Abbreviations

Illuminated Books

Europe, pls. 5 and 10 printed recto/​verso. Given 2020 by the estate of Mary Cecilia Keynes to the Fitzwilliam Museum, accession no. P.102-2020.

Europe, pls. 6 and 7 (lower half only of each pl.) printed recto/​verso. Given 2020 by the estate of Stephen Keynes to the Fitzwilliam Museum, accession no. P.103-2020.

Songs of Innocence and of Experience, posthumous copy c, printed by Frederick Tatham. Fifty-four pls. on 54 leaves of J Whatman 1831 paper, lacking pl. 52, “To Tirzah,” but with pl. b, “A Divine Image.” Printed in sepia (reddish brown). SL online auction, 3-14 Dec., #23, illus. (£56,700; estimate £50,000-70,000). The provenance in BB, p. 426, ends with “… Stopford Brooke, and inherited (according to the present owner) by his granddaughter … Mrs. William Drysdale.” The SL cat. adds the following information: “Rev. Stopford A. Brooke (1832–​1916); his daughter, Maud, m. [married] T. W. Rolleston (1857–​1920), poet and founder member, with Yeats and C. G. Duffy, of the Irish Literary Society; then by descent” to Mrs. Drysdale. The vendor at the SL auction was probably an heir of Mrs. Drysdale’s.

The only impression of pl. b printed by Blake appears in copy BB. All other impressions were printed c. 1831–​32 by Tatham.

Drawings and Paintings

Adam and Eve Expelled from Eden. Heritage auction, Dallas, 3 Dec., #69068, illus. ($57,500; estimate $8000-12,000). I do not know the identity of the new owner. See illus. 1.

1. Adam and Eve Expelled from Eden (see enlargement). Pencil, pen and ink, touches of gray wash, 13.2 x 16.4 cm. on wove paper. Butlin #781A, dating the work to “c. 1820-5 (?).” The paper toned yellow-brown through overexposure to light. Photo courtesy of Heritage Auctions.

The reproduction of this drawing in Geoffrey Keynes, Drawings of William Blake (New York: Dover, 1970), illus. 45, shows 2 pencil inscriptions lower right, “W. Blake.” and “17762”, neither in Blake’s hand. According to Butlin’s cat. entry, both were “removed in 1976.” The leaf still contains the following inscriptions, none by Blake and none shown in the illus. here: the number “17762” repeated far lower right and, on the verso, “White 158 Col H. | 8 vo W. grey” followed by an undecipherable word.

The pencil drawing is undoubtedly by Blake, but the pen and ink and wash additions to 2 figures are open to question. This work is skillfully executed but is unusual for a pencil sketch by Blake. In some passages the ink lines do not follow underlying pencil work and thus, like the shading and modeling with wash, they add to the composition. Butlin, in his cat. entry noted above, writes insightfully about this issue: “The underlying pencil drawing has been partly gone over in ink. In the actual drawing this is more convincing than in reproduction, but it is still possible that this could have been added by someone else such as John Linnell.” Unfortunately, the provenance record for this drawing begins with William A. White in the late 19^th century; there is no evidence that Linnell ever possessed the work. Frederick Tatham can also be added to the list of candidates for the execution of the pen and ink lines and the tinting with wash. White owned at least 3 drawings by Blake once in Tatham’s possession: Butlin #92, 326, 568. We cannot rule out the possibility that William or Catherine Blake added this finishing work, but I remain skeptical.

The title refers only to the subject of the right half of the drawing. Adam and Eve, their loins adorned with (fig?) leaves, stride to the left but look and reach back toward Eden. At least 3 angels turn their backs on the couple. The bat-winged man and the 4(?) figures far left probably represent Satan arousing his rebel angels. One devil holds aloft a spear; clouds rise to the left of Satan and hellish flames appear between him and Adam and Eve. The expulsion could have been based on the Bible, but the motifs on the left and the way Adam and Eve look back to Eden indicate that the textual basis for this drawing is John Milton’s Paradise Lost.Book 12, line 641: “They looking back, all th’ Eastern side beheld.” Quoted from Milton, Complete Poems and Major Prose, ed. Merritt Y. Hughes (New York: Odyssey P, 1957) 468. Both the expulsion and Satan arousing his fallen cohorts are pictured in separate designs in Blake’s 2 completed series of Paradise Lost watercolors, Butlin #529 and 536.

