Blake in the Marketplace, 2024

Abstract

After the excitement surrounding the surprising discovery of the Deaths Door wash drawing in 2023, the Blake market was relatively quiet in 2024 until late June, when Songs of Innocence and of Experience copy J came to the auction block at Sotheby’s in New York. Also known as the Tulk/​Rothschild/​Blunt copy, it was the first of only three lots in an auction titled “Three Poets,” with the other lots comprising manuscripts and published works by A. E. Housman and Robert Frost. At the start of the auction, there were three parties interested in Songs copy J, with bidding beginning at the low estimate of $1,200,000 before surpassing $3,000,000. The winning bid of $3,600,000 ($4,320,000 inclusive of buyer’s premium) was a record sum for an illuminated book sold at auction. Songs of Innocence and of Experience copy D fetched $1,200,000 ($1,320,000 inclusive of buyer’s premium) in 1989 and Songs of Innocence copy A fetched $550,000 in 1990, while The Book of Urizen copy E was sold for a then record $2,300,000 ($2,532,500 inclusive of buyer’s premium) in 1999. Songs copy J also surpassed the $3,500,000 ($3,928,000 inclusive of buyer’s premium) realized by The Good and Evil Angels Struggling for Possession of a Child, from the Betsey Cushing Whitney estate, on 5 May 2004 at Sotheby’s, New York. At the time, this color-printed drawing established the record for any Blake work sold at auction. As of 26 June 2024, Songs copy J holds that distinction.