ($1700). Blake’s pls. are in vol. 1 as printed.

Malkin, Father’s Memoirs, 1806. Windle, Feb. Blake Books online cat., no item #, “large paper copy,” original boards worn, cloth spine, modern morocco slipcase, illus. ($3000); another copy, Sept. cat. 69, #19, “original (remainder?) binding of pebbled dark green cloth, red label lettered gilt,” worn with upper joint repaired, illus. black and white ($1500).

Nicholson, Introduction to Natural Philosophy, 1782. Windle, April online cat., vol. 1 (of 2) only, 1^st st. of the title-page vignette engraved by Blake, contemporary calf worn ($375). Alcuin Books, Nov. online cat., 2 vols., scattered foxing, contemporary calf worn and rebacked, illus. ($396.55).

Novelist’s Magazine. Lyppard Books, July online cat., vol. 8 only, 1782, contemporary half calf worn (£295), and vol. 9 only, 1782, contemporary half calf worn, illus. (£199). Caliban Books, Oct. online cat., vols. 10-11 only, 1783, 19^th-century half calf, illus. ($350). For the preliminary drawing for Blake’s pl. 1 in vol. 9, illustrating Laurence Sterne’s Sentimental Journey, see Musick Beats Time to Labour under Stothard in Blake’s Circle and illus. 10.

Olivier, Fencing Familiarized, 1780. Windle, Feb. Blake Books online cat., no item #, later quarter roan, illus. ($1000 to the University of North Carolina Library, Chapel Hill). EB, Sept., scattered foxing and other stains, contemporary calf very worn, upper cover detached, slipcase, illus. (offered at the “buy it now” price of $500 or “best offer”).

Rees, Cyclopædia, 1820. EB, March, pls. vol. 4 only with Blake’s pls. 4-7, later half calf with older backstrip retained, illus. (£231). At the Sign of the Pipe, Sept. online cat., described as “complete” with 39 text vols. and vols. 1-5 of pls. and thus apparently lacking pls. vol. 6, the “Atlas,” contemporary calf, illus. (£5500).

Remember Me! Windle, Feb. Blake Books online cat., no item #, issue for “1825,” binding described as “publisher’s de luxe original full brown polished calf” but actually rebound by the Parisian binder Purgold, illus. ($30,000); same copy and price, Windle, Feb. online Short Title List for the California Antiquarian Book Fair, #8, May online list for the London Antiquarian Book Fair, #6, and July online list for the Melbourne Rare Book Fair, #5; issue for “1826,” Sept. cat. 69, #7, “occasional spotting,” publisher’s printed paper boards lacking backstrip, modern cloth box, illus. black and white ($19,500). Only the 2^nd copy of the issue for 1826 I have ever seen on the market. For a proof of Blake’s pl., see the appendix.

Ritson, Select Collection of English Songs, 1783. Windle, Sept. online cat., 3 vols., contemporary calf rebacked, illus. ($1250).

Salzmann, Elements of Morality. Christopher Edwards, Feb. California Antiquarian Book Fair, 1791 ed., 3 vols., repaired tear in 1 pl. by Blake, other pls. with restored margins, later calf (£6500). EB, Aug., 1792 ed., vol. 2 only, “approximately 14 [of 17] copper plates” partly and crudely hand colored, contemporary half calf very worn, covers loose, illus. (offered at the “buy it now” price of £110 or “best offer”). Harvardyard Books, Sept. online cat., undated “Juvenile Library” ed., c. 1815?, 2 vols., quarter “leather” ($1795).

Scott, Poetical Works, 1782. Ed Buryn, Nov. online cat., quarter calf worn, front cover detached, priced at $450 in 2002 ($395).

Shakespeare, Dramatic Works, 1802. Robert Frew, May online cat., 9 vols., “plates generally spotted,” contemporary half Russia, illus. (£4750). SL, 9 July, #421, 9 vols., some pls. foxed, contemporary morocco worn, illus. (£3250). Alan Wofsy, Nov. online cat., 9 vols., “heavy foxing,” contemporary half calf repaired, illus. ($3500).

Shakespeare, Plays. EB, Jan., 1811 ed., 9 vols., “scattered foxing,” contemporary calf worn, bindings illus. (offered at the “buy it now” price of £1728.45); another copy, Jan., 9 vols., later half calf worn, illus. ($104.50); May, 1805 ed., 10 vols., scattered foxing on pls., contemporary calf worn and repaired, illus. (offered at the “buy it now” price of £1250 or “best offer”). Windle, Feb. Blake Books online cat., no item #, 1805 ed., 10 vols., contemporary calf worn, illus. ($2750); Blake’s pl. 1 only, no item #, stained, illus. ($500). Antiquariat Friederichsen, April online cat., 1805 ed., 9 vols., contemporary half calf worn, illus. (€900). Librairie du Cardinal, April online cat., 1811 ed., 9 vols., 19^th-century calf, illus. (€395). Antiquariat Tautenhahn, April online cat., 1805 ed., 9 vols., half “leather” very worn (€180). Sonalsorises, Sept. online cat., 1805 ed., 9 vols., apparently lacking Blake’s pl. 2, “original leather” worn ($1250). Premier Galleries auction, Chesterland, Ohio, 28 Oct., #141, 1805 ed., 10 vols., Blake’s pl. 2 with a “tiny abrasion,” 19^th-century calf worn, 1 cover detached, illus. ($480).

Stedman, Narrative, 1796, uncolored copies. EB, Jan., 2 vols., lacking Blake’s pls. 2, 8, and 14, most pls. foxed, some badly, contemporary half calf worn, illus. (no bids on a required minimum bid of £1250); same copy, Feb., offered at the “buy it now” price of £1250; another copy, July-Aug., 2 vols., most leaves stained, modern calf, illus. ($1350). Windle, Feb. Blake Books online cat., no item #, Blake’s pls. 9 and 13 only, illus. ($300 each). BHL, 21 March, #128, 2 vols., “some spotting” of the pls., contemporary calf worn, bindings illus. (£3125). Antiquariaat A. Kok & Zn., April online cat., 2 vols., “leather” worn (€4345). DW, 20 June, #42, 2 vols., tears and repairs to text and pls., “moderate spotting,” contemporary calf rebacked, illus. (£648). SK, 20 July, #166, 2 vols., contemporary calf rebacked, illus. ($2460). Jremington Books, Sept. online cat., 2 vols., lacking Blake’s pl. 14, foxed, contemporary calf rebacked, illus. ($5500, the copy offered on EB in Oct. 2013 at the same price). Argosy Book Store, Dec. online cat., Blake’s pls. 1, 2, 8, and 10 only, pl. 8 badly stained in the image, marginal stains on the other pls., all illus. ($750 each for pls. 1 and 8, $650 each for pls. 2 and 10).

Stedman, Narrative, 1806, pls. hand colored. Windle, Feb. Blake Books online cat., no item #, 2 vols., contemporary calf worn, illus. ($19,500); same copy and price, Feb. online Short Title List for the California Antiquarian Book Fair, #10.

Stuart and Revett, Antiquities of Athens. Hugh Pagan, April online cat., vol. 3 only, 1794, pls. damp stained, “original boards” (£1540). Ken Sanders, Nov. online cat., 4 vols., 1762–1816, extensive damp staining, half calf very worn ($6000). Blake’s 4 pls. are in vol. 3.

Vetusta Monumenta, vol. 2, c. 1789. EB, Jan., Blake’s pls. 3, 4, and 7 only, offered individually, illus. (no bids on required minimum bids of $19.99 each).