The Death of Ezekiel’s Wife. SNY, 27 Jan., #88, illus. ($289,800 to an art dealer probably acting on behalf of a private collector; estimate $80,000-120,000). See illus. 2.

2. The Death of Ezekiel’s Wife (see enlargement). Monochrome wash drawing, 33.9 x 47.7 cm. The 27 Jan. SNY cat. describes the medium as “pen and black ink with black and grey washes over pencil, heightened with scratching out.” To this can be added the white material (probably powdered chalk mixed with glue) on Ezekiel’s beard and left hand. Blake used this pigment to revise the drawing by covering black lines he wished to delete. Butlin #165. Photo courtesy of Sotheby’s.

This drawing can be dated to c. 1785 on stylistic grounds. The much more finished version of the design in the Philadelphia Museum of Art is also dated to c. 1785 by Butlin, #166, but I believe it is much later, the direct preliminary for the large separate etching/​engraving of 1794 (SP VI). All 3 works are about the same size. The companion print of 1793, “Job” (SP V), follows a parallel history of development, first as a monochrome wash drawing of c. 1785 (The Complaint of Job, Butlin #163, collection of Robert Bransten, San Francisco), then as a highly finished drawing (Fine Art Museums of San Francisco, dated by Butlin #164 to c. 1785 but I believe c. 1793), and finally as the separate pl. of 1793. For the Job design there is also a variant preliminary, with differences in the postures and positions of Job and his wife, of c. 1785 (Butlin #162, Tate Collection).The Tate drawing is probably the earliest. Its verso includes a pencil sketch of Job’s wife in the posture she assumes in all later versions. For a detailed consideration of these Job designs, see Martin Butlin, William Blake, 1757–​1827, Tate Gallery Collections, volume 5 (London: Tate Gallery, 1990) 52-55. In this discussion Butlin accepts the later dating of the Job drawing in the Fine Art Museums of San Francisco, Butlin #164. A small pencil drawing of the composition, datable to c. 1790–​93 and with several variants from the other versions, is in Blake’s Notebook, Butlin #201.20. This last work is probably part of a series of emblems in the Notebook and not directly related to the development of the large etching/​engraving. These Ezekiel and Job drawings are reproduced in Butlin and in SP figs. 9-11, 13-14, with the exception of the drawing owned by Bransten (Butlin #163), for which see Windle cat. 65, William Blake: Always in Paradise, March 2017, p. 3, item 2.

The work has an interesting provenance. The British critic, editor, and poet Francis Turner Palgrave (1824–​97) gave it to the American author Henry Adams (1838–​1918) and his wife (née Marian Hooper) as a wedding present in 1872. Butlin concludes the provenance information with George C. Homans of Boston. To this record I can add his daughter, Susan Homans Elias, by descent in 1989, and then by descent in 2002 to her husband, Archibald Cameron Elias, Jr., of Philadelphia. A. C. Elias died in 2008; the vendor at SNY on 27 Jan. was probably one or more of his heirs.

Free Version of the Laocoön. Given 2020 by the estate of Stephen Keynes to the Fitzwilliam Museum, accession no. PD.29-2020. See illus. 3.

3. Free Version of the Laocoön (see enlargement). Pencil, pen and ink, monochrome washes, and touches of watercolor on the central figure’s face, image 53.7 x 43.5 cm. on a leaf of wove paper 54.2 x 44.0 cm. Inscribed “The Laocoon” in pencil, lower left. Butlin #681, dating the work to c. 1825 and tentatively attributing the inscription to Frederick Tatham. The hand does not look to me like Tatham’s. The paper has darkened, due to overexposure to light, except for strips where the margins were formerly covered with a mat. The edges of the mat window are visible as lines at the top, along the right edge, and bottom left. Fitzwilliam Museum accession no. PD.29-2020. Reproduced by permission, © Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge.

