Inscriptions on Blake’s Designs in Chronological Order

“Magna Charta”
“Charta”

The Making of Magna Charta (1779) (Robert N. Essick) <#62*>

“Lord have m^er on us”“LORD [H]AVE MERC[Y] ON US” appears on the door of Europe pl. 10.
“The plague”

Pestilence, Probably the Great Plague of London (1779-80) (private collection) <#184*>

“Death of Earl Goodwin”

Royal Academy catalogue (1780) (picture in the collection of the British Museum) <#60*, WBW 1741>

“The spirit of a just man newly departed appearing to his mourning family”

The Spirit of a Just Man Newly Departed Appearing to His Mourning Family (1780-85) (Royal Collection, Windsor Castle) <#135*>

“Hell beneath is moved for thee to meet thee at thy coming—Isaiah”Blake’s later design of the same subject is described in the Butts-Blake debtor-creditor account as “Hell beneath is moved for thee &^c from Isaiah” (BR[2] 764).

The King of Babylon in Hell (1780-85) (Royal Collection, Windsor Castle) <#145*>

“Behold your King”

Samuel Presenting Saul to the People (1780-85) (British Museum) <#117*, WBW 1323>

“My sister thinks that this is the one that will do. I can’t be a judge, because I never saw the children Cozens. I intend the girl to be putting on the boy’s Hat, it seems they think the Boy looks handsomest when he has his hat on. The Hat shou’d be dispos’d in a careless manner & as near to the Boy’s manner of wearing it as possible”
“Recd of Mr. Cousins one half of a subscription, June 11, 1783”The attribution of the drawing to Blake and the inscription derive from the Sotheby’s catalogue of 1-2 July 1915, lot 371. If the author is Blake, “my sister” is Catherine Elizabeth Blake (1764–1841), who would have been nineteen in 1783, and the subscription could be to Stothard’s “Zephyrus and Flora” or “Calisto,” engraved by Blake and published by Parker & Blake, 17 Dec. 1784. The date suggests that the children are not those of “Mr. Cosens, owner of the Mill at Felpham,” mentioned in Blake’s “Memorandum” (1803) of his quarrel with Scolfield (BR[2] 162).

The Children Cozens (or Cousins) (1783) (untraced since 1915) <#143*>

“The witch of Endor raising the Spirit of Samuel”

The Witch of Endor Raising the Spirit of Samuel (1783) (New York Public Library) <#144*>

“War unchained by an angel, Fire, Pestilence, and Famine following”

Royal Academy catalogue (1784) (picture untraced since 1784) <#187, WBW 1741>

“A breach in a city, the morning after a battle”

Royal Academy catalogue (1784) (picture untraced since 1784) <#188,Joseph Viscomi, “A Breach in a City the Morning after the Battle: Lost or Found?” Blake 28.2 (fall 1994): 44-61, argues that Butlin #188 is the same as Butlin #191 (Ackland Art Museum, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill). WBW 1741>

“Joseph’s brethren bowing before him”

Royal Academy catalogue (1785) (picture in the collection of the Fitzwilliam Museum) <#155, WBW 1741>

“Joseph ordering Simeon to be bound”

Royal Academy catalogue (1785) (picture in the collection of the Fitzwilliam Museum) <#156, WBW 1741>

“Joseph making himself known to his brethren”

Royal Academy catalogue (1785) (picture in the collection of the Fitzwilliam Museum) <#157, WBW 1741>

“The Bard, from Gray”

Royal Academy catalogue (1785) (picture untraced since 1785) <#160, WBW 1741>

“DANIEL”

Daniel (1785) (British Museum) <#167*>

“The Reposing Traveller”

Aminadab, Called “The Reposing Traveller” (1785) (British Museum) <#170^v*>

“ΓΝΩΘΙ [Σ]ΕΑΥΤΟΝ”Greek for “know thyself,” which appears in Blake’s engraving but not on Fuseli’s preliminary drawing (reproduced in Robert N. Essick, William Blake’s Commercial Book Illustrations [Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1991] pl. 60).

Frontispiece engraved by Blake after Fuseli for J. C. Lavater, Aphorisms on Man (1788)

“Is all joy forbidden”

Is All Joy Forbidden (1790-93) (British Museum) <#222*, WBW 1323>

“The Bible of Hell, in Nocturnal Visions collected. Vol. I. Lambeth.”

Layout for Title Page, “The Bible of Hell” (1790-93) (untraced since 1876) <#221^v*, WBW 1323>

“Pestilence”

Pestilence (1790-95) (private collection) <#190^r*>

“Every prospect smiled”

Drawn but not engraved for Mary Wollstonecraft, Original Stories (1791) (Library of Congress) <#244 1*>

“God sent for Him”

Drawn but not engraved for Mary Wollstonecraft, Original Stories (1791) (Library of Congress) <#244 2*>

“How delighted the old bird will be”

Drawn but not engraved for Mary Wollstonecraft, Original Stories (1791) (Library of Congress) <#244 3*>

“She turned her eyes on her cruel master”Only drawings that were not engraved bear titles by Blake; the others <#244 4, 6-10> (<#244 10> not engraved) have no inscription by Blake.

Drawn but not engraved for Mary Wollstonecraft, Original Stories (1791) (Library of Congress) <#244 5*>

“CUMEA”

Copy (c. 1793) of Michelangelo’s design on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel (not in Butlin); reproduced in Sotheby’s catalogue of 28 Nov. 2002, lot 236.

“THE AMERICAN WAR”
“Angels to be very small as small as the letters that they may not interfere with the subject at bottom—which is to be in a stormy sky & rain separated from the angels by Clouds”

Sketch for a Title Page, Probably First Idea for “America” (1793) (British Museum) <#223A^r*>

“Father & Mother I return From flames of fire tried[?] & pure & white”

“Father and Mother, I Return,” Perhaps for “The Gates of Paradise” (1793) (Library of Congress) <#202^v*, WBW 1323>

“How I pity”

“How I Pity,” Perhaps for “The Gates of Paradise” (1793) (British Museum) <#204*, WBW 1323>

“For Children The Gates of HELL”

“For Children: The Gates of Hell”: Design for an Unpublished Title Page (1793) (Fitzwilliam Museum) <#205^r*, WBW 1323>

“Edward & Elenor”

“Edward & Elenor,” separate plate (1793) (British Library; British Museum) <Essick IV*, WBW 1741>

“Our End is come”

“The Accusers of Theft Adultery Murder,” separate plate, first state (1793) (Bodleian) <Essick VIII*, WBW 162>

“Birth of a Daisy”

Visions (B) pl. 3 (1793) (British Museum) <WBW 102n>

“Evening Clouds”

Visions (B) pl. 10 (1793) (British Museum) <WBW 115n>

“Pity”, “Doubt”, “Dissipation”, “Weariness”, “Luxury”, “Idleness”, “Suicide[?]”, “Indolence”, “Rage”, “Despair”, “Reason[?]”, “Deceit”, “Discontent”, “Joy” | “Avarice”, “Listlessness”, “Study”, “Cruelty”, “Distress”, “Severity”, “Oppression”, “Misery”, “Mischief”, “Protection”

Various Personifications, a Death Bed and Other Drawings (1793-94) (Houghton Library, Harvard) <#214^r-v*>

“When the senses are shaken And the soul is driven to madness”The inscriptions (recorded in an 1891 exhibition catalogue) are on an impression printed in intaglio (now untraced); they are not visible on the color-printed impressions in the British Museum and the US National Gallery of Art.
“Page 56”

“The Accusers of Theft Adultery Murder,” separate plate, second state (1793-96) (British Museum; National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC) <Essick VIII*, WBW 162>

“The Dead … do …”

The Dead Bad-Doers (1794-96) (Robert N. Essick) <#232^r*>

“Elohim creating Adam”

Elohim Creating Adam, color print (1795) (Tate) <#289*, WBW 1741>

“God speaking to Adam”

God Judging Adam, color print (1795) (Tate) <#294*, WBW 1741>

“The Good and Evil Angels”

The Good and Evil Angels Struggling for Possession of a Child, color print (1795) (Tate) <#323*>

“The House of Death Milton”

The House of Death, color print (1795) (Tate) <#320*, WBW 1741>

“Lamech and his two Wives”

Lamech and His Two Wives, color print (1795) (Tate) <#297*, WBW 1741>

“Nebuchadnezzar”

Nebuchadnezzar, color print (1795) (Tate) <#301*, WBW 1741>

“Newton”

Newton, color print (1795) (Tate; Lutheran Church of America, Philadelphia) <#306-07*, WBW 1741>

“Pity from Shakespeare’s Macbeth”

Pity, color print (1795) (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York) <#311*>

“Nimrod”

Nimrod or “Let Loose the Dogs of War” (1795) (Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City) <#331*>

“THE CHRISTIAN TRIUMPH”

Watercolor for Young, Night Thoughts, Night IV, title page (1795-96) (British Museum) <#330 1^r-v>, originally intended as the frontispiece for all the designs. It was engraved (1797) as “The | Christian | Triumph.”

“MENE TEK”“MENE MENE TEKEL UPHARSIN” was the mysterious inscription on the wall at Belshazzar’s feast (Daniel 5.25).

Watercolor for Young, Night Thoughts, Night II, p. 27 (1795-96) (British Museum) <#330 60>, engraving (1797), p. 33, representing the writing on the wall at Belshazzar’s feast; note that the inscription is in roman characters, not Hebrew.

“PLATO de Animae Immortale-tate — —”
“Cicero de Nat: Deor”
“Aristot: Respub:”
“Plutarchi Chaer: Op”
“Lock[e] on human under[standing]”

Watercolor for Young, Night Thoughts, Night V, p. 44 (1795-96) (British Museum) <#330 199>; the inscriptions are on spines of books.

“IMMORTALITY decyph[ers] MAN”

Watercolor for Young, Night Thoughts, Night VII, p. 26 (1795-96) (British Museum) <#330 298>; the inscription is on a tablet held by a winged figure.

“X Command^tṣ”

Watercolor for Young, Night Thoughts, Night VII, p. 61 (1795-96) (British Museum) <#330 333>; the inscription is on Moses’s tablets of the law.

“MYSTERY”

Watercolor for Young, Night Thoughts, Night VIII, title page (1795-96) (British Museum) <#330 345>; the inscription is on the forehead of the Whore of Babylon.

“VICI”

Watercolor for Young, Night Thoughts, Night VIII, p. 57 (1795-96) (British Museum) <#330 403>; the line illustrates “And when he falls, writes VICI on his Shield.”

“Night”
“Thoughts”

Watercolor for Young, Night Thoughts, Night VIII, p. 69 (1795-96) (British Museum) <#330 415>; the words are on a book being torn in half, “Night” on one, “Thoughts” on the other, with fingers obscuring the letters.

“HERE LIETH THOMAS DAY AGED 100 YEAR”

Watercolor for Young, Night Thoughts, Night IX, p. 6 (1795-96) (British Museum) <#330 424, WBW 1742>; the inscription is on a tombstone.

Hebrew for “as time, after strife”

Watercolor for Young, Night Thoughts, Night IX, p. 17 (1795-96) (British Museum) <#330 435>, translated here by Abraham Samuel Shiff, “Blake’s Hebrew Calligraphy,” Blake 46.2 (fall 2012): pars. 4-6; the words are on a book. The line starred is “Awful Eternity! offended Queen!”

“End of the night thoughts”

Watercolor for Young, Night Thoughts, Night IX, p. 119 (1795-96) (British Museum) <#330 537>

“A Breach in A City the Morning after the Battle”

A Breach in a City, the Morning after the Battle (1795-1800) (Ackland Art Museum, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) <#191>See note 21, above.