Virgil, Pastorals, 1821. Windle, Feb. Blake Books online cat., no item #, 2 vols., “presentation copy inscribed by Thornton to his daughter,” original sheep worn, (later?) spine labels, illus. ($67,500); same copy and price, May online list for the London Antiquarian Book Fair, #10, and July online list for the Melbourne Rare Book Fair, #9; another copy, Feb. online Short Title List for the California Antiquarian Book Fair, #6, 2 vols., “Juvenile Library” label on the title page of vol. 1, later half morocco worn ($45,000); same “Juvenile Library” copy and price, Sept. cat. 69, #24, illus. black and white (sold to Stanford University Library). See also the facsimile woodblock under Interesting Blakeana.

Virgil, The Wood Engravings of William Blake for Thornton’s Virgil, 1977. Windle, Sept. cat. 69, #25, “a few mounts slightly foxed,” publisher’s folding box ($10,500).

Wit’s Magazine, 1784. Windle, Feb. Blake Books online cat., no item #, 2 vols. in 1, 1784–85, with the 2^nd version of the frontispiece in the Jan. 1784 issue (BB pl. 2, CB pl. 1B), contemporary half calf worn, illus. ($5750); same copy and price, Sept. cat. 69, #11, illus. black and white. EB, Aug., 1784 issues, “twelve folding plate[s],” with the 2^nd version of the frontispiece in the Jan. issue (BB pl. 2, CB pl. 1B), scattered foxing, later half calf, illus. (£560).

Wollstonecraft, Original Stories, 1791. Athena Rare Books, Feb. California Antiquarian Book Fair, 2^nd sts. of the pls., contemporary calf rebacked ($8000). Windle, Feb. Blake Books online cat., no item #, pls. only, 2^nd sts., “cleaned,” all illus. ($3000); Aug. online cat., 2^nd sts. of the pls., “extra plate at the front thought to be by Blake (but not),” modern calf, illus. ($8750).

Young, Night Thoughts, 1797. Longman & Co., Lackington & Co., and others, Catalogue of an Extensive and Valuable Collection of Books, … Forming the Late Stock of White, Cochrane, and Co., April 1815, #318, “Young’s Night Thoughts, with engravings upon the borders from designs by Blake, boards, 1l. 11s. 6d.”; #319, “The same, with plates coloured, 2l. 2s.” This sale cat. not previously recorded. Cult Jones, Feb. online cat., with the “Explanation” leaf, letterpress title page foxed, later half calf worn, front cover detached, illus. ($10,000). Windle, Feb. Blake Books online cat., no item #, with the “Explanation” leaf and “the extremely rare prospectus and specimen leaf at the back dated London: James Bain, 1874, soliciting subscriptions for sets of the original watercolours in reproduction (never issued),” later half morocco, illus. ($15,000); another copy, Sept. cat. 69, #26, with the “Explanation” leaf, “half black morocco, marbled boards, a bit worn,” illus. black and white ($15,000). Ketterer Kunst auction, Hamburg, 28 May, #351, lacking the “Explanation” leaf, some foxing, half calf worn, illus. (no bids on an estimate of €6000). Christie’s Paris auction, 29 May, #5, 1^st st. of pl. 11, no mention of the “Explanation” leaf, 19^th-century half morocco, illus. (€5000).

Interesting Blakeana

John Quincy, Pharmacopœia Officinalis & Extemporanea; or, a Complete English Dispensatory, London, 1733. Windle, Feb. online Short Title List for the California Antiquarian Book Fair, #5, inscribed on the title page in brown ink “William Blake / his Book” ($49,500); same copy and price, May online list for the London Antiquarian Book Fair, #11, and July online list for the Melbourne Rare Book Fair, #10. For a black-and-white illus. of the title page, see the 2000 sales review, Blake 34.4 (spring 2001): 109 (illus. 2).

Abraham and the Three Angels, attributed to “circle of William Blake.” Watercolor, 33.0 x 42.0 cm., inscribed with Blake’s “WB” monogram lower right. Hessink’s auction, London, 25 Sept., #69, illus. (not sold; estimate £500-700). Similar in format to some of Blake’s biblical compositions of the 1780s, but stylistically closer to the German Nazarenes than to Blake. Possibly of the period or a little later, but probably by a Continental artist.

Study of a Standing Male Nude (recto), Preliminary Head Study (verso), attributed to Blake. Pencil, recto 21.0 x 12.7 cm., not dated. John Nicholson’s auction, Haslemere, Surrey, 25 July, #228, illus. (£930; estimate £200-300). Almost certainly not by Blake, but at least 2 bidders apparently thought otherwise.

Blake, For Children: The Gates of Paradise, 1793, and For the Sexes: The Gates of Paradise, c. 1818. Woolley & Wallis auction, Salisbury, 11 Sept., #156, pls. numbered 8 and 13 (BB pls. 10 and 15) only, with 4 unrelated drawings, illus. (£250). These 2 pls. are the Muir facsimiles of 1888. Pl. 10 derives from a 4^th or 5^th st. impression in For the Sexes; pl. 15 imitates an impression in For Children, probably the 2^nd st. found in copies B-E. Muir’s reproductions of The Gates of Paradise pls. differ significantly from their models in the lines delineating the designs and in the formation and spacing of the letters in the inscriptions. They are etchings/engravings, like Blake’s pls., but evidently based on drawings rather than directly on photographs of the originals.

Maria Flaxman, Serena Viewing Herself in the Glass When Dressed for the Masquerade Whilst Her Maid Adjusts Her Train, an illus. to William Hayley, Triumphs of Temper. Watercolor, approximately 12.0 x 9.0 cm., datable to 1803, inscribed in pencil on the mount “Serena—Trials of Temper—Sketch by Miss Flaxman, given by Miss Denman.” Contained within “The Caroline Tulk Scrapbook Album,” part of “The Burra Moody Archive: Works from the Charles Augustus Tulk Collection,” offered privately in Nov. to Victoria University Library, Toronto (not priced).The mount inscription was probably written by Caroline Tulk (1815–81), the second wife of James Peard Ley, or her daughter Beatrice, who inherited the album from her mother. Caroline was the eldest daughter of Charles Augustus Tulk (1786–1849), the Swedenborgian friend of John Flaxman and Blake. “Miss [Maria] Denman” was Flaxman’s sister-in-law, the executor of his works, and a friend of female members of the Tulk family. Information about the watercolor, the Tulk and Ley families, and the album is based on the document offering the Burra Moody Archive to Victoria University Library. This is not the same album once owned by Louisa Tulk, Caroline Tulk’s sister and the first wife of James Peard Ley. For the Louisa Tulk album, see the 2011 sales review in Blake 45.4 (spring 2012): par. 3 and the 2012 sales review in Blake 46.4 (spring 2013): par. 7. Victoria decided not to acquire these materials (e-mail from Carmen Socknat, head of bibliographic services, Victoria University Library, 30 Nov.).

Maria Flaxman, John Flaxman’s half-sister, executed 7 watercolors illustrating Hayley’s poem. These were sold at CL, 26 Feb. 1883, #295, and are now untraced (CB p. 84). Blake engraved 6 of these designs for the 12^th ed. of The Triumphs of Temper, 1803. In a letter of 24 Aug. 1803 to William Hayley, John Flaxman expressed his regret that one of Maria Flaxman’s drawings, “Serena viewing herself in the Glass when dressed for the Masquerade whilst her Maid adjusts her train,” was not engraved. He further states that this omitted design “was so great a favorite with us that Nancy [Flaxman’s wife] & myself prevailed on my Sister to make its fellow [i.e., a copy] for our private Collection” (BR[2] 166). Given its mount inscription, the watercolor on offer is very probably this “fellow” rather than the version sold with the 6 other designs in 1883.

Adam and Eve Asleep, a copy of the watercolor of the same title in the Butts series of Paradise Lost designs of 1808 (Butlin #536.5). Pen and ink and watercolor over pencil, 50.4 x 40.5 cm. Andrew Clayton Payne, Sept. private offer (price on request). Martin Butlin has ascribed this work to Blake, as an addition to the Linnell series of Paradise Lost watercolors of 1822 (Butlin #537), but this attribution has been questioned by David Bindman, Robert Essick, and Joseph Viscomi. See Blake 51.1 (summer 2017) and 51.2 (fall 2017). I have not been able to discover any information about the provenance of this work.