Butlin’s dating places the execution of this drawing at about the same time that Blake returned to his engraving of Laocoön (BB #84, SP XIX) to add the many inscriptions, including the identification of the figures as “יה [Jehovah] & his two Sons Satan & Adam”.E 273 (the bracketed “[Jehovah]” is in the E text). For the engraving and its dating, see the William Blake Archive at <http://​www.​blakearchive.​org/​work/​laocoon> and Rosamund A. Paice, “Encyclopaedic Resistance: Blake, Rees’s Cyclopædia, and the Laocoön Separate Plate,” Blake 37.2 (fall 2003): 44-62. Blake’s engraving closely follows the classical statue, but in this drawing he has made many changes to the positions and postures of the three human figures and to the serpents. Laocoön is now clothed rather than nude. He may be Jehovah, as Blake identifies him in the engraving, or perhaps a Hebrew rather than a Trojan priest.

Visionary Head of Queen Boadicea (recto), sketch of geometric and architectural forms (verso). Barridoff Galleries auction, South Portland, Maine, 15 May, #58, no mention of the verso drawing, recto described as “after William Blake” and from the “estate of Donald Brenwasser, New Jersey,” paper browned by overexposure to light, illus. ($1651 to Windle acting for a British private collector; estimate $500-700). See illus. 4 and 5 (digital images made after the leaf was cleaned by the new owner).

4. Visionary Head of Queen Boadicea (recto) (see enlargement). Pencil, head approximately 19.0 x 14.6 cm. on a leaf of wove paper, 19.9 x 15.5 cm., inscribed “Boadica” in pencil below the profile head facing to the left. The leaf is the same width as those in the smaller Blake-Varley Sketchbook (Butlin #692), datable to c. 1819. The height is about 0.6 cm. less than the leaves of the sketchbook, but cutting a leaf from a bound volume would normally mean some loss along the inner edge. It was probably removed from the sketchbook early in its history by either John Varley or John Linnell. Boadicea, queen of the Iceni, a Celtic tribe in Britain, led a revolt against Roman rule c. 60 AD. See illus. 5 for the verso sketch. Private collection, Great Britain; reproduced by permission.

There are 2 other versions of this portrait, Butlin #717, head facing to the right (formerly Joseph Holland collection, now in a private collection, San Francisco) and #718, head facing to the left (Morgan Library and Museum, New York). Butlin describes the former as “possibly a counterproof, with the hair added,” of the latter. The pencil lines of Butlin #718 are very faint. The version reproduced here would appear to be an original drawing rather than a counterproof. The spelling of “Boadica” and formation of the letters (except for the “B”) follow the title inscription, attributed by Butlin to Linnell, on Butlin #717.

Butlin traces the history of his #717 to the sale of Linnell’s collection, CL, 15 March 1918, #165, “Boadicea” and 16 other works by Blake (£46.4s. to the dealer E. Parsons & Sons). This lot included “duplicates and impressions” according to the auction cat. Butlin #699 identifies 13 of the 17 works in this lot, leaving “4 others” unidentified. This newly discovered drawing may have been among the “duplicates” in the Linnell sale and 1 of the 4 that Butlin was unable to identify.

5. Sketch of geometric and architectural forms, the verso of illus. 4, the leaf turned to the horizontal format of the drawing attributable to Blake (see enlargement). Pencil, leaf of wove paper 15.5 x 19.9 cm. The largest motif consists of 3 (stone?) columns supporting a lintel. Two triangular forms dominate the spaces between the columns. Another lintel and at least 2 columns stand behind the triangles (note that the tops of the triangles overlap the horizontal beam). This sense of recessional space prompts one to view the sketch as a single composition dominated by the entry to an Egyptian temple, such as Karnak, in the foreground, with 2 pyramids and further temple structures behind it. The circle hovering over the pyramid on the left may be the sun; other rounded shapes, including 1 above the foreground lintel, might be clouds. David Bindman has suggested to me, in an e-mail of 7 June, that there may be a connection between this verso sketch and The Man Who Built the Pyramids and related details in the smaller Blake-Varley Sketchbook, Butlin #692.102 (portrait of the man, now missing and known only as a replica in the Tate Collection, Butlin #752) and #692.103 (details). Reproduced by permission of the owner.