“‘The Book of my Remembrance’”

Urizen pl. 5 in Small Book of Designs (B) (1796) (Beinecke Library, Yale) <WBW 247n>

“‘Death & Hell’” | “‘Teem with Life’”

Marriage pl. 11 in Small Book of Designs (B) (1796) (Princeton University Library) <WBW 85n>

“‘Does the Soul labour thus’” | “‘In Caverns of The Grave’”

Urizen pl. 10 in Small Book of Designs (B) (1796) (Beinecke Library, Yale) <WBW 253n>

“‘Doth God take care of These’”The inscriptions on the newly discovered prints for Small Book of Designs (B) are given in Martin Butlin and Robin Hamlyn, “Tate Britain Reveals Nine New Blakes and Thirteen New Lines of Verse,” Blake 42.2 (fall 2008): 52-72.

Thel pl. 7 in Small Book of Designs (B) (1796) (Tate)

“‘Eternally I labour on’”

Urizen pl. 9 in Small Book of Designs (B) (1796) (Princeton University Library) <WBW 253n>

“‘Every thing is an attempt’” | “‘To be Human’”

Urizen pl. 11 in Small Book of Designs (B) (1796) (Tate)

“‘Fearless tho in pain’” | “‘I travel on’”

Urizen pl. 23 in Small Book of Designs (B) (1796) (Tate)

“‘A Flaming Sword’” | “‘Revolving every way’”

Marriage pl. 14 in Small Book of Designs (B) (1796) (National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC) <WBW 88n>

“The floods overwhelmed me”

Urizen pl. 12 in Small Book of Designs (B) (1796) (Tate)

“I labour upwards into | futurity”

Urizen pl. 12For discussion of which impression of Urizen pl. 12 was part of Small Book (B), see Butlin and Hamlyn 55 and Bentley, “William Blake and His Circle, 2008,” Blake 43.1 (summer 2009): 12n22. in Small Book of Designs (B) (1796) (Morgan Library) <WBW 244n>

“‘Frozen doors to mock’” | “‘The World: while they within torments up lock.’”

Urizen pl. 22 in Small Book of Designs (B) (1796) (Robert N. Essick) <WBW 271n>

“‘I sought Pleasure & found Pain’” | “‘Unutterable’”

Urizen pl. 7 in Small Book of Designs (B) (1796) (Tate)

“‘Is the Female death’” | “‘Become new Life’”

Urizen pl. 19 in Small Book of Designs (B) (1796) (Tate)

“O flames of furious desire”The pencil inscription on the verso is not in Blake’s hand, but it may have been transcribed from a Blake inscription.

Urizen pl. 3 in Small Book of Designs (B) (1796) (Keynes Family Trust) <WBW 241n>

“‘O revolving serpent’” | “‘O the Ocean of Time & Space’”

Marriage pl. 20 in Small Book of Designs (B) (1796) (Robert N. Essick)

“‘Teach these Souls to Fly’”

Urizen pl. 2 in Small Book of Designs (B) (1796) (Tate) <WBW 240n>

“‘Vegetating in fibres of Blood’”

Urizen pl. 17 in Small Book of Designs (B) (1796) (Tate)

“‘Wait Sisters’” | “‘Tho all is Lost’”

Visions pl. 10 in Small Book of Designs (B) (1796) (Keynes Family Trust)

“‘Which is the Way’” | “‘The Right or the Left’”

Urizen pl. 1 in Small Book of Designs (B) (1796) (Keynes Family Trust) <WBW 239n>

“‘Who shall set’” | “‘The Prisoners free’”

Marriage pl. 16 in Small Book of Designs (B) (1796) (Tate)

“NIGHT THE FIRST | — | ON LIFE | … | DEATH | And | IMMORTALITY | ——”

Young, Night Thoughts (1797), Night I, title page proof (Houghton Library, Harvard) <#330A 1>; engraved as “NIGHT the FIRST, | ON | LIFE, | DEATH | AND | IMMORTALITY.”

“TIME | — | DEATH | —— FRIENDSH | ——”

Young, Night Thoughts (1797), Night II, title page proof (Houghton Library, Harvard) <#330A 2>; engraved as “NIGHT the SECOND | ON | TIME, | DEATH | AND | FRIENDSHIP.”

“NIGHT | THE | THIRD, | NARCISSA.”

Young, Night Thoughts (1797), Night III, title page

2. Young, Night Thoughts (1797), colored copy Q, p. 63 (see enlargement of the Hebrew). Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection. B1978.43.1405.

Hebrew characters on a scroll (see illus. 2)

Young, Night Thoughts (1797), p. 63, illustrating “This KING OF TERRORS is the PRINCE OF PEACE”; some of the Hebrew characters are reversed, others are “scrambled” or a “graffiti-like emulation of Hebrew” (Abraham Samuel Shiff, “Blake’s Hebrew Calligraphy,” Blake 46.2 [fall 2012]: par. 3). On the corresponding drawing <#330 108> the lines on the scroll are meaningless. According to Shiff (par. 8), probably Blake was “not in command of the Hebrew alphabet in 1797.”

Watercolor (1797) for Poems by Mr. Gray, a New Edition (London: J. Murray, 1790) (Yale Center for British Art) <#335 2*, WBW 1324>. The words within single quotation marks are quoted from Gray’s poem.

Watercolor (1797) for Poems by Mr. Gray (1790) (Yale Center for British Art) <#335 8*, WBW 1324-25>

Watercolor (1797) for Poems by Mr. Gray (1790) (Yale Center for British Art) <#335 14*, WBW 1325-26>

Watercolor (1797) for Poems by Mr. Gray (1790) (Yale Center for British Art) <#335 22*, WBW 1326>

“Elizabeth Rex”

Watercolor (1797) for Poems by Mr. Gray (1790) (Yale Center for British Art) <#335 26*>; the inscription is on a seal.

Watercolor (1797) for Poems by Mr. Gray (1790) (Yale Center for British Art) <#335 36*, WBW 1326-27>

Watercolor (1797) for Poems by Mr. Gray (1790) (Yale Center for British Art) <#335 42*, WBW 1327>

Watercolor (1797) for Poems by Mr. Gray (1790) (Yale Center for British Art) <#335 52*, WBW 1327-28>

Watercolor (1797) for Poems by Mr. Gray (1790) (Yale Center for British Art) <#335 66*, WBW 1328-29>

Watercolor (1797) for Poems by Mr. Gray (1790) (Yale Center for British Art) <#335 78*, WBW 1329>

Watercolor (1797) for Poems by Mr. Gray (1790) (Yale Center for British Art) <#335 86*, WBW 1329>

Watercolor (1797) for Poems by Mr. Gray (1790) (Yale Center for British Art) <#335 94*, WBW 1330>

Watercolor (1797) for Poems by Mr. Gray (1790) (Yale Center for British Art) <#335 102*, WBW 1330>

Watercolor (1797) for Poems by Mr. Gray (1790) (Yale Center for British Art) <#335 106*, WBW 1330-31>

“DUST THOU ART. HERE LIETH Wm Blake Aged 10[ ]”

Watercolor (1797) for Poems by Mr. Gray (1790) (Yale Center for British Art) <#335 112*>

“The last supper: ‘Verily I say unto you, that one of you shall betray me.’—Matt. chap. 26, ver. 21”

Royal Academy catalogue (1799) (picture in the collection of the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC) <#424, WBW 1741>

“The loaves and fishes”

Royal Academy catalogue (1800) (picture in the collection of Robert N. Essick) <#416, WBW 1741>

“EPISTLES | to | John Flaxman | Sculptor”An allusion to William Hayley (Tom’s father), An Essay on Sculpture: In a Series of Epistles to John Flaxman, Esq. R.A. (1800).

Thomas Alphonso Hayley (1800) (Yale Center for British Art) <#345*>; it is the title on a scroll.

“1^sṭ Samuel 28^tḥ ch: 12^tḥ to 21”

The Ghost of Samuel Appearing to Saul (1800) (National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC) <#458*>

“John XIX c. 23 & 24 v”

The Soldiers Casting Lots for Christ’s Garment (1800) (Fitzwilliam Museum) <#495*>

“Acts IX c. 6 v”

The Conversion of Saul (1800) (Huntington Library and Art Collections) <#506*>

“Agnes from the Novel of The Monk Designed & Painted by Catherine Blake & Presented by her in Gratitude & Friendship to M^rṣ Butts”

Catherine Blake, Agnes (1800) (Fitzwilliam Museum) <#C1*>

“Judg Ch. 16 v. 19”

Samson Subdued (1800-03) (Philadelphia Museum of Art) <#455*>

“II Samuel. XIV. c. 33 v.”

David Pardoning Absalom (1800-03) (Higgins Museum, Bedford) <#459*>

3. Sealing the Stone and Setting a Watch (1800-03) (see enlargement). Yale Center for British Art, Everett V. Meeks, B.A. 1901 Fund. B1979.12.703.

“Matthew XXVII c 66v”
Hebrew on the headband of the priest beside the ladder and on the bottom of the robe of the man speaking to the priestSee the textual transcription and editors’ notes for this watercolor in the William Blake Archive. (see illus. 3)

Sealing the Stone and Setting a Watch (1800-03) (Yale Center for British Art) <#499*>; the inscription in copperplate “Sealing the Stone & setting a Watch” is not by Blake (see note 4).

“Mark ch: 16^th: v. 6^th:”

The Three Maries at the Sepulchre (1800-03) (Fitzwilliam Museum) <#503*>

“INRI”
“Luke XXIII c. 42 v”

Christ Crucified between the Two Thieves (1800-03) (Fogg Museum, Harvard) <#494*>; “INRI” (on the wood above Christ’s head) stands for “Iesus Nazarenus Rex Iudaeorum” (“Jesus of Nazareth King of the Jews”).

“INRI”For its meaning, see Christ Crucified between the Two Thieves (1800-03), above.
Hebrew for “I [am] the Lord”

Christ Nailed to the Cross: The Third Hour (1800-03) (Morgan Library) <#496*>; Hebrew on the headband of the priest above Christ and on the hem of the priest’s robe over his left wrist. According to Abraham Samuel Shiff (“Blake’s Hebrew Calligraphy,” Blake 46.2 [fall 2012]: par. 12), the letters on the robe have no biblical authority.

“Acts xxviii c 4 v”

St. Paul Shaking Off the Viper (1800-03) (private collection) <#509*>

“HOLY | BIBLE” (on book spine)
“THE | TASK” (on book spine)
“WILLIAM COWPER | &^c”

Hayley’s First Idea for Cowper’s Monument (1802) (Houghton Library, Harvard; Fitzwilliam Museum) <#355*, 356*>

“THE | TASK” (on book spine)
“HOLY | BIBLE” (on book spine)
“WILLIAM COWPER | &^c”

Hayley’s Second Idea for Cowper’s Monument, inscribed below “The Monument of Cowper | in the Church of East Dereham | Designed by W^m Hayley” (1802) (Princeton University Library) <#357*>

“in St Nicholas Church Dereham”
“Cowper’s Monument in Dereham Church”

Hayley’s Second Idea for Cowper’s Monument, Replica (1802) (Beinecke Library, Yale) <#358*>

“Gen: ch: 3^rd: v. 21^st:”

The Angel of the Divine Presence Clothing Adam and Eve with Coats of Skins (1803) (Fitzwilliam Museum) <#436*>

Hebrew alphabet figures

Hebrew Characters Using the Human Form (1803) (Whitworth Art Gallery, University of Manchester) <#199^v>

“Judges XI c 35 v”

Jephthah Met by His Daughter (1803) (Philadelphia Museum of Art) <#450*>

“Psalm LXXXV. 10. V”

Mercy and Truth Are Met Together, Righteousness and Peace Have Kissed Each Other (1803) (Victoria & Albert Museum) <#463*>

“Gen: ch: 39^tḥ v 17^tḥ & 18”

Joseph and Potiphar’s Wife (1803-05) (Yale Center for British Art) <#439*>

“Job XL. C 1 to 4 v.”