Virgil, Pastorals, 1821, Blake’s 6^th wood engraving, showing a stormy landscape. EB, Dec., “Original William Blake Hand Engraved Printing Woodblock … acquired from the estate of UK publishing executive Jonathan Cape,” with “four Original Proofs” from the block, woodblock and 1 impression illus. (offered at the “buy it now” price of $950 or “best offer”). A facsimile woodblock, the print illus. showing minor differences in the design compared to impressions from Blake’s original block in the British Museum since 1939. The edges of the facsimile block differ considerably from the original, particularly at the top-right corner (top left in an impression) and at the bottom. I have not been able to find any publication in which this facsimile wood engraving is printed.

Blake, Songs of Innocence and of Experience, pub. W. Pickering, ed. Wilkinson, 1839. Windle, Feb. online Short Title List for the California Antiquarian Book Fair, #11, issue lacking “The Little Vagabond,” publisher’s 1^st (or variant) cloth binding ($17,500); same copy and price, May online list for the London Antiquarian Book Fair, #9, and July online list for the Melbourne Rare Book Fair, #8; same copy, Sept. cat. 69, #8, “enclosed in a modern protective box,” title page illus. black and white ($15,000).

Photographic negatives of Blake’s Visionary Heads, datable to 1867 or later. See the last entry under Linnell in Blake’s Circle.

A. Gilchrist, Life of William Blake, 1880. Kay Craddock, Sept. online cat., 2 vols., “with the original pictorial dust wrapper (a trifle cropped) bound in at front of Volume 1,” later morocco, illus. ($2000 Australian). This dust wrapper is a proof of the front cover and spine designs printed in reddish-brown ink on white paper. The published dust wrapper has the same designs printed in dark-blue ink on gray-green paper.

W. Muir, facsimiles of Blake’s illuminated books, 1885–88, 1927. Bauman Rare Books, Dec. 2017 cat., #19, Songs of Innocence, 1885, “copy numbered ‘0’ and one of only five reserved for review,” inscribed “to the Academy with compliments of the Editor,” with a letter by Muir “describing his labor of love in producing this facsimile,” the copy offered privately by Carpe Diem Books, April 2013, for $8500, original wrappers, later slipcase, illus. ($12,000). Windle, Feb. online Short Title List for the California Antiquarian Book Fair, #12, America, 1887, copy no. 3, hand colored ($12,500); #13, Europe, 1887, copy no. 11, hand colored ($12,500); #14, Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience, both 1885, 2 vols. in 1, copy nos. not given but probably both no. 20 ($14,500); same copies of Innocence and Experience bound together at the same price, Aug. Short List 12 (New Series), #6, both no. 20, contemporary half calf, original wrappers bound in, illus., and online Short Title List for the Seattle Book Fair, 13-14 Oct., #6; March online cat. of New Arrivals, Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience, 2 vols., both 1927, original wrappers, no copy nos. but each front cover inscribed “For Review / W^m Muir,” bookplate of Raymond and Pamela Lister, cloth slipcase, illus. ($11,750); same copies of the 1927 Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience at the same price, May online list for the London Antiquarian Book Fair, #8, and July online list for the Melbourne Rare Book Fair, #7; another set of the 1927 Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience, Sept. cat. 69, #10, 2 vols., copies nos. 31 and 27, original wrappers, later slipcase worn, illus. black and white ($12,750). SW, 26 April, #33, Songs of Experience, 1927, copy no. 35, original wrappers worn, illus. (not sold; estimate $1500-2500). SK, 21 Sept., #345, Songs of Innocence, copy no. 24, and Songs of Experience, copy no. 11, both 1885, “two volumes bound together,” with The Gates of Paradise, 1888, copy no. 17, no description of bindings, with 4 later Blake-related vols., illus. ($3997.50 to Windle for stock). See also Blake, For Children: The Gates of Paradise, above.

Blake and Hayley, Little Tom the Sailor, Muir facsimile, 1886. Windle, Sept. cat. 69, #20, leaf of laid paper 54.3 x 22.5 cm. with a “[P] Le bas” watermark, stained at mat edges, the same copy offered in Windle’s cats. of April and Sept. 2017, illus. black and white ($2000).

R. Blair, The Grave, Frederick Hollyer reproduction of Schiavonetti’s engravings of Blake’s designs, c. 1912. Trevanion & Dean auction, Whitchurch, Shropshire, 15 Dec., #343, illus. (£384 to Windle acting for Essick; estimate £80-120). Enlarged lithographic reproductions of Schiavonetti’s 12 pls., designs only without the engraved inscriptions, mounted within framing lines on backing mats, pl. 1 (engraved title page) stamped on the verso “Copyright Fred^k.. Hollyer, 9, Pembroke Square, Kensington, W” and inscribed on the mat in pencil lower right “made by Fred^k Hollyer,” with a black-and-white lithographic reproduction of Blake’s Death on a Pale Horse (Butlin #517) added, the backing mat inscribed in pencil lower left “Death on the White Horse—William Blake,” verso of the reproduction of Death on a Pale Horse stamped “Copyright, Fred^k Hollyer, 9, Pembroke Square, Kensington,” loose in publisher’s paper boards with cloth backstrip. The only recorded copy of this Hollyer reproduction, heretofore known only from an announcement in [Thomas Wright, ed.?], The First Meeting of the Blake Society: Papers Read before the Blake Society at the First Annual Meeting, 12th August, 1912 (Olney: Thomas Wright, n.d.) [59]: “A small collection of reproductions of Blake’s Works (including the Book of Job, Blair’s Grave, and other interesting examples) can be seen at Mr. Frederick Hollyer’s Studio, 9, Pembroke Square, Kensington, W. (Earl’s Court).” One of those odd cases in which a reproduction is rarer than the original. Not in BB or BBS.

M. Sendak, 7 pen and ink drawings and 22 pencil preliminary sketches for his illus. in Poems from William Blake’s Songs of Innocence (London: Bodley Head, 1967). The pen and ink drawings range between 1.3 x 4.4 cm. and 5.4 x 5.65 cm., the pencil sketches between 1.3 x 4.35 cm. and 9.0 x 12.3 cm. “Offered by Battledore Ltd. in an Exhibition and Sale at the Society of Illustrators [New York] … October 23–November 2, 2018,” according to the exhibition cat., Sendak and Blake Illustrating Songs of Innocence (New York: Battledore/Society of Illustrators, 2018) [2]. All 29 drawings and the 7 published designs illus., not priced. See illus. 2-3.

2. Maurice Sendak. Piping Down the Valleys Wild (see enlargement). Pen and black ink drawing, 5.3 x 5.65 cm. on leaf 10.2 x 7.0 cm., the title inscribed by Sendak in pen and ink. An illus., datable to 1967, to Blake’s “Introduction” in Songs of Innocence. First reproduced (by offset lithography?) in a warm reddish-orange ink in Poems from William Blake’s Songs of Innocence (London: Bodley Head, 1967) 5. Photo courtesy of Justin Schiller, © 2018 Maurice Sendak Foundation.

