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Articles

Vol. 54 no. 4: Spring 2021

Blake in the Marketplace, 2020

  • Robert N. Essick
DOI
https://doi.org/10.47761/biq.280
Submitted
1 April 2021
Published
01 Apr. 2021

Abstract

The 2020 Blake market, like much of the world’s commercial activity, was hindered by the Covid-19 pandemic. None of his drawings or paintings came fresh to market, nor any illuminated books or leaves therefrom, nor any rare separate plates. “Holy Thursday” from Songs of Innocence copy W and Poetical Sketches copy E changed hands, but both had been on offer for at least two years and both sold before America and Europe began to shut down nonessential businesses. The two watercolors listed below under Drawings and Paintings, Cumea and Whilst Surfeited upon Thy Damask Cheek, had been available for purchase sporadically since 2002 and 2006 respectively.