Job Confessing His Presumption to God Who Answers from the Whirlwind (1803-05) (National Gallery of Scotland) <#461*>

“Matt^w: ch: 4^tḥ v. 11^th:”

The Third Temptation (1803-05) (Victoria & Albert Museum) <#476*>

“Luke 10 ch: v 41^st: & 42”According to Butlin, the inscription is on a mount that has been removed.

Christ in the House of Martha and Mary (1803-05) (Victoria & Albert Museum) <#489*>

“Acts I c. 9 & 10 v”

The Ascension (1803-05) (Fitzwilliam Museum) <#505*>

“Acts XVIII c. 6 v”

St. Paul and the Viper (1803-05) (Britten–Pears Foundation) <#510*>

“Rev^ns: ch: 12^th: v 4^th:”

The Great Red Dragon and the Woman Clothed with the Sun (1803-05) (Brooklyn Museum) <#519*>

“Ezekiel”
“I take away from thee the Desire of thine Eyes, Ezekiel xxiv C 16”

“Ezekiel,” separate plate, second state (1804) (British Museum; Fitzwilliam Museum) <Essick VI*, WBW 1741>

“Albion rose from where he labourd at the Mill with Slaves
Giving himself for the Nations he danc’d the dance of Eternal Death”

“Albion Rose,” separate plate, second state (1804 or later) (British Museum; National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC) <Essick VII*, WBW 314n>

“Journey of Life”

The Journey of Life (1804-07) (British Museum) <#572*, WBW 634n>

“Genesis II^ḍ c. 3^d v—”

God Blessing the Seventh Day (1805) (private collection) <#434*>

“Genesis XXVIII c. 12v”

Jacob’s Dream (1805) (British Museum) <#438*>

“Exod: ch: 2^nd v. 7^tḥ & 8^tḥ”

The Finding of Moses (1805) (Victoria & Albert Museum) <#440*>

“Visions of Eternity”

Visions of Eternity (1805) (British Museum) <#444^v*, WBW 1323>

“Matt. 25 Ch. v. 9”

The Parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins (1805) (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York) <#478*>

“Mark XIV c 26 v”

The Hymn of Christ and the Apostles (1805) (private collection) <#490*>

“Luke ch: 23^rd v. 53^rd”

The Entombment (1805) (Tate) <#498*>

“Exod: C XXV. v 20”

Christ in the Sepulchre, Guarded by Angels (1805) (Victoria & Albert Museum) <#500*>

“Mat^w: ch: 28^th: v. 2^nḍ”

The Angel Rolling the Stone Away from the Sepulchre (1805) (Victoria & Albert Museum) <#501*>

“Rev: c xxii v 1 & 2”

The River of Life (1805) (Tate) <#525*>

“INRI”For its meaning, see Christ Crucified between the Two Thieves (1800-03), above.

The Crucifixion: “Behold Thy Mother” (1805) (Tate) <#497*>; the inscription is on the wood above Christ’s head.

“Prone on the lowly grave—she drops—
Clings yet more closely to the senseless turf.
Nor heeds the passenger who looks that way”

The Widow Embracing Her Husband’s Grave for Blair’s Grave (1805) (Yale Center for British Art) <#633>; the inscription is on a mount. At least three tombstones in the design have illegible inscriptions, which may be mere squiggles.

“DEATHS DOOR”

“Deaths Door,” separate plate (1805) (Robert N. Essick) <Essick XIII*>

“The Skeleton Re-animated [on the Sound of the Archangel’s Trumpet]” or
“A Skeleton discovering the first symptoms of re-animation”

Blair prospectus in Burns, Reliques (1808); “Of the Designs” in Blair’s Grave (1808); the design appears on the engraved title page in Blair’s Grave (1808)

“Christ Descending into the Grave [with the Keys of Death and Hell]” or
“The descent of Christ into the Grave”

First Blair prospectus (1805); Blair prospectus in Burns, Reliques (1808); “Of the Designs” in Blair’s Grave (1808); engraved plate in Blair’s Grave (1808)

“The [A] meeting of a Family in Heaven” or
“A Family Meeting in Heaven”

First Blair prospectus (1805); Blair prospectus in Burns, Reliques (1808); “Of the Designs” in Blair’s Grave (1808); engraved plate in Blair’s Grave (1808)

“The Counsellor, King, Warrior, Mother & Child in the Tomb”

First Blair prospectus (1805); Blair prospectus in Burns, Reliques (1808); “Of the Designs” in Blair’s Grave (1808); engraved plate in Blair’s Grave (1808)

“The strong and Wicked Man dying” or
“Death of the Strong Wicked Man”

First Blair prospectus (1805); Blair prospectus in Burns, Reliques (1808); “Of the Designs” in Blair’s Grave (1808); engraved plate in Blair’s Grave (1808)

“The Soul suspended over the Body, unwilling to part with Life” or
“The Soul reluctantly parting with the Body” or
“The Soul hovering over the Body [reluctantly parting with Life]”

First Blair prospectus (1805); Blair prospectus in Burns, Reliques (1808); “Of the Designs” in Blair’s Grave (1808); engraved plate in Blair’s Grave (1808)

“The Valley of Death” or
“The descent of Man into the Vale of Death”

First Blair prospectus (1805); Blair prospectus in Burns, Reliques (1808); “Of the Designs” in Blair’s Grave (1808); engraved plate in Blair’s Grave (1808)

“Death’s Door”

First Blair prospectus (1805); Blair prospectus in Burns, Reliques (1808); “Of the Designs” in Blair’s Grave (1808); engraved plate in Blair’s Grave (1808)

“The Re-union of Soul with the Body at the last Day” or
“The Reunion of the Soul & the Body”

First Blair prospectus (1805); Blair prospectus in Burns, Reliques (1808); “Of the Designs” in Blair’s Grave (1808); engraved plate in Blair’s Grave (1808)

“The Last Judgment” or
“The Day of Judgment”

First Blair prospectus (1805); Blair prospectus in Burns, Reliques (1808); “Of the Designs” in Blair’s Grave (1808); engraved plate in Blair’s Grave (1808)

“The Soul exploring the Caverns of Death” or
“The Soul exploring the recesses of the Grave”

First Blair prospectus (1805); Blair prospectus in Burns, Reliques (1808); “Of the Designs” in Blair’s Grave (1808); engraved plate in Blair’s Grave (1808)

“The good old Man dying” or
“The Death of The Good Old Man”

First Blair prospectus (1805); Blair prospectus in Burns, Reliques (1808); “Of the Designs” in Blair’s Grave (1808); engraved plate in Blair’s Grave (1808)

“Death pursuing the Soul through the Avenues of Life”

First Blair prospectus (1805) (drawing in the collection of Robert N. Essick)

“Friendship”Some titles of the watercolors sold in 2006 that were not engraved appear to bear no authority from Blake: “The Grave Personified” (Price), “While Surfeited upon thy Damask Cheek” (Anon.), “A Father and two children Beside an Open Grave” (Anon.), “Heaven’s Portals Wide Expand to Let Him In” (Essick), and “Our Time Is Fixed” (Anon.).

First Blair prospectus (1805) (drawing in the collection of Alan Parker)

“THE NEW TESTAMENT”

On the open book under the hand of the good old man, both in Blake’s sketch (1805) and in the engraved plate in Blair’s Grave (1808)

“Our Father which art in Heavn Hallowed be thy Name thy Will be”

Job and His Family (1805-06) (Morgan Library) <#550 1*>

Hebrew on the tablets of the Ten Commandments

Job’s Evil Dreams (1805-06) (Morgan Library) <#550 11*>; Hebrew inscriptions on the tablets of the law from Exodus 20.13: thou shalt not “kill,” “commit adultery,” or “steal.” According to Abraham Samuel Shiff (“Blake’s Hebrew Calligraphy,” Blake 46.2 [fall 2012]: pars. 13-21), the Hebrew has many errors. In the engraved version, in Job (1826) pl. “11,” there is no writing on the tablets.

“The Spirit of Nelson guiding Lev[i]athan in whose folds are entangled the nations of the ear[th]”

Sketch for “The Spiritual Form of Nelson Guiding Leviathan” (1805-09) (British Museum) <#650*>

“Theotormon Woven”

Theotormon Woven (1805-10) (Victoria & Albert Museum) <#575*>

“The Accusers of Theft Adultery Murder”
“A Scene in the Last Judgment Satans’ holy Trinity The Accuser The Judge & The Executioner”

“The Accusers of Theft Adultery Murder,” separate plate, third state (1805-10) (multiple impressions) <Essick VIII*, WBW 162>

“adam & Eve”

Sketch for “Satan Watching the Endearments of Adam and Eve” (1806) (Fitzwilliam Museum) <#532*, WBW 1741>

“as y[ou] Like I[t]”

Jacques and the Wounded Stag for Shakespeare, second folio (1806) (British Museum) <#547 1*>

“Richard 3^d”

Richard III and the Ghosts for Shakespeare, second folio (1806) (British Museum) <#547 2*>

“Julius C”

Brutus and Caesar’s Ghost for Shakespeare, second folio (1806) (British Museum) <#547 4*>

“The Grave | a Poem | by Robert Blair | illustrated with 12 Engravings | by Louis Schiavonetti | From the Original Inventions | of | William Blake. | 1806”

First reproduced among the watercolors for Blair’s Grave rediscovered in 2001 and offered at Sotheby’s (New York), 2 May 2006, lot 1; not in Butlin.

“A Series of Designs: Illustrative of The Grave, a Poem by Robert Blair. Invented & Drawn by William Blake 1806”

Second Alternative Design for Title Page: A Spirit Rising from the Tomb (1806) (Huntington Library and Art Collections) <#616*, WBW 1331>

“To the Queen”, plus, too faint now to read, Blake’s dedicatory poem to Blair’s Grave (1808)

Design for the Dedication to Blair’s “Grave” (1807) (British Museum) <#620*>

Hebrew for “Enoch”
Hebrew for “And Enoch walked with God” [Genesis 5.24]

“Enoch,” separate lithograph (1807) (four copies known) <Essick XV*, WBW 1741>;Copy B has an inscription by George Cumberland about making lithographs, which he had “of Blake” (see Essick XV and BR[2] 246-47). on the book on Enoch’s lap and on the page held by the man to his left.

“INRI”For its meaning, see Christ Crucified between the Two Thieves (1800-03), above.

Michael Foretells the Crucifixion (1807) (Huntington Library and Art Collections) <#529 11*>; the inscription is on the wood above Christ’s head.