Sendak’s design is based on Blake’s frontispiece to Songs of Innocence, an illus. to the “Introduction” poem (E 7). Both artists picture the poem’s 2 characters—the piper, who speaks the poem and strides with left foot forward, and the child who inspires him—but differences immediately arise. Blake’s piper is youthful, but clearly an adult, facing forward and turning his head back to look at the nude child “on a cloud.” Sendak’s piper is himself a child, facing away from us but with his head turned to the right. His outfit is vaguely eighteenth century—a three-quarter vented coat and breeches. Blake’s piper moves forward to deliver his songs while looking up and back at the child of innocence; Sendak’s piper leads us back into innocence. The piper has lowered his instrument in Blake’s frontispiece, as the child directs him to do in the poem’s 3^rd stanza; Sendak’s piper is actively playing, as he is described in the poem’s opening line. Sendak’s floating babe is cloudless; his gestures differ from Blake’s version to make them more expressive of the poem’s interactions between child and piper. With his left hand and extended finger the babe points to the pipe, thereby picturing the 1^st line of the 2^nd stanza: “Pipe a song about a Lamb.” His right hand hovers just above the piper’s head, as if blessing or inspiring him. The babe’s slight smile may be Sendak’s way of picturing his “laughing” speech and acknowledging the 3 appearances of the word “happy” in the text. The piper’s vertical left arm and hand extend into the sky, a gesture less directive than the hovering child’s but perhaps indicative of exuberant “joy” (final line) or a heavenly origin or destination for music and poetry. Blake’s piper is embowered among trees; background sheep indicate that he is a shepherd as well as a musician. Sendak’s landscape is more open, with one large tree anchoring the right margin and tall grasses or bushes substituted for the sheep. The absence of any indication in Sendak’s design that the piper is also a shepherd eliminates one of Blake’s many visual allusions to Christ as the good shepherd in Songs of Innocence. This may be a purposeful attempt to avoid the religious implications of Blake’s work in favor of a concentration on the child at play and the arts.

The relationship between Sendak’s 1967 illus. to Songs of Innocence and Blake’s is a matter of inspiration and innovative borrowing, never slavish imitation. Stylistically, Sendak’s Innocence illus. remain resolutely true to his own idiom. Readers familiar with some of his masterpieces, such as Where the Wild Things Are, will immediately recognize his Songs of Innocence designs as Sendak’s own, not as simulacra of Blake’s. By engaging with Blake’s pictures as well as his poems, Sendak offers a double commentary by responding to both dimensions of Blake’s composite art.

3. Maurice Sendak. Alternative design for an illus. to Blake’s “Introduction” to Songs of Innocence (see enlargement). Pencil sketch, 5.3 x 5.3 cm., datable to 1967. Photo courtesy of Justin Schiller, © 2018 Maurice Sendak Foundation.

This sketch differs in major ways from both Sendak’s published design (illus. 2) and Blake’s frontispiece to Songs of Innocence. The piper, wearing a gown and (straw?) hat, faces to the left, standing with legs together rather than striding. Here Sendak borrows the cloud motif from Blake’s frontispiece, but the child is sitting on it rather than soaring in front of it. His head is slightly bowed; both hands are raised to his face. He may be crying, thereby illustrating the final lines of the 2^nd and 3^rd stanzas of Blake’s “Introduction”: “So I piped, he wept to hear” and “he wept with joy to hear” (E 7). It is difficult to distinguish joyful weeping from its opposite in a small picture. This is a touching image, but the figures’ gestures are less dramatic than in the published version. The absence of energetic expression and the note of sadness may have led to Sendak’s rejection of this alternative design.

Blake, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, facsimile, 2019. Michael Phillips, Dec. online prospectus at <http://​www.​williamblakeprints.​co.​uk/​the-​marriage-​of-​heaven-​and-​hell> (accessed 2 Dec.), “exact replicas of all 27 plates, … relief etched” and “printed monochrome in one of the colours of ink that Blake specially mixed to print the early copies, … limited to 20 sets … printed to order … by Paul W. Nash at the Strawberry Press, Moreton-in-Marsh,” on “hand-made wove paper made by W. S. Hodgkinson and Co. around 1927,” with a “bound pamphlet printed in letterpress describing how the replica relief-etched copper plates were made and printed,” the pls. unbound in “an archival drop-back box,” 4 pls. illus. (price on request).

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

“Detail of the Diagorides Victors,” etching, 1795. Burstow & Hewett auction, Battle, East Sussex, 22 Feb., #1005, titled “The Olympiad,” 4^th st., probably the 1808 printing, illus. (£322).

“The Distribution of Premiums at the Society of Arts,” etching, 1792. EB, April, possibly 2^nd st., stain upper left, framed, illus. (offered at the “buy it now” price of $175).

“A Grecian Harvest-Home,” etching, 1792. DW, 8 March, #407, 4^th st., probably the 1808 printing, “trimmed to the plate mark, and with some marks and soiling, a few short closed tears, laid down on later card,” illus. (£288).

“King Lear,” lithograph, c. 1803. Antiquariat Peter Kiefer auction, Pforzheim, Germany, 8 Dec., #979, leaf 23.2 x 31.8 cm., apparently lacking the original backing leaf with aquatint border, illus. (not sold; estimate €600).

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

“North East View of ye City, Mole, Fortifications & Port of Algiers in Barbary,” Basire after Robert Wilkins, 1776. GP, March online cat., illus. (£620).

Bryant, New System … of Ancient Mythology, 1774–76. See under Letterpress Books with Engravings by and after Blake.

Carter, A Journey from Gibraltar to Malaga, 1777. GP, March online cat., 1 pl. only, “West View of the Mole of Malaga,” Basire after Francis Carter, illus. (£260).

Cook, A Voyage towards the South Pole, 1777. EB, Jan., 2 pls. only offered individually, Basire after William Hodges, “Woman of the Island of Tanna” and “Man of the Island of Tanna,” illus. (offered at the “buy it now” prices of $115 and $100 respectively); same impressions, Feb., (offered at the “buy it now” price of $85 each or “best offer”).

Monro, Works of Alexander Monro, 1781. GP, Dec. online cat., frontispiece portrait only, Basire after Allan Ramsay, dated 1776 following Basire’s name, illus. (£120).

Wilson, An Account of the Experiments Made at the Pantheon on the Nature and Use of Conductors, 1778. GP, Aug. online cat., 1 pl. only, “View of the Apparatus and Part of the Great Cylinder in the Pantheon,” Basire after Michael Angelo Rooker, platemark 20.0 x 25.0 cm., illus. (£240).

CALVERT, EDWARD
Early drawings, paintings, and original graphics

“The Brook,” wood engraving. DW, 18 July, #207, 3^rd st., “mount staining,” from the Memoir, 1893, illus. (£456). Larkhall Fine Art, Sept. online cat., 3^rd st., laid India paper, from the Carfax portfolio of 1904, illus. (£650).

FLAXMAN, JOHN
Drawings and sculpture

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

Anthony’s Oration/The Death of Julius Caesar. Pencil and monochrome wash, 22.2 x 33.7 cm., signed, inscribed in pen and ink “Anthonys Oration” lower left, “death of Jul: Caesar” lower right, datable to c. 1768. WAD, online auction ending 6 Dec., #808, “this is a design for a lost plaque entitled ‘Death of Julius Caesar’ which was exhibited at the Royal Society of Arts in 1768 (No. 147),” illus. (not sold; estimate $3000-5000 Canadian). An important early work, previously offered in John Flaxman, sale cat. by Christopher Powney and Heim Gallery, 10 March–9 April 1976, #40, illus. (£1250), and included in the major exhibition John Flaxman, Royal Academy, London, 26 Oct.–9 Dec. 1979, #6 in the cat. ed. David Bindman (London: Thames and Hudson, 1979).

Design for a Memorial to Soldiers Killed at Talavera. Pencil, 22.0 x 15.5 cm., datable to c. 1811. 25 Blythe Road auction, London, 28 March, #121, “the extant monument, which cost £700, was erected by public subscription and is in the Parish Church of St Peter, Leeds,” illus. (£446.40). Previously offered AH, Aug. 2000 online cat. 334, #58, titled A Monument at Leeds (£250).

Study for the 1811 Memorial to Captains Samuel Walker, 3^rd Regiment of Guards, and Richard Beckett, Coldstream Guards. Pencil, 22.9 x 15.9 cm. AH, June online cat. 482, #40, illus. (£875).