Separate Plates and Plates in Series

“Enoch,” lithograph. CL, 9 Dec., #154, “previously pasted into an amateur album of prints, which can be dated to the first quarter of the 19th century,” the album containing lithographs from Georg Jacob Vollweiler’s issue of Specimens of Polyautography (1806), illus. (£125,000 to Windle acting for the Charles Deering McCormick Library of Special Collections, Northwestern University Library, Evanston, Illinois; estimate £100,000-150,000). See illus. 6.

6. “Enoch” (see enlargement). Lithograph, image 21.7 x 31.2 cm. on a leaf of buff (light beige) wove paper, 22.6 x 32.1 cm., showing a “C 1806” watermark. This is the only recorded impression with a watermark, one that supports the dating of the work to c. 1806–​07. Reproduced by permission of Christie’s, © 2021 Christie’s Images Limited.

Provenance, according to the CL cat.: Presumably Buxton Kenrick (1770–​1832) of Lincolnshire and London; George Cranmer Kenrick (1806–​69), presumably by inheritance; Wanda Jill Ferguson, nee Forsyth-Forrest (1934–​2021), by inheritance; “acquired locally by the present owner.” The cat. also points out that the watermark indicates that the paper was probably produced by Joseph Coles, Somerset.

“Ezekiel,” 2^nd st. SP VI, impression 2C. Given 2020 by the estate of Stephen Keynes to the Fitzwilliam Museum, accession no. P.104-2020.

“The Idle Laundress,” after George Morland, 2^nd st., 1788. EB, Sept., trimmed to the image except at the bottom, imprint present, illus. (£620, a record auction price for either of Blake’s pls. after Morland).

“Industrious Cottager,” after George Morland, 3^rd st., 1788. EB, Sept., trimmed to the image except at the bottom, imprint present, illus. (£360).

“Job,” 2 impressions, 1^st and 2^nd sts. SP V, impressions 1A and 2D. Given 2020 by the estate of Stephen Keynes to the Fitzwilliam Museum, accession nos. P.105-2020 (1^st st.) and P.106-2020 (2^nd st.). For an illus. of this impression of the 1^st st., see the William Blake Archive, <http://​www.​blakearchive.​org/​copy/​esv.​1-​1a​?descId=​esv.​1-​1a.​spb.​01>.

Job engravings, complete sets. Pom Harrington of PHB, private offer in an e-mail to Windle of 26 March, published “Proof” impressions on so-called “French” paper, “some foxing to sheets affecting engravings only very slightly,” from the collection of David Lindsay, the 27^th Earl of Crawford and 10^th Earl of Balcarres (1871–​1940), later half morocco (£57,500); same copy and price, Voewood Rare Books, “Firsts” online book fair, 20-25 May, illus., and July online cat. 3, #3, illus.; same copy and price, PHB, online cat. for the New York Virtual Book Fair, 9-12 Sept., illus. Zucker Art Books, June online cat., published “Proof” impressions on laid India, letterpress title label “with corrected address” pasted on a leaf, three-quarter morocco, illus. ($45,000). JF Letenneur Livres Rares, online cat. for the New York Virtual Book Fair, 9-12 Sept., 1826 printing on wove paper after removal of the “Proof” inscription, leaves 37.9 x 27.2 cm., 19^th-century boards with leather spine, illus. (€68,250).

Letterpress Books with Engravings by and after Blake

Allen, History of England, 1798. EB, April, contemporary calf very worn, illus. (£662 to the London dealer Zantiques, which offered the vol. to Windle for £1400; sold late April by Zantiques to a private collector for £1250).

Allen, Roman History, 1798. DW, 13 May, #355, “occasional light spotting,” contemporary sheep worn, with 2 unrelated vols., illus. (£360).

Ariosto, Orlando furioso, 1799. Andrew Cox, Feb. online cat., 5 vols., no mention of Blake’s pl., scattered foxing, contemporary calf worn and partly repaired, covers of vol. 5 detached, illus. (£245).