“The Father indignant at the Fall—the Saviour. While the Evil Angels are driven, gently conducts our first parents out of Eden through a Guard of weeping Angels—Satan now awakes Sin, Death, & Hell, to celebrate with him the birth of war & Misery, while the Lion seizes the Bull, the Tyger the Horse, the Vulture and the Eagle contend for the Lamb”

The Fall of Man (1807) (Victoria & Albert Museum) <#641*, WBW 1332>

“Jacob’s Dream: Vide Genesis, chap. xxviii, ver. 12”

Royal Academy catalogue (1808) (picture in the collection of the British Museum) <#438, WBW 1741>

“Christ in the sepulchre, guarded by angels”

Royal Academy catalogue (1808) (picture in the collection of the Victoria & Albert Museum) <#500, WBW 1741>

“The Last Judgment”

Royal Academy catalogue (1808) (picture in the collection of the National Trust, Petworth House) <#642>

“The spiritual form of Nelson guiding Leviathan, in whose wreathings are infolded the Nations of the Earth”

Descriptive Catalogue (1809) (picture in the collection of the Tate) <#649>

“The spiritual form of Pitt, guiding Behemoth …”

Descriptive Catalogue (1809) (picture in the collection of the Tate) <#651>; the description was slightly altered in the exhibition of the Associated Painters in Water-Colours (1812) (WBW 829n).

“Sir Jeffery Chaucer and the nine and twenty Pilgrims on their journey to Canterbury”

Descriptive Catalogue (1809) (picture in the collection of Pollok House, Glasgow) <#653>

“The Bard, from Gray”

Descriptive Catalogue (1809) (picture in the collection of the Tate) <#655>

“Grays Bard”

Sketches for “The Bard” (1809) (Philadelphia Museum of Art) <#656*>

“The Ancient Britons”

Descriptive Catalogue (1809) (picture untraced since 1809) <#657>

“A Spirit vaulting from a cloud to turn and wind a fiery Pegasus—Shakspeare”

Descriptive Catalogue (1809) (picture untraced since 1809) <#658>

“The Goats, an experiment Picture”

Descriptive Catalogue (1809) (picture untraced since 1809) <#659>

“The spiritual Preceptor, an experiment Picture”

Descriptive Catalogue (1809) (picture untraced since 1809) <#660>

“Satan calling up his Legions, from Milton’s Paradise Lost”

Descriptive Catalogue (1809) (picture in the collection of the Victoria & Albert Museum) <#661>

“The Bramins”

Descriptive Catalogue (1809) (picture untraced since 1809) <#663>

“The body of Abel found by Adam and Eve; Cain, who was about to bury it, fleeing from the face of his Parents”

Descriptive Catalogue (1809) (picture in the collection of the Fogg Museum, Harvard) <#664>

“The Soldiers casting lots for Christ’s Garment”

Descriptive Catalogue (1809) (picture in the collection of the Fitzwilliam Museum) <#495>

“Jacob’s Ladder”

Descriptive Catalogue (1809) (picture in the collection of the British Museum) <#438>

“The Angels hovering over the Body of Jesus in the Sepulchre”

Descriptive Catalogue (1809) (1805) (picture in the collection of the Victoria & Albert Museum) <#500>

“Ruth”

Descriptive Catalogue (1809) (picture in the collection of the Southampton City Art Gallery) <#456>

“The Penance of Jane Shore in Saint Paul’s Church”

Descriptive Catalogue (1809) (picture in the collection of the Tate) <#69>

“CHAUCERS CANTERBURY PILGRIMS”, “Reeve”, “Chaucer”, “Clerk of Oxenford”, “Cook”, “Miller”, “Wife of Bath”, “Merchant”, “Parson”, “Man of Law”, “Plowman”, “Physician”, “Franklin”, “2 Citizens”, “Shipman”, “The Host”, “Sompnour”, “Manciple”, “Pardoner”, “Monk”, “Friar”, “a Citizen”, “Lady Abbeſs”, “Nun”, “3 Priests”, “Squires Yeoman”, “Knight”, “Squire”, “AMOR | VINCIT | OMNI[A]”“AMOR | VINCIT | OMNI[A]” (love conquers all) appears on the plaque or medallion on the rosary of the Lady Abbess in all states. It does not seem to be recorded in Essick, Separate Plates 60-89. It does not appear in the preliminary drawing in the British Museum. The words are quoted from Chaucer’s Prologue, as Essick reminds me.

“Chaucers Canterbury Pilgrims,” separate plate, first state (1810) (National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC) <Essick XVI>. Note (illus. 4) the medallion reading “AMOR | VINCIT | OMNI[A]” (the last letter of each word somewhat uncertain) on the rosary of the Lady Abbess, not previously recorded.

4. Detail of “Chaucers Canterbury Pilgrims” showing the “AMOR VINCIT OMNI[A]” inscription. This image is from an impression of the fourth state. Collection of Robert N. Essick.

“Job”
“What is Man That thou shouldest Try him Every Moment? Job vii C 17 & 18v”

“Job,” separate plate, second state (1810) (British Museum; Fitzwilliam Museum) <Essick V*, WBW 1741>

“Engraved when I was a beginner at Basires from a drawing by Salviati after Michael Angelo”

“Joseph of Arimathea among the Rocks of Albion,” manuscript (?1810) on separate plate, first state (1773) (Fitzwilliam Museum) <Essick I*>

“JOSEPH of Arimathea among The Rocks of Albion”
“Engraved by W Blake 1773 from an old Italian Drawing This is One of the Gothic Artists who Built the Cathedrals in what we call the Dark Ages Wandering about in sheep skins & goat skins of whom the World was not worthy such were the Christians in all Ages Michael Angelo Pinxit”

“Joseph of Arimathea among the Rocks of Albion,” separate plate, second state (1810-20) (multiple impressions) <Essick I*, WBW 642>

“ΠAPIS”, i.e., “Paris”

The Judgment of Paris (1811) (British Museum) <#675*>; the inscription is in Greek, on the collar of Paris’s dog.

“Chaining of Orc”

The Chaining of Orc (1812) (British Museum) <#584*>

“Sir Jeoffrey Chaucer and Twenty-seven Pilgrims leaving the Tabarde Inn, in the Borough, on their Way to Canterbury, Morning”

Associated Painters in Water-Colours catalogue (1812) (picture in the collection of Pollok House, Glasgow) <#653>

“The Spiritual Form of Pitt”

Associated Painters in Water-Colours catalogue (1812) (picture in the collection of the Tate) <#651>

“The Spiritual Form of Nelson”

Associated Painters in Water-Colours catalogue (1812) (picture in the collection of the Tate) <#649>

“Mirth. Allegro”
“Heart easing Mirth …”Lacunae in the inscriptions from L’Allegro and Il Penseroso represent Blake’s extensive transcriptions from the poems, which may be found in, inter alia, WBW.
“These Personifications are all brought together in the First Design. Surrounding the Principal Figure which is Mirth herself”

Description of Mirth for L’Allegro (1816-20) (Morgan Library) <#543 1*, WBW 1332-33>

“… The Lark is an Angel on the Wing Dull Night starts from his Watch Tower on a Cloud. The Dawn with her dappled Horses arises above the Earth The Earth beneath awakes at the Larks Voice”

Description of Night Startled by the Lark for L’Allegro (1816-20) (Morgan Library) <#543 2*, WBW 1333>

“… The Great Sun is represented clothed in Flames Surrounded by the Clouds in their Liveries, in their various Offices at the Eastern Gate. Beneath in Small Figures Milton walking by Elms on Hillocks green The Plowman. The Milkmaid The Mower whetting his Scythe. & the Shepherd & his Lass under a Hawthorne in the dale”

Description of The Sun at His Eastern Gate for L’Allegro (1816-20) (Morgan Library) <#543 3*, WBW 1333-34>

“… In this design is Introduced
Mountains on whose barren breast The Labring Clouds do often rest Mountains Clouds Rivers Trees appear Humanized on the Sunshine Holiday. The Church Steeple with its merry bells The Clouds arise from the bosoms of Mountains While Two Angels Sound their Trumpets in the Heavens to announce the Sunshine Holiday”

Description of A Sunshine Holiday for L’Allegro (1816-20) (Morgan Library) <#543 4*, WBW 1334>

“… The Goblin crop full flings out of doors from his Laborious task dropping his Flail & Cream bowl yawning & stretching vanishes into the Sky. in which is Seen Queen Mab Eating the Junkets. The Sports of the Fairies are seen thro the Cottage where ‘She’ lays in Bed ‘pinchd & pulld’ by Fairies as they dance on the Bed the Cieling & the Floor & a Ghost pulls the Bed Clothes at her feet. ‘He’ is seen following the Friars Lantern towards the Convent”

Description of The Goblin for L’Allegro (1816-20) (Morgan Library) <#543 5*, WBW 1334-35>

“… The youthful Poet sleeping on a bank by the Haunted Stream by Sun Set sees in his dream the more bright Sun of Imagination. under the auspices of Shakespeare & Johnson. in which is Hymen at a Marriage & the Antique Pageantry attending it”

Description of The Youthful Poet’s Dream for L’Allegro (1816-20) (Morgan Library) <#543 6*, WBW 1335>

“Melancholy. Pensieroso … These Personifications are all brought together in this design surrounding the Principal Figure of Who is Melancholy herself”

Description of Melancholy for Il Penseroso (1816-20) (Morgan Library) <#543 7*, WBW 1335-36>

“… Milton in his Character of a Student at Cambridge Sees the Moon terrified as one led astray in the midst of her path thro heaven. The distant Steeple Seen across a wide water indicates the Sound of the Curfew Bell”

Description of The Wandering Moon for Il Penseroso (1816-20) (Morgan Library) <#543 8*, WBW 1336-37>

“… The Spirit of Plato unfolds his Worlds to Milton in Contemplation. The Three destinies sit on the Circles of Platos Heavens weaving the Thread of Mortal Life these Heavens are Venus Jupiter & Mars Hermes flies before as attending on the Heaven of Jupiter the Great Bear is seen in the Sky beneath Hermes & The Spirits of Fire Air Water & Earth Surround Miltons Chair”

Description of The Spirit of Plato for Il Penseroso (1816-20) (Morgan Library) <#543 9*, WBW 1337>

“… Milton led by Melancholy into the Groves away from the Suns flaring Beams who is seen in the Heavens throwing his darts & flames of fire The Spirits of the Trees on each side are Seen under the domination of Insects raised by the Suns heat”

Description of The Sun in His Wrath for Il Penseroso (1816-20) (Morgan Library) <#543 10*, WBW 1337>

“… Milton Sleeping on a Bank. Sleep descending with a Strange Mysterious dream upon his Wings of Scrolls & Nets & Webs unfolded by Spirits in the Air & in the Brook around Milton are Six Spirits or Fairies hovering on the air with Instruments of Music”

Description of Milton’s Mysterious Dream for Il Penseroso (1816-20) (Morgan Library) <#543 11*, WBW 1337-38>

“… Milton in his Old Age sitting in his Mossy Cell Contemplating the Constellations. Surrounded by the Spirits of the Herbs & Flowers. bursts forth into a rapturous Prophetic Strain”

Description of Milton in His Old Age for Il Penseroso (1816-20) (Morgan Library) <#543 12*, WBW 1338>

“Cornelius Agrippa”

Large Blake-Varley Sketchbook (1819) (Alan Parker)

“Alexander the Great”

Large Blake-Varley Sketchbook (1819) (Alan Parker)

“Thomas a Becket Preaching”

Large Blake-Varley Sketchbook (1819) (Alan Parker)

“Miss Blandy who poisoned her father”

Large Blake-Varley Sketchbook (1819) (Alan Parker)

“Colonel Blood who attempted to steal the Crown”

Large Blake-Varley Sketchbook (1819) (Alan Parker)

“Bothwell”

Large Blake-Varley Sketchbook (1819) (Alan Parker)

“Mother Brownrigg”

Large Blake-Varley Sketchbook (1819) (Alan Parker)

“Robert Bruce King of Scotland”

Large Blake-Varley Sketchbook (1819) (Alan Parker)

“Canute”
“Dark Hair & Eyes”

Large Blake-Varley Sketchbook (1819) (National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC) <#721*>; repeated on the replica (Huntington Library and Art Collections) <#722*, WBW 1741>.