Seven autograph letters signed, 1811–25. SW, 8 Nov., #368, many of the letters “concerning artworks,” with “a 36-line fragment of undated notes concerning a lecture entitled ‘3’d Lecture on Sculpture,’” 11 pp. in all, letter of 29 March 1811 to Charles Taylor illus. ($1750).

Flaxman, Lectures on Sculpture, 2^nd ed., 1838. Windle, Dec. private offer, Walter Crane’s copy, “pp. 33-48 are missing but this is more than made up for by the extra illustration of the book with 28 original sketches by Flaxman from his sketchbooks, many of which appear as plates in the book,” publisher’s cloth ($18,500).

FUSELI, HENRY
Drawings, paintings, and separate plates

The Faerie Queene Appears to Prince Arthur, from Edmund Spenser’s The Faerie Queene (recto), A Sketch for the Faerie Queene and Prince Arthur (verso). Recto pen and ink, black and gray wash, 38.7 x 50.8 cm., datable to c. 1769. CL, 3 July, #100, medium of the verso “sketch” not indicated, illus. (£728,750; estimate £150,000-250,000). See illus. 4.

Jeune femme penchée en avant, possiblement Harriot Mellon. Pencil, black chalk, gray and pink wash, 9.1 x 11.5 cm. Christie’s auction, Paris, 21 March, #96, illus. (€12,500). Previously sold CL, 14 April 1992, #6, titled A Young Woman Leaning Forward, Probably Harriot Mellon, illus. (£4950), and Artcurial auction, Paris, 31 March 2016, #56, titled Young Girl Leaning Over, illus. (€8000).

Portrait of Henry Fuseli. Oval miniature on ivory by Moses Haughton, approximately 7.2 x 5.6 cm., mounted in a gold locket inscribed on the inside of the cover “Henry Fuseli / April 16 1825” (the date of Fuseli’s death). One of several versions painted by Haughton between 1802 and 1825.For a list, see Richard Walker, Regency Portraits (London: National Portrait Gallery, 1985) 1: 197. The miniature in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, is dated to 1825 by Walker. Acquired July 1987 by G. E. Bentley, Jr., from John Heath, a descendant of the engraver James Heath (1757–1834), who, according to Heath family legend, was given the portrait by Haughton at Fuseli’s funeral in St. Paul’s Cathedral, London, on 25 April 1825. Sold April by Windle, acting as agent for Bentley’s family, to the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas, Philip Mould acting as agent for the museum.

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.” Hockessin auction, Wilmington, Delaware, 31 Jan., #18, illus. (apparently bought in at $1000; estimate $2000-3000). Previously sold EB, Oct. 2017, from the collection of Marcia Allentuck, illus. ($873). 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.

The Vision of Orestes. Pencil, pen and gray ink, gray and brown wash, 45.7 x 61.6 cm., datable to c. 1800 and inscribed “W Blake” lower left. CNY, 30 Jan., #80, illus. ($218,750; estimate $100,000-150,000). See illus. 5.

The Visitation of Faust by Mephistopheles. Watercolor and gray wash over pencil, 31.4 x 40.3 cm. on laid paper with a 1799 watermark, signed with initials and dated “July 18.” SL, 4 July, #191, illus. (£43,750).

“Joseph Interprets the Dreams of the Baker and the Butler,” aquatint by Franz Hegi, 1826. EB, Oct., printed in brown ink on a leaf of wove paper 21.5 x 18.0 cm., full platemark, illus. (€25). The only impression I have ever seen on the market. This aquatint is based on a now-lost drawing (see Weinglass p. 327), but Fuseli’s oil painting of the design, Joseph Interpreting the Dreams of the Pharaoh’s Baker and Butler, datable to c. 1768, was sold CL, 4 Dec. 2013, #178, illus. (£140,500).

“The Nursery of Shakespeare,” stipple engraving by Moses Haughton, 1810. EB, March, trimmed to the image, title in open letters separately mounted, framed, illus. (offered at the “buy it now” price of £290).

“Queen Katharine’s Dream,” stipple engraving by Francesco Bartolozzi, 1788. EB, Sept., color printed in blue and 2 shades of brown, a few touches of hand coloring, leaf of wove paper 35.6 x 46.0 cm. trimmed to the image, stained and with tears, illus. (€30.50). The only color-printed impression I have ever seen on the market. Published by Thomas Macklin in his “British Poets” series, the design may have influenced Blake’s versions of the subject (Butlin #247, 547.3, 548-49).

LINNELL, JOHN
Early drawings, paintings, and original prints

Twenty-five pencil or chalk drawings and 2 watercolors by Linnell, many signed and dating from 1805–19. Sizes ranging between approximately 12.0 x 12.0 cm. and 43.0 x 30.5 cm. Mostly landscapes and studies of buildings and farm equipment, 2 drawings of children. Guy Peppiatt Fine Art, Oct. 2017 cat., John Linnell (1792–1882) and His Contemporaries 1800–1820, #1-27, all illus. (prices range from £450 to £6500).

The Artist’s Sister, E. A. Linnell. Pen and ink, 11.5 x 19.0 cm., inscribed “My Sister E. A. Linnell,” signed and dated 1812. CW, 3 Oct., #97, “with three further portrait drawings in pencil by John Linnell, ‘Mr Upton’, ‘Mr Hogg’ and ‘Mrs Boyles’, all variously inscribed and signed,” illus. (£225). The portrait of Upton was not illus. in the online cat., but Annika Green of Windle Antiquarian Bookseller was able to acquire a digital image. The drawing shows Upton’s face only, turned slightly to the right as in the portrait painted by Linnell and engraved by Blake and Linnell in 1818–19 (SP XL). This drawing may be related to Linnell’s development of the painting of Upton, but it is probably not a preliminary for the engraving.

English Countryside. Watercolor, 17.8 x 25.4 cm., signed. Avra Art auction, Margate City, New Jersey, 23 Nov., #234, illus. ($125; estimate $800-1200). Probably an early work.

Haymakers in a Landscape, attributed to Linnell. Pen and ink over pencil, 11.0 x 17.5 cm. Lawrences auction, Crewkerne, Somerset, 6 July, #1439, with 4 unrelated drawings, illus. (£244); AH, Oct. online cat. 485, #52, without the “attributed” designation and retitled Harvesters at Rest, illus. (£475). Possibly an early work.

North Wales Mountains. Pencil, 11.0 x 17.0 cm., signed and dated “[18]13.” David Lay auction, Penzance, 26 July, #231, illus. (£330.40). Previously sold David Lay auction, 1 Nov. 2012, #362, illus. (£380).

Portrait of Fanny Sheppard Playing the Guitar. Pencil and colored chalks, leaf 28.0 x 38.5 cm., signed, datable to c. 1825. DW, 18 July, #78, illus. (£360). Sheppard was a student of Linnell’s.Linnell engraved 3 portraits executed by Sheppard; see Alfred T. Story, The Life of John Linnell (London: Richard Bentley and Son, 1892) 2: 243.

“James Upton,” engraved by Blake and Linnell after Linnell, 1818–19. For a drawing possibly (but rather distantly) related to this pl., see The Artist’s Sister, above.

Copperplates by Linnell and photographic negatives of Blake’s Visionary Heads and portraits of Blake. BHL, 21 March, #7, “group of glass-plate negatives of drawings by William Blake and John Linnell, including Blake’s visionary heads and Linnell’s three portraits of his friend, with photograph portraits and 6 copper plates (2 steel-coated) of etchings by Linnell, the 14 negatives being 215 x 160 mm. and 160 x 120 mm.,” illus. (£2250 to Nicholas Lott of Larkhall Fine Art, Bath). The illus. of copperplates include Linnell’s 2 etchings “Sheep at Noon” (illus. 6) and “Woodcutter’s Repast,” both executed in 1818 and both now steel faced. Simon Roberts of BHL told Windle that “the vendor is a descendant of John Linnell” (e-mail, 21 Feb.). The negatives probably date from the late 1860s or 1870s; one is wrapped in paper with an 1864 watermark. A box for negatives included in the lot bears a label of “Marion & Co., 22 & 23, Soho Square, London.” The firm began operating under that name at that address in 1867; see <http://​historiccamera.​com/​cgi-bin/​librariumadmin/​pm.​cgi?action=​app_display​&app=datasheet​&app_id=2442>, accessed 22 March. Perhaps Linnell or one of his children intended to publish photographic reproductions of the Visionary Heads, but I have not been able to locate any such publication.