Bible, The Royal Universal Family Bible, 1780–​81. EB, Nov., contemporary calf worn (offered at the “buy it now” price of $589.99).

Blair, The Grave. ALC, 7-14 Jan., #146, 1926 printing of pls. only by the Phoenix Press (BB #435J), publisher’s portfolio, illus. ($116). FM, 28 Jan., #98, 1813 quarto, “occasional spotting,” later half roan worn, illus. (£650). Nicholas Goodyer, Feb. online cat., 1808 quarto, scattered foxing on pls., later half calf, illus. (£1600). Peter Fennymore, Feb. online cat., 1808 quarto, scattered foxing, half morocco worn (£1750). Tippecanoe Antiques Trader, Feb. online cat., “1813” (actually 1870) folio, publisher’s cloth very worn, illus. ($2400). Hermitage Bookshop, Feb. online cat., 1808 quarto, light browning and foxing, calf rebacked ($2000, previously offered at $3000). Potter & Potter auction, Chicago, 13 March, #150, [1870] ed., modern half morocco, illus. ($938). Freeman’s auction, Philadelphia, 23 Sept., #35, 1808 quarto, foxed, three-quarter morocco, illus. ($1572). BHNY, 15 Oct., #115, 1808 quarto, “plates foxed,” modern morocco, illus. ($535.50). DRW, 17 Nov., #463, 1813 quarto, “morocco-backed boards” worn, illus. (£260). EB, Nov., 1926 printing of the pls. only, publisher’s portfolio worn, illus. ($49.95).

Bryant, New System … of Ancient Mythology, 1773–​76. PHB, April online cat., with a variant title page in vol. 1 dated “M DCC LXXIII” (1773), 3 vols., contemporary vellum, illus. (£2000). Most copies of the 1^st ed. of vol. 1 are dated 1774.

Catullus, Poems, 1795. Brick Row Book Shop, Aug. online cat., 2 vols., lacking pl. 2 but with a 2^nd impression of pl. 1 bound as the frontispiece in vol. 2, foxed, contemporary calf rebacked, illus. ($500).

Darwin, Botanic Garden. Kurt Gippert, California Virtual Book Fair, 4-6 March, 3^rd ed. of Part 1, 1795, 4^th ed. of Part 2, 1794, 2 vols. in 1, later half calf, illus. ($1250). EB, March, 1^st ed. of both parts, 1791, 1789, 2 vols. in 1, vol. 2 “possibly” lacking 2 pls. (not by Blake), “sporadic foxing throughout,” contemporary calf, illus. (no bids on a required minimum bid of $1999.10); Sept., 1^st ed. of Part 1, 3^rd ed. of Part 2, both 1791, 2 vols. in 1, some spotting, modern buckram, illus. ($555). The Book Squirrel, March online cat., 1^st ed. of both parts, 1791, 1789, 2 vols. in 1, foxed, no description of binding other than “considerable wear” ($350). James Hawkes, March online cat., 1^st ed. of Part 1, 3^rd ed. of Part 2, both 1791, 2 vols. in 1, “large paper copy,” contemporary calf rebacked, illus. (£1680). NB, March online cat., 4^th ed., 1799, 2 vols., contemporary calf, illus. ($2000). Mallams auction, Oxford, 22 April, #734, 4^th ed., 1799, 2 vols., scattered foxing on pls., contemporary half calf, illus. (£475). Heritage auction, Dallas, 10 June, #45663, 1^st ed. of Part 1, 3^rd ed. of Part 2, both 1791, 2 vols. in 1, contemporary calf rebacked, original backstrip retained, illus. ($562.50). Lawrences auction, Crewkerne, Somerset, 23 Sept., #106, 4^th ed., 1799, 2 vols., contemporary calf worn, illus. (£195). FM, 23 Sept., #262, 1^st ed. of Part 1, 3^rd ed. of Part 2, both 1791, 2 vols. in 1, 2 signatures in Part 2 misbound, contemporary calf worn, illus. (£653).