“Cassibelane”
“Cassibelane the British Chief”
“By Blake Octr. 27 1819 11 P M”

Large Blake-Varley Sketchbook (1819) (Alan Parker)

“Charlemagne”

Large Blake-Varley Sketchbook (1819) (Alan Parker)

“Eloise”

Large Blake-Varley Sketchbook (1819) (Alan Parker); Eloise was the mistress of Abelard.

“Countess of Essex who Poisoned Overbury”

Large Blake-Varley Sketchbook (1819) (Alan Parker)

“The Bastard Faulconberg”

Large Blake-Varley Sketchbook (1819) (Alan Parker)

“Felton the assasinator of the Duke of Buckingham”

Large Blake-Varley Sketchbook (1819) (Alan Parker)

“Geofrey of Monmouth”

Large Blake-Varley Sketchbook (1819) (Alan Parker)

“Owen Glendower”

Large Blake-Varley Sketchbook (1819) (Alan Parker)

“Bertand de Gourdon who wounded Richard Cœur de Lion with an arrow”

Large Blake-Varley Sketchbook (1819) (Alan Parker)

“The Captain to Richard the First who Flayd Bertand de Gourdon alive”

Large Blake-Varley Sketchbook (1819) (Alan Parker)

“Catherine Hayes Burnt for the Murder of her Husband”

Large Blake-Varley Sketchbook (1819) (Alan Parker)

“The Black Prince”

Large Blake-Varley Sketchbook (1819) (Alan Parker)

“Henry the 5th”

Large Blake-Varley Sketchbook (1819) (Alan Parker)

“Robin Hood”

Large Blake-Varley Sketchbook (1819) (Alan Parker)

“Hotspur”

Large Blake-Varley Sketchbook (1819) (Alan Parker)

“Queen Isabella wife of Edward 2d and mother to Edward the 3rd”

Large Blake-Varley Sketchbook (1819) (Alan Parker)

“Pope Joan”

Large Blake-Varley Sketchbook (1819) (Alan Parker)

“King. John.”

Large Blake-Varley Sketchbook (1819) (Robert N. Essick) <#731>; a counterproof is inscribed “King John” by Varley (private collection) <#732*>.

“Josephs Mistress”

Large Blake-Varley Sketchbook (1819) (Alan Parker); Joseph’s mistress is Potiphar’s wife.

“Sir Robert Lucy, Shakespeares Persecutor”

Large Blake-Varley Sketchbook (1819) (Alan Parker)

“Mary Queen of Scots”

Large Blake-Varley Sketchbook (1819) (Alan Parker)

“Empress Maud”

Large Blake-Varley Sketchbook (1819) (Alan Parker)

“Merlin”

Large Blake-Varley Sketchbook (1819) (Alan Parker)

“Milton when Young”

Large Blake-Varley Sketchbook (1819) (Alan Parker)

“Milton when a Boy”

Large Blake-Varley Sketchbook (1819) (Alan Parker)

“Miltons elder daughter”

Large Blake-Varley Sketchbook (1819) (Alan Parker)

“Miltons Youngest Daughter”

Large Blake-Varley Sketchbook (1819) (Alan Parker)

“Tom Nixion the Idiot author of the Prophecies”

Large Blake-Varley Sketchbook (1819) (Alan Parker)

“Olympia”

Large Blake-Varley Sketchbook (1819) (Alan Parker); Olympia is probably mother of Alexander the Great.

“Ossian”

Large Blake-Varley Sketchbook (1819) (Alan Parker)

“Pisistratus”

Large Blake-Varley Sketchbook (1819) (Alan Parker)

“Pharoah who knew Joseph”

Large Blake-Varley Sketchbook (1819) (Alan Parker)

“[Richard] Savage the Poet”

Large Blake-Varley Sketchbook (1819) (Alan Parker)

“Rowena”

Large Blake-Varley Sketchbook (1819) (Alan Parker)

“Shakespeare’s Wife”

Large Blake-Varley Sketchbook (1819) (Alan Parker)

“a Daughter of Shakespeare”

Large Blake-Varley Sketchbook (1819) (Alan Parker)

“Jack Sheppard under the Gallows”

Large Blake-Varley Sketchbook (1819) (Alan Parker)

“Wat Tyler in the act of striking the Tax Gatherer”

Large Blake-Varley Sketchbook (1819) (Alan Parker)

“Wat Tyler’s Daughter striving to get loose from the Tax Gatherer”

Large Blake-Varley Sketchbook (1819) (Alan Parker)

“Vortigern”

Large Blake-Varley Sketchbook (1819) (Alan Parker)

“Perkin Warbeck”

Large Blake-Varley Sketchbook (1819) (Alan Parker)

“The Great Earl of Warwick Brother to Edward the 4th Drawn by Wm Blake”

Large Blake-Varley Sketchbook (1819) (Alan Parker)

“Xantippe wife of Socrates”

Large Blake-Varley Sketchbook (1819) (Alan Parker)

“Can you think I can endure to be considered as a vapour arising from your food I will leave you if you doubt I am of no more greater importance than a Butterfly”
“Empress Maud not very tall”

Small Blake-Varley Sketchbook (1819), written by John Varley; “Spiritual communication to mr Blake” (untraced since 1971) <#692 5*>

“pl[um]”
“M”
“L[igh]t Blue”
“crimson”

Detailed drawings for p. 23 of the Small Blake-Varley Sketchbook (1819), written by John Varley (Tate) <#692 22*>; the notes are for the colors in a stained-glass window.

“the Empress Maud said rose water was in the vessel under the table octr. 29 friday 11 PM. 1819. & said there were closets which contained all the conveniences for the bedchamber”

Detailed drawings for p. 25 of the Small Blake-Varley Sketchbook (1819), written by John Varley (Tate) <#692 24*>

“Empress Maud”
“gold & silver & Precious Stones”
“o”
“g o d[ark] green”

The Empress Maud, Small Blake-Varley Sketchbook (1819), written by John Varley (private collection) <#692 27*>; the notes for precious stones are on Maud’s headdress, the dark green on her skirt.

“Caractacus”

Caractacus, Small Blake-Varley Sketchbook (1819), written by John Linnell (Fitzwilliam Museum) <#692 36>; counterproof, written by John Varley (Huntington Library and Art Collections) <719*>.

“Hotspur …”
“it is allways to keep yourself collected”

Two Visionary Figures, Mountains Behind, Small Blake-Varley Sketchbook (1819), written by John Varley (Victoria University in the University of Toronto) <#692 53*, 54*>; the inscriptions are now illegible.

“Falconberg taking leave of King John and his mother Queen Eleanor”

Falconberg Taking Leave of King John and Queen Eleanor, Small Blake-Varley Sketchbook (1819), written by John Varley (private collection) <#692 57*>

“Crimson”
“Green”

A Seated Monarch with an Agonized Expression, Small Blake-Varley Sketchbook (1819), written by John Varley (private collection) <#692 64*>; the notes are for the colors of the monarch’s clothes.

“Prince Arthur”
“Lt Pink”

Prince Arthur, Small Blake-Varley Sketchbook (1819), written by John Varley (University of Liverpool Library) <#692 66*>

“Lt. Pl” [for “light plum”?]
“gold”
“w” [for “white”?]

A Standing King Holding a Sceptre, a Fortified Town Behind, Small Blake-Varley Sketchbook (1819), written by John Varley (private collection) <#692 74*>; “Lt. Pl” is on the figure’s robe, “gold” on the hem of his cloak, and “w” on his sleeve and skirt.

“Harrold Killd at the Battle of Hastings”

Harold Killed at the Battle of Hastings, Small Blake-Varley Sketchbook (1819), written by John Varley (Robert N. Essick) <#692 76*>

“Milton’s first wife”
“gn [green] velvet”
“B[lac]k”
“B[row]n Eyes”

Milton’s First Wife, Small Blake-Varley Sketchbook (1819), written by John Varley (private collection) <#692 96*>; colors repeated in #692 97* (Tate). “gn velvet” is for her coif, “Bk” for the ribbon round her neck.

“Red”
“Blue” (or “Black”)

Sketches of the Devil (?) and a Man in Armour, Small Blake-Varley Sketchbook (1819), written by John Varley (private collection) <#692 99*>; “Red” is by the right-hand figure’s shield and “Blue” is below this.

“Hotspur said    any[?] & we should have had the Battle had it not been for those cursd Stars Hotspur Said he was indignant to have been killd by through the Stars Influence by _^such_^ a Person as Prince Henry who was so much his inferior”

Varley: Counting for Geomancy, Small Blake-Varley Sketchbook (1819), written by John Varley (untraced since 1971) <#692 131*>

“R^ḍ Coeur de Lion”

Richard Coeur de Lion, Small Blake-Varley Sketchbook (1819), written by John Varley (Robert N. Essick) <#692 a*>

“Born 1156. Died april 6. 1199 ♓ ♑ [astrological symbols for Pisces and Capricorn] 10. H ♎ [astrological symbol for Libra] at Birth”
“R^ḍ Coeur de Lion. Drawn from his spectre”
“W Blake fecit Oct^ṛ 14 1819 at 14 Past 12-Midnight”

Richard Coeur de Lion, visionary head (1819), written by John Varley (private collection) <#729*>

“Cancer”

Cancer, Small Blake-Varley Sketchbook (1819), written by John Varley (Robert N. Essick) <#692 c*>

“William Wallace”
“Edward. I^st”

Edward I, and William Wallace, visionary head (1819), written by John Linnell (Robert N. Essick) <#734*>

“Wat Tyler by W^m Blake. from his Spectre. as in the act of striking the Tax Gatherer on the head. drawn Octr 30. 1819. 1h AM”

Wat Tyler, visionary head (1819), written by John Varley (private collection) <#737*>

“Wat. Tyler By. W^m Blake. from his Spectre. as in the act of striking the Tax Gatherer on the head. drawn Octr 30. 1819. 1h AM”

Wat Tyler, replica, visionary head (1819), written by John Linnell (private collection) <#738*>

“Corrinna the Rival of Pindar”
“Corrinna the Grecian Poetess”

Folio Blake-Varley Sketchbook (1819-20), written by John Linnell (University of Kansas Museum of Art) <#708*, WBW 1742>

“A fiend”

Folio Blake-Varley Sketchbook (1819-20) (untraced since 1830), title from Cunningham ¶38 <#762>

“Herod”

Folio Blake-Varley Sketchbook (1819-20) (untraced since 1830), title from Cunningham ¶38 <#706>

“Pindar as he stood a conqueror in the Olympic games”

Folio Blake-Varley Sketchbook (1819-20) (untraced since 1942), title from Cunningham ¶38 <#710>

“Pindar drawn by. Blake Septr 18. 1820”
“Lais The Courtesan”

Folio Blake-Varley Sketchbook (1819-20), written by John Linnell (Harris Museum and Art Gallery, Preston, Lancashire) <#711*>

“The task-master whom Moses slew in Egypt”

Folio Blake-Varley Sketchbook (1819-20) (untraced since 1830), title from Cunningham ¶38

“David”

David, visionary head (1819-20), written by John Linnell (Robert N. Essick) <#698*>

“Uriah the Husband of Bathsheba”
“Bathsheba”

Uriah and Bathsheba, visionary head (1819-20), written by John Varley (Huntington Library and Art Collections) <#699*>

“Solomon”

Solomon, visionary head (1819-20), written by John Linnell (Courtauld Institute; private collection; Huntington Library and Art Collections) <#700-02*>

“Nebuchadnezzar Coin”