The ambiguously worded cat. entry implies that the lot included some drawings. Edward Maggs inspected the materials on offer and found only photo negatives, 2 boxes, and copperplates (e-mail to Windle, 27 Feb.).

6. John Linnell. “Sheep at Noon,” etching, 1818 (see enlargement). Steel-faced copperplate, 13.8 x 22.8 cm., design 10.1 x 19.8 cm. Some of the plating has flaked off the copper, particularly along the lower edge of the pl. Photo courtesy of Bonhams London.

PALMER, SAMUEL
Drawings, paintings, and rarer states of etchings

A Church with a Boat and Sheep. Pen and brown ink and wash heightened with scratching out, 18.3 x 13.7 cm., datable to c. 1831. SNY, 31 Jan., #13, sold from the collection of Howard and Saretta Barnet, illus. ($2,415,000; estimate $250,000-350,000). See illus. 7.

7. Samuel Palmer. A Church with a Boat and Sheep (see enlargement). Pen and dark-brown ink and wash heightened with scratching out, 18.3 x 13.7 cm., datable to c. 1831. Photo courtesy of Sotheby’s.

One of Palmer’s Shoreham-period “blacks,” as he called them, even though some are in sepia. Raymond Lister comments that “the excessively long and slender spire of the church is probably intended to convey the connexion between the heavenly paradise and the abundance of the earth.” In a similar vein, William Vaughan notes that the design implies “the journey across the Styx to the life beyond.”Lister 80; Vaughan, Samuel Palmer: Shadows on the Wall (New Haven: Yale UP, 2015) [138]. Given Palmer’s sacramental view of nature, it is possible to carry these symbolic interpretations a little further. The glimmering light in the building on the far side of the river, a frequent motif in Palmer’s art, may suggest the light within, the vision that links the human world to transcendent truths. If the river is a naturalized Styx, then the boatman in the punt is a rural Charon. If he is to carry the sheep, not just the two people, from pasture to town, then the animals may be going to slaughter. This imagined narrative leads by association to the paschal lamb and its typological parallel in Jesus. Palmer owned Blake’s white-line etching of “Deaths Door.” Like that print, A Church with a Boat and Sheep indicates that death is a necessary passage for the soul to rise into “the heavenly paradise” to which the spire points.

The Lane Side. Oil and tempera on canvas, 29.8 x 45.7 cm., datable to 1834–35. SL, 5 Dec., #43, illus. (not sold; highest bid £280,000 on an estimate of £300,000-500,000). Previously sold as a work by John Linnell, SL, 11 March 1987, #82, titled Passing the Orchard, illus. (£4400), and SL, 30 Nov. 2000, #151, titled The Orchard, illus. (£8400); previously sold attributed to “circle of John Linnell,” CL, 10 July 2012, #150, titled Figures on a Wooded Track, illus. (£2500). See illus. 8.

8. Samuel Palmer. The Lane Side (see enlargement). Oil and tempera on canvas, 29.8 x 45.7 cm., datable to 1834–35. As the auction record indicates, this work was formerly attributed to Linnell, demoted to “circle of John Linnell” in 2012 with a consequent fall in market value, and promoted to a “late Shoreham period” Palmer in the SL cat. of 5 Dec., #43. The new attribution is based on stylistic considerations, the discovery of a Palmer signature and 1835 date “still very faintly visible” lower left (SL cat., #43, a crucial piece of information oddly buried in a footnote), and the supposition that this painting is the work titled The Lane Side, exhibited by Palmer at the British Institution in 1835, #341.The exhibition is recorded in Lister 101, #211, a work “untraced since 1835.” Black marks lower left, about 12.0 cm. from the left margin and 1.5 cm. above the bottom margin, may be fragments of the letters “Pal” followed, at a slightly lower level and further to the right, by “18”. I am confident only about the “8”. The 5 Dec. SL cat. also notes that there is a “false J. Constable signature … added just above the figures lower right” at a diagonal rising from left to right across the fence between the leftmost child and the child and adult to the right. This signature is visible in the reproduction in the SL cat. of 11 March 1987, #82, but has disappeared from the illus. in the 5 Dec. cat. and the digital image presented here. Apparently the false “J. Constable” has been cleaned off the painting itself. Photo © Sotheby’s.

Shoreham. Brown wash over pencil, 8.5 x 11.5 cm., datable to 1832–33. SL, 30 Oct., #5, illus. (£52,500; estimate £15,000-20,000).

RICHMOND, GEORGE
Early drawings, paintings, and original graphics

Portrait of Henry Walter. Pencil with touches of pen and brown ink, 22.0 x 16.5 cm., datable to 1827. SL, 30 Oct., #177, inscribed “Henry Walter Dec^r 28 / 1827” (lower center) and “Died & Buried at Torquay Died May 28. 1849   GR” (lower left), illus. (£2750). Previously sold SL, 19 Nov. 2008, #22, illus. (£6250). Walter (1799–1849) was associated with the Ancients, the circle of young artists, including Richmond and Palmer, who gathered around Blake in his final years.

Three Studies of Seated Nudes. Pen and ink, 8.3 x 20.3 cm., possibly dating from the 1830s. LH, 24 May, #93, illus. (not sold; estimate $1500-2500).

The Witch from Ben Jonson’s The Sad Shepherd. Watercolor, gouache, and possibly tempera with a glue binder, 10.8 x 13.4 cm., datable to 1829–30. SL, 30 Oct., #143, sold from the collection of Christopher Cone and Stanley J. Seeger, inscribed on the backing card “Geo Richmond pinxt / exhibited at The Royal Academy / Somerset House in 1830,” illus. (£106,250; estimate £40,000-60,000). Previously sold SL, 4 July 2001, #128, illus. (£80,500). See illus. 9.

9. George Richmond. The Witch from Ben Jonson’s The Sad Shepherd (see enlargement). Watercolor, gouache, and possibly tempera with a glue-based binder, 10.8 x 13.4 cm., datable to 1829–30. Exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1830, “The witch, from Ben Jonson’s Sad Shepherdess [sic]. G. Richmond ”.The Exhibition of the Royal Academy. MDCCCXXX. The Sixty-Second (London: Royal Academy, [1830]) 24, section titled “Antique Academy,” #458. Photo courtesy of Sotheby’s.