Darwin, Poetical Works, 1806. EB, Jan., 3 vols., contemporary calf worn, illus. (offered at the “buy it now” price of £1750 or “best offer”). PHB, April online cat., 3 vols., contemporary calf, illus. (£2250).

Flaxman, Hesiod designs, 1817. Windle, June online cat., bound with Flaxman’s Aeschylus designs, 1831, scattered stains, half morocco worn, illus. ($500). EB, July, water stains in the lower right margins of some pls., later morocco worn and water stained, illus. (£73). PHB, Dec. online cat., “a few plates bound out of sequence” and “initial 3 leaves remargined,” scattered foxing, half-title torn in left margin, “contemporary red half sheep, neatly rebacked and recornered,” illus. (£475).

Flaxman, Iliad designs, 1805. EB, March, badly foxed, half calf very worn, illus. (£80); another copy, Oct., scattered foxing, half calf very worn, “binding is loose,” illus. (no bids on a required minimum bid of £79.99); same copy, Oct., illus. (offered at the “buy it now” price of £79.99 or “best offer”). Halls Fine Art auction, Shrewsbury, Shropshire, 6 Oct., #115, title pl. badly foxed, scattered foxing elsewhere, 19^th-century half calf very worn, illus. (£24).

Fuseli, Lectures on Painting, 1801. Grand auction, Folkestone, Kent, 27 Sept., #89, an anonymous watercolor copy, 15.0 x 10.0 cm., of Blake’s pl., oddly described as a “self portrait” of Fuseli, illus. (not sold; estimate £900-1200). Previously offered Grand auction, 17 Feb. 2020, #114, illus. (no bids; estimate £100-150).

Gay, Fables, 1793. PBA, 7 Jan., #0105, 2 vols., “scattered light foxing,” later calf, front cover of vol. 1 detached, illus. ($200); same copy, EB, July, hinges repaired, illus. (offered at the “buy it now” price of $1500); same copy and price, Burnside Rare Books, July online cat., illus. ALC, 17-24 June, #306, 2 vols., 6 pls. partly hand colored, “general foxing throughout, some pages heavily,” three-quarter modern buckram, illus. (not sold; estimate $600-900); same copy, EB, July, illus. (no bids on a required minimum bid of $500); same copy, EB, July, illus. (offered at the “buy it now” price of $890.95 or “best offer”). Butterscotch auction, Bedford, New York, 11 July, #0188, 2 vols., contemporary calf, illus. ($476). FM, 18 Nov., #127, 2 vols. in 1, “some foxing,” contemporary calf rebacked and worn, illus. (£459). J & S Wilbraham, Dec. online cat., 2 vols., three-quarter morocco, “both spines completely lacking,” illus. (£275).

Hayley, Life of Cowper, 1803–​04. EB, Feb., 2^nd ed., 3 vols., all but fragments of the imprint on pl. 3 trimmed off, contemporary half calf worn, back cover of vol. 2 detached, illus. (£154). Subun-So Books, April online cat., 1^st ed., 3 vols., contemporary calf ($954). Colin Page, Oct. online cat., 2^nd ed., 3 vols., with the supplement of 1806 in a 4^th vol., light foxing, contemporary calf, illus. (£775).

Hayley, Life of Romney, 1809. Thomson Roddick auction, Carlisle, Cumbria, 7 Oct., #122, 19^th-century morocco, “extra illustrated with portraits, views, etc.,” illus. (£118).

Hayley, Triumphs of Temper, 1803. ALC, 1-3 Sept., #353, large-paper copy uncut in original boards, illus. (not sold; estimate $300-400).

Hogarth, The Beggar’s Opera by Hogarth and Blake, 1965. EB, Dec., lower quarter of Blake’s pl. stained, publisher’s folding box, illus. (offered at the “buy it now” price of $118.97).