Nebuchadnezzar Coin, visionary head (1819-20), written by John Varley or John Linnell “as Seen in a Vision by Mr. Blake” (untraced since 1939) <#704*>

“Joseph & Mary & the room They were seen in”

Joseph and Mary, and the Room They Were Seen In, visionary heads (1819-20), written by John Linnell (Huntington Library and Art Collections) <#705*>

“Lais”

Lais of Corinth, visionary head (1819-20), written by John Varley (private collection) <#712*>

“Socrates”

Socrates, visionary head (1819-20), written by John Varley (Huntington Library and Art Collections) <#713*>

“Cassibelane The British cheif” [sic]

Cassibelane, visionary head (1819-20), written by John Linnell (Robert N. Essick) <#716*>

“Boadica” [sic]

Boadicea, visionary head (1819-20), written by John Linnell (private collection) <#717*>

“Mahomet”

Mahomet, visionary head (1819-20), written by John Linnell (Santa Barbara Museum of Art) <#720*>

“The Empress Maud mother to Henry. 2^ḍ”

The Empress Maud, visionary head (1819-20), written by John Linnell (Robert N. Essick) <#725*>

“The Assassin laying dead at the feet of Ed^wḍ 1^st in the holy land”
“Saladin”

Saladin, and the Assassin, visionary head (1819-20), written by John Linnell (Huntington Library and Art Collections) <#728*>

“Faulconberg the Bastard”

Faulconberg the Bastard, visionary head (1819-20), written by John Linnell (Robert N. Essick) <#730*>

“King Edward the first as he now exists in the other world, according to his appearance to M^r Blake. he here has his scull enlarged like a crown”

Edward I (or III), visionary head (1819-20), written by John Linnell (National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC) <#735*>

“owen Glendower”

Owen Glendower, visionary head (1819-20), written by John Varley (National Gallery of Canada) <#743>; replica (with inscription “Owen Glendower”), written by John Linnell (private collection) <#744*>

“Hotspur”

Hotspur, visionary head (1819-20), written by John Linnell (Robert N. Essick) <#745*>

“Gray the Poet”
“Friar Bacon”

Friar Bacon and Gray, the Poet, visionary heads (1819-20), written by John Linnell (Pembroke College, Cambridge) <#746*>

“Oct^ṛ 18. 1819. 15 Degrees of ♋ [astrological symbol] Cancer ascending”
“The Man who built the Pyramids drawn by William Blake”

The Man Who Built the Pyramids, replica, visionary head (1819-20), written by John Linnell (Tate) <#752*>

“The Portrait of a Man who instructed M^ṛ Blake in Painting &c. in his Dreams”
“Imagination of a Man who^ṃ Mr Blake has rec^ḍ instruction in Painting &c from”

The Man Who Taught Blake Painting in His Dreams, replica, visionary head (1819-20), written by John Linnell (Tate) <#755*>

“wat Tylers Daughter”

Wat Tyler’s Daughter, visionary head (1819-20), written by John Varley (National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC) <#741*>

“The Taxgatherer killed by Wat Tyler, from a spectral vision seen by Blake”

The Tax-Gatherer Killed by Wat Tyler, visionary head (1819-20), written by John Varley or John Linnell (untraced since 1885) <#742*>

“The spirit of Voltaire by Blake”

The Spirit of Voltaire, visionary head (1819-20), written by John Varley (private collection) <#749*>

“All Genius varies Thus Devils are various Angels are all alike”

Nine Grotesque or Demoniac Heads (?1819-20) (Robert N. Essick) <#767*, WBW 1339>

“old Parr when Young viz 40”
“Aug 1820 W. Blake. Fect.”

Old Parr When Young, visionary head (1820), written by John Varley (Huntington Library and Art Collections) <#748*>

“The Egyptian Task master who was killd & Buried by Moses”
“Saul King of Israel somewhat Influenced by the evil Spirit”

The Egyptian Taskmaster Killed by Moses (a smaller version of The Task-Master Whom Moses Slew in Egypt [1819-20]), written by John Varley (?1820) (private collection) <#696*, WBW 1741-42>; the taskmaster and Saul were traced (by Varley?) and inscribed “The Egyptian Task Master slain by Moses” and “Saul” (Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario) <#696A*, #696B*>.

“Widow”, “Father”, “Babe”, “Baptism”, “Hervey”, “Angel of Death”, “Virgin”, “Wife”, “Infancy”, “Old Age”, “Husband”, “Angel of Providence”, “Guardian Angel”, “Child”, “Angel of Death”, “Mother”, “Where is your Father”, “The Lost Child”, “Orphans”, “Sophronia died in Childbed”, “She died on the Wedding Day”, “Orphan”, “Moses”, “Elias”, “JESUS”, “David”, “Solomon”, “Protecting Angel”, “Aaron”, “Abraham believed God”, “These died for Love”, “Ministering Angels”, “Mother of Leah & Rachel”, “Mother of Rebecca”, “Recording Angels”, “Protecting Angel”, “NOAH”, “Enoch”, “Cain”, “Serpent”, “Abel”, “Eve”, “Adam”, “God out of Christ is a Consuming Fire”, “MERCY”, “WRATH”

Epitome of James Hervey’s “Meditations among the Tombs” (1820) (Tate) <#770*, WBW 1332>

“LXII | Miles | to London”

Colinet Passing a Milestone (1820), drawn (and subsequently engraved) for Thornton’s Virgil (Houghton Library, Harvard) <#769 9*>; the distance is on a mile-post.

“The Three Tabernacles”
“The Lamb of God”

The Three Tabernacles (1820-25) (Fitzwilliam Museum) < #792*, WBW 1742>

“The Church Yard”

The Churchyard (1820-25) (Fitzwilliam Museum) <#793*, WBW 1742>

“death”

Death (1820-25) (Fitzwilliam Museum) <#794*, WBW 1742>

“Mirth”

Mirth (1820-25) (Fitzwilliam Museum) <#795*, WBW 1742>

“Hope”

Hope (1820-25) (Fitzwilliam Museum) <#796*, WBW 1742>

“Affection & Love”

Affection and Love (1820-25) (Beinecke Library, Yale) <#797*>

“SPORT that wrinkled CARE derides
LAUGHTER holding both his sides”
“Solomon says Vanity of Vanities all is Vanity & what can be Foolisher than this”

“Mirth,” separate plate, second state (1820-27) (Fitzwilliam Museum) <Essick XVIII*, WBW 662>; the identifications of the individuals do not appear in the first state.

“Vala”
“Hyle”
“Skofeld”

Jerusalem pl. 51 (1821) (Fitzwilliam Museum) <#578*>

“Our father which art in He[aven] H[allowed] … Name”

Job and His Family (1821) (Fogg Museum, Harvard) <#551 1*>

“Great & Marvellous are thy Works Lord”

Job and His Family Restored to Prosperity (1821) (National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC) <#551 21*>

“1 Peter P”, “2 Andrew a”, “3 James J”, “4 John J”, “5 Philip P”, “6 Bartholomew B”, “7 Thomas M”, “8 Matthew T[?]”, “9 James J[?]”, “Taddeus S[?]”, “11 Judas”, “12 Simon”

Detailed Study for Plate 18, Back View of Job’s Head (1823) (Fitzwilliam Museum) <#557 ii*, WBW 1339>

“Painted in Fresco by William Blake & by him Engraved & Published October 8. 1810. Ye gon to Canterbury God mote you spede”In the first state (1810) this imprint reads “Painted in Fresco by William Blake & by him Engraved & Published October 8. 1810, at N^o 28. Corner of Broad Street Golden Square”.
“A morrow when the day began to spring | Up rose our Host and was our alder cocke | The Use of Money | & its Wars”
“An Allegory of Idolatry or politics | And gadird us together on a flock— | Let see now: Who shall tell the first Tale”Much of the “lightly scratched” text here is taken from the reproduction in Robert N. Essick, “Blake in the Marketplace, 2010,” Blake 44.4 (spring 2011): 118.

“Chaucers Canterbury Pilgrims,” separate engraving, fourth state (1823-26) <Essick XVI*>

“ILLUSTRATIONS of | the | BOOK | of | JOB”

Sketch for the Title Page of the Engraved Illustrations to the Book of Job (1823-26) (National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC) <#558*>

“I ONLY AM ESCAPED”

Proof for Job pl. 4 (1823-26) (National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC) <#559 3*>

“Then a Spirit passed before My Face And the Hair of My Flesh Stood up”

Proof for Job pl. 9 (1823-26) (National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC) <#559 4*>

“When I laid the Foundations of the Earth—and all the morning stars sang together for joy”

Proof for Job pl. 14 (1823-26) (National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC) <#559 6*>

“Prayer to God is the Study of Imaginative Art”

Proof for Job pl. 2 (?1824) (Beinecke Library, Yale)

“Praise to God is the Exercise of Imaginative Art”

Proof for Job pl. 22 (?1824) (Beinecke Library, Yale)

“lago del cor”

Dante Running from the Three Beasts (1824-27) (National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia) <#812 1*>

“The Angry God of this World & his throne[?] in Purgatory”
“The THUNDER of[?] Egypt”
“Caesar”

The Mission of Virgil for Dante (1824-27) (Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery) <#812 3*, WBW 1339>

“Lasciate ogni speranza voi che inentrate Leave every hope you who in enter”

Inscription over Hell-Gate for Dante (1824-27) (Tate) <#812 4*, WBW 1339>

“Homer”, “Satan”, “1^st circle”, “2^d Circle”, “3^d Circle”, “4^th Circle”, “5”, “6”, “7”, “8”, “Limbo of Weak Shadows”, “Vacuum”, “Starry Heaven”, “Saturn”, “Jupiter”, “Mars”, “Sun”, “Venus”, “Mercury”, “Moon”, “Terrestrial Paradise”, “Purgatory”, “it is an Island in Limbo”, “Every thing in Dantes Comedia shews That for Tyrannical Purposes he has made This World the Foundation of All the Goddess Memory _^Nature_{^ ^}is his Inspirer_^ & not _^Imagination_^ the Holy Ghost as Poor Churchill said Nature thou art my Goddess”, “Round Purgatory is Paradise & round Paradise is Vacuum or Limbo so that Homer is the Center of All I mean the Poetry of the Heathen Stolen & Perverted from the Bible not by Chance but by design by the Kings of Persia & their Generals The Greek Heroes & lastly by the Romans”, “Swedenborg does the same in saying that in this World is the Ultimate of Heaven This is the most damnable Fals[e]hood of Satan and his Antichrist”

Homer Bearing the Sword, and His Companions for Dante (1824-27) (Fogg Museum, Harvard) <#812 7*, WBW 1340-41>

“ENOCH”

A Soaring Figure amid Stars, Probably for “Enoch” (1824-27) (Fogg Museum, Harvard) <#812 11^v>

“Money”

Plutus for Dante (1824-27) (Tate) <#812 14*, WBW 1341>; the inscription is on a bag.

“The Stygian Lake”

The Stygian Lake, with Ireful Sinners Fighting for Dante (1824-27) (National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia) <#812 15*, WBW 1341>

“Celestial Globe”
“Terrestrial Globe”
“The hole of a Shit house The Goddess Fortune is the devils Servant ready to Kiss any ones Arse”

The Goddess of Fortune for Dante (1824-27) (National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia) <#812 16*, WBW 1341>

“Stygian Lake”

Dante and Virgil about to Pass the Stygian Lake (1824-27) (Fogg Museum, Harvard) <#812 17*, WBW 1341>

“the Italian”

The Symbolic Figure of the Course of Human History Described by Virgil for Dante (1824-27) (National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia) <#812 28^r*>

“Venus[?]”