The design is based on a description of Maudlin, the witch of Papplewick, her companions, and her forest setting in act 2, scene 8, of Jonson’s unfinished play The Sad Shepherd; or, A Tale of Robin Hood: The venom’d plants
Wherewith she kills! Where the sad mandrake grows,
Whose groans are deathful! the dead-numming night-
The stupefying hemlock! adders tongue!            [shade!
And martagan! the shrieks of luckless owls
We hear! and croaking night-crows in the air!
Green-bellied snakes! blue fire-drakes in the sky!
And giddy flitter-mice with leather wings!
The scaly beetles, with their habergeons,
That make a humming murmur as they fly!
There in the stocks of trees, white faies do dwell,
And spang-long elves that dance about a pool!
With each a little changeling in their arms!
The airy spirits play with falling stars!
And mount the sphere of fire to kiss the moon!
While she sits reading by the glow-worms light,
Or rotten wood (o’er which the worm hath crept)
The baneful schedule of her nocent charms,
And binding characters, through which she wounds
Her puppets, the sigilla of her witchcraft.Ben Jonson, The Sad Shepherd: or, A Tale of Robin Hood, a Fragment (London: J. Nichols, 1783) 47-48, the only separate printing of the play in the 18^th century. The Sad Shepherd was 1^st published in 1641. Richmond pictures the glow-worm just left of the witch’s right shoulder. Below, within the base of the large tree extending along the left margin, is one of the “faies” (fairies) who dwell “in the stocks of trees.” Lower right, seen from behind and with arms outstretched, is one of the “spang-long elves that dance about a pool.”“Spang” means “directly” or “completely,” but is almost certainly a misprint in the 1783 ed. for “span,” meaning that this fairy is no bigger than the span of one’s hand. The word is printed as “span-long” in The Workes of Benjamin Jonson, vol. 2 (London: Richard Meighen, 1640 [i.e., 1641]) 150 of The Sad Shepherd. Jonson’s owl glides above and to the right of the witch. The humanoid creature further to the right is one of the “airy spirits” who “play with falling stars.”This figure is misidentified as “Puck-hairy,” the witch’s “demon spirit,” in the SL cat. of 30 Oct., #143. We see this winged figure from an unusual perspective, supine in relation to the ground, with bent legs extending toward the viewer and arms reaching up toward the star. I have not been able to identify any of the vegetation with the plants named by Jonson. A pencil, pen and brown ink Study from The Witch, 15.5 x 12.5 cm., was offered at SL, 24 Nov. 1977, #21 (not sold; presently untraced).

Richmond’s painting may have been influenced by Blake’s large color print of 1795 Hecate. Jonson refers to “dame Hecate” in act 2, scene 3, of The Sad Shepherd (p. 33 in the 1783 ed.). Although compositionally dissimilar, these designs share several major motifs: a witch, her book, her familiars, and those under her thrall. Richmond could have seen the impression of Hecate that remained in Blake’s possession until his death in 1827 and is now in the Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens (Butlin #318). The hovering figure lower right is very similar to those in Visions of the Daughters of Albion pl. 3 and the title page to America, top right.As noted in Raymond Lister, George Richmond: A Critical Biography (London: Robin Garton, 1981) 131. Other crosscurrents of influence are evident in The Witch: Fuseli (see his soft-ground etching of 1812, “The Witch and the Mandrake,” based on the “Witch’s Song” in Jonson’s The Masque of Queens), Palmer (particularly in the treatment of the vegetation and background landscape), and the Northern Renaissance engravers, including Albrecht Dürer and Lucas van Leyden, studied by Richmond. The small figures in The Witch anticipate Victorian fairy pictures by artists such as Richard Dadd, John Anster Fitzgerald, Joseph Noel Paton, and Richard (“Dickie”) Doyle.

The mixed media of The Witch may offer a further connection with Blake. Chemical analysis of 2 of Richmond’s most important early paintings, The Creation of Light (1826) and Christ and the Woman of Samaria (1828), indicate the presence of glue in “layers applied to seal the ground” and possibly as a “component of the paint.”Bronwyn Ormsby with Joyce H. Townsend, Brian Singer, and John Dean, “Blake’s Use of Tempera in Context,” Townsend, ed., William Blake: The Painter at Work (Princeton: Princeton UP, 2003) 148. See also Martin Butlin, “George Richmond, Blake’s True Heir?,” Karen Mulhallen, ed., Blake in Our Time: Essays in Honour of G. E. Bentley Jr. (Toronto: U of Toronto P, 2010) 201-12. Blake used glue (or in some cases gum with the properties of glue) in his large color prints of 1795 and continued the practice in his tempera paintings of the 19^th century. Richmond’s interest in Blake’s media as a painter is documented in the works cited in note 16. Only chemical analysis of The Witch can confirm a close relation with Blake’s techniques, but the opacity of its paint layers is reminiscent of Blake’s temperas.

ROMNEY, GEORGE
Drawings and paintings excluding portraits

A Bacchante. Pen and ink, 11.0 x 7.0 cm., datable to c. 1784. Cheffins auction, Cambridge, 14 June, #364, “a little discolouration and browning,” illus. (£1397; estimate £200-300).

Figure Studies. Pen and ink, 11.1 x 18.0 cm. BHL, 25 April, #271, illus. (£250; estimate £1500-2000).

The Gower Children. Pencil, recto and verso, leaf 12.8 x 15.3 cm. Sheppard’s auction, Durrow, Ireland, 8 Nov., #50, illus. (€1920). Studies for the oil painting of 1776–77 now in the Abbot Hall Art Gallery, Kendal.

Head of a Bearded Man (Presumed to Be King Lear), recto, Prostrate Classical Female Martyr or Saint, verso. Recto pencil and black chalk, verso pencil, pen and brown ink, verso inscribed “N^o. 158,” leaf 29.8 x 45.0 cm. WAD, online auction ending 6 Dec., #805, illus. (not sold; estimate $4000-6000 Canadian).

Infant Shakespeare Surrounded by the Passions. Pencil, 8.0 x 19.1 cm., inscribed in pencil on verso “La Naissance de Shakespeare. / Mars 1794.” Potomack auction, Alexandria, Virginia, 29 Sept., #170, illus. ($1950).

John Howard Visiting a Lazaretto. Pencil, 16.7 x 24.5 cm. CW, 3 Oct., #86, illus. (not sold; estimate £500-700); CW online auction ending 14 Dec., #13, illus. (£362.50).

John Howard Visiting a Lazaretto. Pencil, 15.0 x 19.0 cm. CW, 3 Oct., #87, illus. (not sold; estimate £200-300).

King Lear, Death of Cordelia. Pencil, 14.0 x 22.9 cm. AH, March online Ten Day Spring Sale, no item #, illus. (£1000).

Study of a Seated Woman. Pen and brown ink, leaf 19.5 x 15.0 cm., datable to c. 1769. WAD, online auction ending 6 Dec., #866, “probably a sketch for the painting ‘The Warren Family’ exhibited in 1769,” illus. (not sold; estimate $800-1200 Canadian).

Troilus and Cressida, Act IV, Scene V—“The Fight between Hector and Ajax I.” Pencil, pen and gray ink, gray wash, 41.0 x 54.9 cm., datable to the late 1780s or early 1790s. CL, 3 July, #98, illus. (£12,500). Previously sold CL, 10 Jan. 1947, in #106 with the next drawing listed here (£41 2s. to “Wingate”).

Troilus and Cressida, Act IV, Scene V—“The Fight between Hector and Ajax II.” Pencil, pen and gray ink, gray wash, 40.0 x 54.6 cm., datable to the late 1780s or early 1790s. CL, 3 July, #99, illus. (not sold; estimate £10,000-15,000). See the Troilus drawing above for earlier sale.

STOTHARD, THOMAS
Drawings and paintings

Twelve drawings “inspired by Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales.” Pen and ink, wash, each 1.7 x 6.4 cm. SL, 18 Oct. 2017, #220, pasted to a single backing board inscribed “Original Drawings by Stothard. R.A.,” illus. (£438). Probably preliminary drawings for The Royal Engagement Pocket Atlas, 1784.

Eight small drawings and watercolors, various literary and historical subjects. Dawson’s auction, Maidenhead, 28 July, #148, with a map unrelated to Stothard, all illus. (£336).

Four leaves of studies, including 2 of plants (pen and ink), design for a mantelpiece (pencil), and “sketch for a picture hang” (pencil). AH, Jan. online cat. 477, #76, sizes not given but apparently small, framed together, illus. (£375).