Hogarth, Works. EB, Jan., ed. dated 1822 but “clearly a later issue,” Blake’s pl. with a “tear across image,” 19^th-century half calf repaired, the copy offered at the “buy it now” price of £2250 or “best offer” in Nov. 2020, illus. (offered at the “buy it now” price of £2250 or “best offer,” reduced to a “buy it now” price of £1950 or “best offer” in March); May, Blake’s pl. only, a late st., probably 6^th, illus. (offered at the “buy it now” price of $350 or “best offer”); May, Blake’s pl. only, an early st., probably 3^rd, illus. (offered at the “buy it now” price of $200 or “best offer”); July, Blake’s pl. only, a later st., possibly 6^th, hand colored, illus. (offered at the “buy it now” price of £175); Aug., Blake’s pl. only, probably 5^th st., illus. (offered at the “buy it now” price of $350 or “best offer”); Oct., Blake’s pl. only, possibly 6^th st., illus. (offered at the “buy it now” price of £99.99); Oct., 1790 ed., modern half calf, illus. (no bids on a required minimum bid of $8500). DW, 11 Aug., #129, Blake’s pl. only, probably 3^rd st., “some light spotting to lower margin, trimmed outside the plate mark, sheet size 45.5 x 66 cm,” illus. (£840; estimate £70-100. Probably a record auction price for this pl.). Mullen Books, Dec. online cat., 1822 ed., missing some pls. but with Blake’s, “foxing throughout,” three-quarter “leather” worn with “covers not attached,” illus. ($4000). It is difficult to determine the sts. of impressions of this pl. based on low-resolution online images.

Hunter, Historical Journal, 1793, octavo issue. Australian Book auction, Armadale, 22 March, #64, modern calf, binding illus. ($936 Australian).

Josephus, Works. PBA, 21 Jan., #190, BB issue A, c. 1785–​87, contemporary calf rebacked, illus. ($510). Ryedale auction, Kirkbymoorside, York, 23 Sept., #2270, BB issue E, c. 1792–​93, contemporary calf worn, illus. (not sold; estimate £500-600); same copy, 1 Oct., #33, illus. (£482). Adam Partridge auction, Cheshire, 18 Nov., #2697, BB issue E, c. 1792–​93, “rebound” in boards (£180).

Lavater, Aphorisms. EB, March, 1789 ed., later calf, illus. (offered at the “buy it now” price of £250); June, 1794 ed., 2^nd st. of Blake’s pl., slight marginal foxing, contemporary calf, illus. ($105.50); Nov., 1794 ed., 1^st st. of Blake’s pl., modern faux leather, illus. (offered at the “buy it now” price of £40 or “best offer”). Addison & Sarova auction, Social Circle, Georgia, 3 April, #5, 1789 ed., contemporary calf very worn, front cover detached, illus. ($218.75). McNaughtan’s Bookshop, Oct. online cat., 1794 ed., 3^rd st. of Blake’s pl., “a print of a Blake drawing pasted to flyleaf,” contemporary calf worn, illus. (£200; acquired by Windle for stock); same copy, Windle, Nov. online cat., binding illus. ($395).

Lavater, Essays on Physiognomy. Schilb Antiquarian, June online cat., “1792” (c. 1818) ed., 3 vols. in 4, contemporary calf worn, illus. ($1250).

Novelist’s Magazine, vols. 10-11 (Sir Charles Grandison), 1783. EB, Sept., 2 vols., 19^th-century half calf, illus. (offered at the “buy it now” price of $403 or “best offer”).

Remember Me!, [1824], for 1825. EB, Dec., a French binding, red morocco (?) worn, gilt and blind-stamped covers, “REMEMBER | ME” stamped in gold on the spine (offered at the “buy it now” price of €7500 or “best offer”; acquired by Windle for stock).

Shakespeare, Dramatic Works, 1802. EB, Feb., 9 vols., no mention of Blake’s pl., “all copperplates are foxed and dampstained, some heavily,” contemporary morocco worn, 2 vols. rebacked with parts of backstrips missing, illus. (offered at the “buy it now” price of $1250). Some copies do not include Blake’s pl., inscribed as a “variation” of Peter Simon’s pl. after a painting by John Opie. For the relationship between the 2 pls., see CB p. 83.