Virgil Abashing the Devils for Dante (1824-27) (British Museum) <#812 38*>

“One of the Whirlwinds of Love”
“Paolo & Francesca”

Slight Sketch, Perhaps for “The Whirlwind of Lovers” (1824-27) (National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia) <#812 56^v, WBW 1342>

“Nimrod”

The Complaint of the Giant Nimrod for Dante (1824-27) (Fogg Museum, Harvard) <#812 61^r*>

“Virgil”
“dante”

The Circle of Traitors: The Alberti Brothers for Dante (1824-27) (Fogg Museum, Harvard) <#812 64>

“Ugolino”

Dante Tugging at Bocca’s Hair (1824-27) (Fogg Museum, Harvard) <#812 66^r*>

“Mercury” (or “Memory”)

Ugolino and His Sons in Prison for Dante (1824-27) (British Museum) <#812 68*>

“Cato”

Dante, Virgil, and Cato (1824-27) (Fogg Museum, Harvard) <#812 71*>

“Cato”

The Angel in the Boat Departing after Wafting over the Souls for Purgation for Dante (1824-27) (British Museum) <#812 72*>

“Dantes Dream”
“Leah and Rachel[?]”

Dante and Statius Sleeping, Virgil Watching (1824-27) (Ashmolean Museum) <#812 86*, WBW 1342>

“Mary” holding “Sceptr[e]” and “Looking Glass[?]”
“Sun”
“Thrones[?]”
“corded round”
“Dominion”
“Bible chaind round”
“Homer”
“Aristotle”

The Queen of Heaven in Glory for Dante (1824-27) (National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia) <#812 99*, WBW 1342-43>; a book is inscribed “corded round” and others are inscribed “Bible chaind round”, “Homer”, and “Aristotle”.

“This is Upside Down when viewed from Hells Gate which ought to be at top”
“But right when Viewed from Purgatory after they have passed the Center  In Equivocal Worlds Up & Down are Equivocal”
The circles of Hell:
“1 Limbo Charon”
“2 Minos”
“3 Cerebus”
“4 Plutus & Phlegyas”
“5 City of Dis furies & … Queen of Endless Woe Lesser Circle Point of the Universe[?] Canto Eleventh Line 68”
“6 Minotaur The City of Dis seems to occupy the Space between the Fifth & Sixth Circles or perhaps it occupies both Circles with its Environs”
“7 Centaurs Most Likely Dante describes the 7 8 & 9 Circles in Canto XI v 18 3 Compartments Dante calls them Cerchietti”
“[8] Geryon Malebolge Containing 10 gulphs[?]”
“[9] Lucifer Containing 9 round[?]”
“It seems as if Dantes Supreme Good was something Superior to the Father or Jesus as For if he gives his rain to the Evil & the Good & his Sun to the just & the Unjust He could never have Built Dantes Hell nor the Hell of the Bible neither in the way our Parsons explain it It must have been originally Formed by the devil Himself & So I understand it to have been”
“Whatever Book is for Vengeance for Sin & whatever Book is Against the Forgiveness of Sins is not of the Father but of Satan the Accuser & Father of Hell”

The Circles of Hell for Dante (1824-27) (British Museum) <#812 101*, WBW 1343-44>

“From the Book of Enoch”

Illustrations to the Book of Enoch (1824-27) (National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC) <#827 1*>

“from the Book of Enoch”

Illustrations to the Book of Enoch (1824-27) (National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC) <#827 2*>

“B of Enoch”
“No 26 27 next at p 43”
“Hell Canto 16”
“102”

Illustrations to the Book of Enoch (1824-27) (National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC) <#827 3*>

“Book of ENOCH”

Illustrations to the Book of Enoch (1824-27) (National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC) <#827 4*>

“Book of ENOCH”

Illustrations to the Book of Enoch (1824-27) (National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC) <#827 5*>

“John Bunyan dreams a dream Pilgrims Progress”Bentley, “The Inscriptions on Blake’s Designs to Pilgrim’s Progress,” Blake 6.3 (winter 1972-73): 70 and n13, concludes that most of “the numbers and inscriptions” are by Frederick Tatham, who owned and sold them, though “‘Pilgrim’s Progress’ on No. 1, ‘Christian returning home’ on No. 11, and perhaps ‘Apollyon’ at the top of No. 20 appear to me to be by Blake.”

John Bunyan Dreams a Dream for Pilgrim’s Progress (1824-27) (private collection) <#829 1*>

“11 Good will opens the wicket gate to Xtian Christian returning home”

The Gate Is Opened by Goodwill for Pilgrim’s Progress (1824-27) (private collection) <#829 11*, WBW 1742>

“Apollyon”

Christian Beaten Down by Apollyon for Pilgrim’s Progress (1824-27) (private collection) <#829 21*>

“The Laocoon”

Free Version of the Laocoön (1825) (Fitzwilliam Museum) <#681*>

“Head of Achilles”

Achilles, visionary head (1825), written by John Varley “drawn by Willm Blake at my request 1825” (untraced since 1942) <#707*>

“Donald the Hammerer”

Donald the Hammerer (1825) (University of California, Los Angeles) <#782*>

“Los walking on the mountains of albion …”

Los Walking on the Mountains of Albion (1825) (private collection) <#784*>

“Timon”

Timon (1825), written by John Linnell (Beinecke Library, Yale) <#785*>

“Return Alpheus”

Return Alpheus for Milton, Lycidas (1825-27) (British Museum) <#800*, WBW 1338>

“ספר איוב‎ ILLUSTRATIONS of The BOOK of JOB Invented & Engraved by William Blake 1825”

Job (1826) pl. 1

“1”
“Our Father which art in Heaven hallowed be thy Name” [Matthew 6.9]
“Thus did Job continually” [Job 1.5]
“There was a Man in the Land of Uz whose Name was Job. & that Man was perfect & upright & one that feared God & eschewed Evil & there was born unto him Seven Sons & Three Daughters” [Job 1.1, 2]
“The Letter Killeth | The Spirit giveth Life” [2 Corinthians 3.6]
“It is Spiritually Discerned”1 Corinthians 2.14: “They are spiritually discerned.”

Job (1826) pl. 2

“2”
“I beheld the Ancient of Days”Daniel 7.9: “I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit.”
“Hast thou considered my Servant Job” [Job 1.8]
“The Angel of the Divine Presence | מלך יהוה‎”Isaiah 63.9: “the Angel of his presence.” Blake’s Hebrew inscription omits the aleph, so that the meaning is “Yahweh is king” or “Yahweh is Moloch.” The Hebrew is given correctly in “Laocoön”: מלאך יהוה‎ (see Sheila A. Spector, “Blake as an Eighteenth-Century Hebraist,” Blake and His Bibles, ed. David V. Erdman [West Cornwall, CT: Locust Hill Press, 1990] 202, Christopher Rowland, Blake and the Bible [New Haven: Yale University Press, 2010] 26-27, and Abraham Samuel Shiff, “Blake’s Hebrew Calligraphy,” Blake 46.2 [fall 2012]: pars. 23-33).
“I shall see God”Job 19.26: “in my flesh shall I see God.”
“Thou art our Father” [Isaiah 63.16]
“We shall awake up in thy Likeness”Psalm 17.15: “I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness.”
“When the Almighty was yet with me, When my Children were about me” [Job 29.5]
“There was a day when the Sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord & Satan came also among them to present himself before the Lord” [Job 2.1]

Job (1826) pl. 3 (see illus. 5)

5. Job (1826) pl. 3 (see enlargement). Collection of Robert N. Essick. Image courtesy of the William Blake Archive.

“3”
“The Fire of God is fallen from Heaven” [Job 1.16]
“And the Lord said unto Satan Behold All that he hath is in thy Power” [Job 1.12]
“Thy Sons & thy Daughters were eating & drinking Wine in their eldest Brothers house & behold there came a great wind from the Wilderness & smote upon the four faces of the house & it fell upon the young Men & they are Dead”Job 1.18-19: “and smote the four corners.”

Job (1826) pl. 4

“4”
“And there came a Messenger unto Job & said The Oxen were plowing & the Sabeans came down & they have slain the Young Men with the Sword”Job 1.14-15: “… The oxen were plowing, and the asses feeding beside them: And the Sabeans fell upon them, and took them away; yea, they have slain the servants with the edge of the sword.”
Satan “Going to & fro in the Earth & walking up & down in it” [Job 2.2]
“And I only am escaped alone to tell thee” [Job 1.15]
“While he was yet speaking there came also another & said The fire of God is fallen from heaven & hath burned up the flocks & the Young Men & consumed them & I only am escaped alone to tell thee”Job 1.16: “burned up the sheep, and the servants, and consumed them.”

Job (1826) pl. 5

“5”
“Did I not weep for him who was in trouble[?] Was not my Soul afflicted for the Poor”
“Behold he is in thy hand: but save his Life”
“Then went Satan forth from the presence of the Lord”Job 1.12: “So Satan went forth from the presence of the Lord.”
“And it grieved him at his heart” [Genesis 6.6] | “Who maketh his Angels Spirits & his Ministers a Flaming Fire”

Job (1826) pl. 6

“6”
“Naked came I out of my mothers womb & Naked shall I return thither | The Lord gave & the Lord hath taken away. Blessed be the Name of the Lord” [Job 1.21]
“And smote Job with sore Boils from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head”Job 2.7: “from the sole of his foot unto his crown.”

Job (1826) pl. 7

“7”
“What! shall we recieve Good at the hand of God & shall we not also recieve Evil”Job 2.10: “… shall we not receive evil.”
“And when they lifted up their eyes afar off & knew him not they lifted up their voice & wept. & they rent every Man his mantle & sprinkled dust upon their heads towards heaven”Job 2.12: “and they rent every one.”
“Ye have heard of the Patience of Job and have seen the end of the Lord” [James 5.11]

Job (1826) pl. 8

“8”
“Lo let that night be solitary & let no joyful voice come therein” [Job 3.7]
“Let the Day perish wherein I was Born” [Job 3.3]
“And they sat down with him upon the ground seven days & seven nights & none spake a word unto him for they saw that his grief was very great” [Job 2.13]

Job (1826) pl. 9

“9”
“Shall mortal Man be more Just than God? Shall a Man be more Pure than his Maker? Behold he putteth no trust in his Saints & his Angels he chargeth with folly”Job 4.18 reads “servants” for “saints.”
“Then a Spirit passed before my Face | the hair of my flesh stood up” [Job 4.15] 

Job (1826) pl. 10

“10”
“But he knoweth the way that I take | when he hath tried me I shall come forth like gold | Have pity upon me! Have pity upon me! O ye my friends | for the hand of God hath touched me | Though he slay me yet will I trust in him”
“The Just Upright Man is laughed to scorn” [Job 12.4]
“Man that is born of Woman is of few days & full of trouble | he cometh up like a flower & is cut down[;] he fleeth also as a shadow | & continueth not And dost thou open thine eyes upon such a one | & bringest me into judgment with thee” [Job 14.1-3]

Job (1826) pl. 11

“11”
“My bones are pierced in me in the night season & my sinews take no rest” [Job 30.17]
“My skin is black upon me & my bones are burned with heat” [Job 30.30]
“The triumphing of the wicked is short, the joy of the hypocrite is but for a moment” [Job 20.5]
“Satan himself is transformed into an Angel of Light [2 Corinthians 11.14] & his Ministers into Ministers of Righteousness”2 Corinthians 11.15: “Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness.”
“With Dreams upon my bed thou scarest me & affrightest me with Visions”Job 7.14: “thou scarest me with dreams, and terrifiest me through visions.”
“Why do you persecute me as God & are not satisfied with my flesh? Oh, that my words were printed in a book, that they were graven with an iron pen & lead in the rock for ever For I know that my Redeemer liveth & that he shall stand in the latter days upon the Earth & after my skin destroy thou This body yet in my flesh shall I see God whom I shall see for Myself and mine eyes shall behold & not Another tho consumed be my wrought Image”Job 19.22-27 gives “do ye,” “my words were now written! oh that they were printed in a book,” “latter day,” “though after my skin worms destroy this body,” “though my reins be consumed within me” for “consumed be my wrought Image.”
“Who opposeth & exalteth himself above all that is called God or is Worshipped”2 Thessalonians 2.4: “… or that is worshipped.”