Boccaccio, The Decameron. Lawrences auction, Crewkerne, Somerset, 12 Oct., #1721, “a suite of five decorative subjects: The Supper by the Fountain; The Garden; A Musical Party in a Glade; A Party in a colonnade; Elegant Company[,] each oil on panel[,] the largest 58.5 x 44.5cm.; the smallest 55.5 x 45cm.,” all 5 illus. (no bids on an estimate of £6000-9000). Variant versions of these designs were engraved by Augustus Fox and 1^st published as part of a suite of 10 unbound pls., Illustrations of the Decameron of Boccaccio (London: William Pickering, 1825), and in Pickering’s ed. of Il Decamerone, 3 vols., also 1825.

A Countryside Meeting. Watercolor, 10.0 x 12.0 cm. 25 Blythe Road auction, London, 28 March, #58, illus. (£198.40).

Figure Studies. Pencil, wash, 24.5 x 20.5 cm. Galerie Moenius auction, Berlin, 23 March, #471, illus. (not sold; estimate €100-200). A study for “Ruth Gleaning,” engraved in 1792 by James Heath and published in The Holy Bible (London: Thomas Macklin, 1800–16).

Musick Beats Time to Labour, an illus. to Laurence Sterne’s Sentimental Journey. Monochrome wash drawing, 11.6 x 7.15 cm., datable to c. 1782. Roseberys auction, London, 21 March, #135, not titled but described as a “group of figures by the door to an old inn,” pasted to a backing mat and framed, the Masonite backing board for the frame bearing a Thomas Agnew & Sons label, illus. (£184.50 to Windle acting for Essick). The auctioneer’s online illus. showed what appeared to be a bad rust stain in the foliage upper right, but the drawing itself is clean—see illus. 10.

10 (see enlargement). Left image: Thomas Stothard, Musick Beats Time to Labour, an illus. to Laurence Sterne’s Sentimental Journey through France and Italy, 1^st published in 1768. Monochrome wash drawing on laid paper, 11.6 x 7.15 cm., datable to c. 1782. This drawing, the basis for Blake’s engraving, is trimmed into the design about 0.5 mm. on all edges and mounted on a stained backing mat. Essick collection.

Right image: “Sentimental Journey,” engraved by Blake after Stothard, dated 1782 in the imprint. Etching/engraving, 1^st st. (of 2), inner design 11.7 x 7.1 cm., design including decorative frame 15.6 x 10.5 cm., platemark 17.4 x 11.2 cm. Laid paper, leaf 21.0 x 12.9 cm. First published in the Novelist’s Magazine, vol. 9 (London: Harrison and Co., 1782), usually bound facing p. 52 of Sentimental Journey; see BB #486 pl. 1 and CB XI pl. 3. The fidelity of the engraving to its model indicates why Blake was included among the team of engravers translating Stothard’s drawings to copper during the 1780s. Essick collection.

Stothard’s design illustrates a passage on p. 52 of the Novelist’s Magazine ed. of Sterne’s text, a passing reference to the harvesting of grapes by the French peasantry when “Musick beats time to Labour.” Sterne implies that the “labour” is crushing grapes, but does not explicitly describe that activity. Stothard ignores the implication and pictures only dancers without grapes. The Rev. Mr. Yorick, Sterne’s narrator in this semi-autobiographical travelogue, sits just left of the violinist. Blake includes a similar seated fiddler in his monochrome wash drawing (Butlin #769.13) and 13^th wood engraving (BB #504 pl. 17) illustrating J. T. Thornton’s ed. of Virgil’s Pastorals (1821). A different design by Stothard, engraved by Andrew Birrell, pictures the same scene in the ed. of Sentimental Journey published in London by J. Good and E. and S. Harding in 1792.

Sad Farewell to a Soldier. Monochrome wash drawing, size not given, inscribed “T. Stothard” (probably not a signature). EB, Nov., “frame size 30 x 31.5 cm.,” illus. (offered at the “buy it now” price of £875 or “best offer”).

Scene from a Contemporary Novel. Monochrome wash drawing, 9.0 x 7.0 cm., datable to 1800. Thomson Roddick auction, Carlisle, Cumbria, 18 July, #434, illus. (not sold; estimate £50-80). The design was engraved by James Neagle and published in [Henry Mackenzie], The Man of Feeling (London: A. Strahan, T. Cadell, W. Davies, 1800).

Studies of Various Standing Figures. Pencil, pen and ink, 13.3 x 15.9 cm., inscribed “T. Stothard.” EB, Aug., illus. (no bids on a required minimum bid of $125); same drawing, now titled Classical Figure Studies, Aug., illus. (offered at the “buy it now” price of $125 or “best offer”).

Summer Flora Europa (alternative identifications of the single figure represented). Watercolor, 11.0 x 9.0 cm., inscribed “T. Stothard,” badly faded and stained. EB, May-June, illus. (no bids on a required minimum bid of £39).

The Vicar of Wakefield. Oil, 30.5 x 40.0 cm. EB, May, illus. (offered at the “buy it now” price of £1980 or “best offer”). Previously sold Byrne’s auction, Chester, 20 Sept. 2017, #297, dimensions given as 31.0 x 41.0 cm., illus. (£338.80). Not one of Stothard’s designs published as an engraved illus. of the novel.

A Woman, Children, and Blindfolded Figure. Watercolor, 10.2 x 12.1 cm. AH, July online cat. 483, #68, illus. (£475).

Appendix: New Information on Blake’s Engravings

Listed below are substantive additions or corrections to Roger R. Easson and Robert N. Essick, William Blake: Book Illustrator, vol. 1, Plates Designed and Engraved by Blake (1972), 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.

William Blake: Book Illustrator, vol. 1
Note: Revisions pertain only to information about Blake’s pls., not to the bibliographic descriptions of the books.

P. 53, “The Hiding of Moses” in Remember Me!, 1825 and 1826. A prepublication proof of the pl., showing more buildings on the far bank of the Nile just inside the left margin, is in the estate of Gillian Bollard, who died in Dec. 2017. This is the proof previously recorded in “the collection of a descendant of John Linnell”—see Blake 34.4 (spring 2001): 124. Platemark 8.7 x 11.4 cm., leaf of wove paper 10.0 x 15.9 cm. Bollard acquired this impression by inheritance from James Thomas Linnell (1823–1905), the 2^nd son of Blake’s patron John Linnell, who may have acquired the proof directly from Blake or his wife, Catherine.I am grateful to Diana Waghorn, Gillian Bollard’s daughter, for this information about the family provenance of the proof (e-mail, 19 Feb.). Measurements given here correct those in William Blake: Book Illustrator. The print is in the same proof st. as the impression in the Rosenwald Collection, National Gallery of Art, Washington; see <https://​www.​nga.​gov/​collection/​art-​object-​page.​11489.html>. The design in these proofs measures 7.0 x 11.4 cm., reduced to 6.8 x 9.6 cm. for publication in Remember Me! Blake’s signature in the proofs, “WBlake. inven & sculp.”, is changed to “Blake del et sculpt.” in the published st. The scratched title inscription was recut in more elegant letters for publication, probably by a writing engraver.

William Blake’s Commercial Book Illustrations

P. 31, Novelist’s Magazine, pl. 3, illus. to Laurence Sterne’s Sentimental Journey. For Stothard’s preliminary wash drawing, see Musick Beats Time to Labour under Stothard in Blake’s Circle, and illus. 10.

P. 66, The Poems of Caius Valerius Catullus. The statues in Verona on which both pls. are based have been attributed to the 15^th-century sculptor Alberto da Milano—see <http://​www.​turismoverona.​eu/​nqcontent.​cfm?a_id=50570​&tt=m_turismo​&lang=en>, accessed 13 April.

P. 77, Allen, Roman History, pl. 4, “The Death of Cleopatra.” In Oct. Nicholas Lott of Larkhall Fine Art, Bath, sent me a digital image of a proof of this pl. in a private British collection. The proof lacks considerable finishing work in the design and the title and page inscriptions. The leaf of wove paper, approximately 16.6 x 9.5 cm., has the area where the imprint appears in the published st. cut off, but I suspect that the imprint had not yet been engraved on the copperplate when this proof was printed.