Job (1826) pl. 12

“12”
“For God speaketh once yea twice & Man percieveth it not” [Job 33.14]
“In a Dream in a Vision of the Night in deep Slumberings upon the bed Then he openeth the ears of Men & sealeth their instruction”Job 33.15-16: “In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falleth upon men, in slumberings upon the bed ….”
“That he may withdraw Man from his purpose & hide Pride from Man [Job 33.17] If there be with him an Interpreter, One among a Thousand | then he is gracious unto him | & saith Deliver him from going down to the Pit | I have found a Ransom” [Job 33.24]
“For his eyes are upon the ways of Man & he observeth all his goings” [Job 34.21]
“I am Young & ye are very Old wherefore I was afraid” [Job 32.6]
“Lo all these things worketh God oftentimes with Man to bring back his Soul from the pit to be enlightened with the light of the living”
“Look upon the heavens & behold the clouds which are higher than Man”Job 35.5: “Look unto the heavens, and see; and behold the clouds which are higher than thou.”
“If thou sinnest what dost thou against him [Job 35.6] or if thou be righteous what givest thou unto him [Job 35.7]”

Job (1826) pl. 13

“13”
“Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge” [Job 38.2]
“Then the Lord answered Job out of the Whirlwind” [Job 38.1]
“Who maketh the Clouds his Chariot & walked on the Wings of the Wind” [Psalm 104.3]
“Hath the Rain a Father & who hath begotten the drops of the Dew”Job 38.28: “or who.”

Job (1826) pl. 14

“14”
“Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades or loose the bands of Orien” [Job 38.31]
“Let there be | Light” [Genesis 1.3]
“Let there Be A | Firmament” [Genesis 1.6]
“Let the Waters be gathered together into one place & let the Dry Land appear”Genesis 1.9: “Let the waters under the heaven ….”
“And God made two Great Lights [Genesis 1.16] | Sun | Moon”
“Let the Waters bring forth abundantly” [Genesis 1.20]
“Let the Earth bring forth Cattle & Creeping thing & Beast”Genesis 1.24: “bring forth the living creature after his kind ….”
“When the morning Stars sang together, & all the Sons of God shouted for joy” [Job 38.7]

Job (1826) pl. 15

“15”
“Can any understand the spreadings of the Clouds | the noise of his Tabernacle” [Job 36.29]
“Also by watering he wearieth the thick cloud | He scattereth the bright cloud also, it is turned about by his counsels”Job 37.11-12: “his bright cloud,” “turned round about.”
“Of Behemoth he saith. He is the chief of the ways of GodJob 40.19 (“Of Behemoth he saith” added by Blake). | Of Leviathan he saith, He is King over all the Children of Pride”Job 41.34 (“Of Leviathan he saith” added by Blake): “he is a king.”
“Behold now Behemoth which I made with thee” [Job 40.15]

Job (1826) pl. 16

“16”
“Hell is naked before him & Destruction has no covering” [Job 26.6]
“Canst thou by searching find out God[?] Canst thou find out the Almighty to perfection”Job 11.7: “unto perfection.”
“The Accuser of our Brethren is Cast down | which accused them before our God day & night” [Revelation 12.10]
“It is higher than Heaven what canst thou do[?] It is deeper than Hell What canst thou know | The Prince of this World shall be cast out”John 12.31: “now shall the prince of this world be cast out.”
“Thou hast fulfilled the Judgment of the Wicked” [Job 36.17]
“Even the Devils are Subject to Us thro thy Name[.]Luke 10.17: “subject unto us through thy name.” Jesus said unto them I saw Satan as lightning fall from Heaven”Luke 10.18: “And he said unto them,” “I beheld.”
“God hath chosen the foolish things of the World to confound the wise And God hath chosen the weak things of the World to confound the things that are mighty” [1 Corinthians 1.27]

Job (1826) pl. 17

“17”
“He bringeth down to the Grave & bringeth up”
“we know that when he shall appear we shall be like him for we shall see him as He is”
“When I behold the Heavens the work of his hands[,] the Moon & Stars which thou hast ordained. then I say What is Man that thou art mindful of him? & the Son of Man that thou visitest him”Psalm 8.3-4: “When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him.”
“I have heard thee with the hearing of the Ear but now my Eye seeth thee”Job 42.5: “by the hearing.”
“He that hath seen me hath seen my Father alsoJohn 14.9: the “also” is Blake’s. | I & my Father are One” [John 10.30]
“If you had known me ye would have known my Father also and from henceforth ye know him & have seen himJohn 14.7: “If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also.” | Believe me that I am in the Father & the Father in me [John 14.11] He that loveth me shall be loved of my Father [John 14.21] for he dwelleth in you & shall be with you”John 14.17: “he dwelleth with you,” “shall be in you.”
“At that day, ye shall know that I am in my Father & you in me & I in you [John 14.20] If ye loved me ye would rejoice because I said I go unto the Father” [John 14.28]
“He that loveth me shall be loved of my father & I will love him & manifest myself unto himJohn 14.21: “will manifest.” And my Father will love him & we will come unto him & make our abode with him [John 14.23] | And the Father shall give you Another Comforter that he may abide with you for ever Even the Spiritual Truth which the World cannot recieve”John 14.16-17: “And I will pray the Father, and he shall give,” “Spirit of truth; whom.”

Job (1826) pl. 18

“18”
“Also the Lord accepted Job”Job 42.9: “the Lord also accepted Job.”
“And my Servant Job shall pray for you” [Job 42.8]
“And the Lord turned the captivity of Job when he prayed for his Friends” [Job 42.10]
“I say unto you Love your Enemies[,] bless them that curse you[,] do good to them that hate you & pray for them that despitefully use you & persecute you | That you may be the children of your Father which is in heaven, for he maketh his sun to shine on the Evil & the Good & sendeth rain on the Just & the Unjust[.]Matthew 5.44-45: “which despitefully,” “that ye,” “his sun to rise,” “and on the good,” “on the unjust.” Be ye therefore perfect as your Father which is in heaven is perfect” [Matthew 5.48]

Job (1826) pl. 19

“19”
“The Lord maketh Poor & maketh Rich” [1 Samuel 2.7]
“He bringeth Low & Lifteth Up”
“who provideth for the Raven his Food When his young ones cry unto God” [Job 38.41]
“Every one also gave him a piece of Money”Job 42.11: “every man.”
“Who remembered us in our low estate For his Mercy endureth for ever”

Job (1826) pl. 20

“20”
“How precious are thy thoughts unto me O God | how great is the sum of them”Psalm 139.17: “how precious also.”
“There were not found Women fair as the Daughters of Job in all the Land & their Father gave them Inheritance among their Brethren”Job 42.15: “were no women found so fair.”
“If I ascend up into Heaven thou art there | If I make my bed in Hell behold Thou art there” [Psalm 139.8]

Job (1826) pl. 21

“21”
“Great & Marvellous are thy Works Lord God Almighty | Just & True are thy Ways O thou King of Saints” [Revelation 15.3]
“So the Lord blessed the latter end of Job more than the beginning” [Job 42.12]
“After this Job lived an hundred & forty years & saw his Sons & his Sons Sons even four Generations[.] So Job died being old & full of days” [Job 42.16-17]
“In burnt Offerings for Sin thou hast had no Pleasure”Hebrews 10.6: “in burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure.”

Job (1826) pl. 22

“יה‎ & his two Sons Satan & Adam as they were copied from the Cherubim of Solomons Temple by three Rhodians & applied to Natural Fact or History of Illium”

“Laocoön,” separate plate (with much additional text) (?1826) (Fitzwilliam Museum, Robert N. Essick) (Essick XIX*, WBW 663-66)

“GENESIS”See Genesis: William Blake’s Last Illuminated Work, ed. Mark Crosby and Robert N. Essick (San Marino: Huntington Library, 2012).

First Title Page and Second Title Page of Illustrated Manuscript Copy of Genesis (1826-27) (Huntington Library and Art Collections) <#828 1-2*>

“Chap: I The Creation of the Natural Man.”

Illustrated Manuscript Copy of Genesis (1826-27) (Huntington Library and Art Collections) <#828 3*, WBW 1344>

“Ch. 2 The Natural Man divided into Male & Female & of the Tree of Life & of the Tree of Good & Evil”

Illustrated Manuscript Copy of Genesis (1826-27) (Huntington Library and Art Collections) <#828 6*, WBW 1344>

“Adam”

lllustrated Manuscript Copy of Genesis (1826-27) (Huntington Library and Art Collections) <#828 6*>; added to or substituted for “man” or “the Man” in Genesis 2.7, 15; 3.12, 22, 24.

“Adamah”

Illustrated Manuscript Copy of Genesis (1826-27) (Huntington Library and Art Collections) <#828 6*>; inserted after “the ground” in Genesis 2.7, 9, 19; 3.19, 23; 4.10, 11, 12.

“Ch 3 Of the Sexual Nature & its Fall into Generation & Death”

Illustrated Manuscript Copy of Genesis (1826-27) (Huntington Library and Art Collections) <#828 8*, WBW 1344>

“Gods (Elohim)”

Illustrated Manuscript Copy of Genesis (1826-27) (Huntington Library and Art Collections) <#828 8*>; “Gods (Elohim)” is given as “gods” in Genesis 3.5.

“Chap IV How Generation & Death took Possession of the Natural Man & of the Forgiveness of Sins written upon the Murderers Forehead”

Illustrated Manuscript Copy of Genesis (1826-27) (Huntington Library and Art Collections) <#828 10*, WBW 1345>

“Jehovah”

Illustrated Manuscript Copy of Genesis (1826-27) (Huntington Library and Art Collections) <#828 10*>; the name is given as “the Lord” in Genesis 4.1.

“the Lord set a mark upon Cains forehead”

Illustrated Manuscript Copy of Genesis (1826-27) (Huntington Library and Art Collections) <#828 11*>; the inscription is for “the Lord set a mark upon Cain,In Blake’s design, the Lord’s “mark upon Cains forehead” is a kiss. lest any finding him should kill him,” Genesis 4.15.

Text of Genesis 1.1-4.15In his transcription of the King James translation, Blake makes a number of apparently insubstantial or accidental changes, such as “surely surely” (2.17) and “eat eat” (2.17). Some changes may be more significant but yet trifling, such as “heavens” for “heaven” (1.1) and “cleave to” for “cleave unto” (2.24), and these I have omitted. And of course Blake includes some rather unusual words, such as “bdellium” (2.12), just as they are in the King James translation.

Illustrated Manuscript Copy of Genesis (1826-27) (Huntington Library and Art Collections) <#828*>

“M^ṛ Cumberland.”
“W Blake inv & sc:”
“A Æ 70 1827”

“George Cumberland’s Card,” separate plate (1827) (multiple impressions) <Essick XXI*>

“Egypt”

Egypt (untraced since 1863) <#849*>