Shakespeare, Plays, 1805. Abell auction, Los Angeles, 21 Jan., #0303, 10 vol. issue, contemporary calf rebacked, bindings illus. ($687.50). EB, April, 10 vol. issue, badly foxed, contemporary calf very worn, illus. (no bids on a required minimum bid of $199); May, 9 vol. issue, scattered foxing, 19^th-century calf repaired, illus. (£97). Windle, July online cat., 10 vol. issue, contemporary Russia, illus. ($5750). Freeman’s auction, Philadelphia, 23 Sept., #77, 10 vol. issue, contemporary morocco, bindings illus. ($1113.50).

Stedman, Narrative, 1796, colored copy. Bubb > Kuyper auction, Haarlem, Netherlands, 24 Nov., #3339, 2 vols., lacking 1 map (not by Blake), slight foxing, 1 pl. damp stained, contemporary half calf, illus. (€14,344).

Stedman, Narrative, uncolored copies. EB, Feb., 1796 ed., 2 vols., soiling in margins of some pls., contemporary calf rebacked and worn, illus. ($1825). Aardvark Books, July online cat., 1796 ed., 2 vols., pls. lightly foxed, contemporary calf rebacked with new spines, illus. ($3500). Henry Sotheran, July online cat., 1813 ed., 2 vols., scattered foxing, 19^th-century half morocco, bindings illus. (£2450). Subun-So Books, July online cat., 1813 ed., 2 vols., scattered stains, contemporary calf ($2971). Wittenborn Art Books, July online cat., 1806 ed., 2 vols., “slightly foxed,” calf rebacked, illus. ($2250). Vashon Island Books, July online cat., 1813 ed., 2 vols., title page to vol. 1 missing, some leaves repaired, modern three-quarter “leather” ($2250).

Stuart and Revett, Antiquities of Athens, vols. 1-4, 1762–​1816. CNY online auction, 1-15 Oct., #42, with the Supplement of 1830, vols. 1-3 in contemporary morocco, vol. 4 and the Supplement in half calf, all uniformly rebacked in morocco, illus. ($11,875). Blake’s 4 pls. are in vol. 3.

Vetusta Monumenta, vols. 1-5, 1747–​1835. Lawrences auction, Crewkerne, Somerset, 23 Sept., #87, 5 vols., 19^th-century half calf, illus. (£1430). The illus. for an essay by Joseph Ayloffe in vol. 2 are signed by James Basire and are based on drawings by Blake (Butlin #3-11). “Blake’s name appears on none of the plates in Vetusta Monumenta, but it is very likely that he had a hand in some of them” (BB #503). See also CB p. 118.

Virgil, Pastorals, 1821. Battledoor Books, California Virtual Book Fair, 4-6 March, 2 vols., 19^th-century calf with original sheep backstrips, illus. ($35,000); same copy and price, online cat. for the New York Virtual Book Fair, 9-12 Sept., illus. Previously offered CNY online auction, 2-18 June 2020, #68 (no bids; estimate $15,000-25,000).

Virgil wood engravings, the 17 blocks designed and engraved by Blake, separately printed. Pom Harrington of PHB, private offer in an e-mail to Windle of 25 March, the prints mounted in an oblong album, extensively described and with all 17 prints, the binding, and the inside front cover illus. (£75,000; acquired by Windle at a 20% dealer’s discount and sold early April to Essick for $94,500). See illus. 7.

7. Blake’s 1^st wood engraving illustrating R. J. Thornton’s Pastorals of Virgil, 1821 (see enlargement). Image 6.2 x 8.4 cm. on a leaf of white wove paper 6.4 x 8.7 cm. Illus. cropped close to the leaf of white wove paper.

This impression almost certainly printed by Edward Calvert, possibly in 1828, and mounted a few years later in the Boddington album described in the entry. An exceptionally fine impression, although over-inking on the tree’s foliage at the top obscures a few white lines. The strong contrast between black ink and white paper is probably due in part to cleaning the printed leaf with bleach. Most of the impressions in the album are of equivalent quality. The slightly granular ink imparts to printed surfaces a pleasingly tactile dimension. Essick collection.

The album contains 18 leaves of ivory wove paper, each leaf 11.4 x 19.2 cm. The 1^st leaf is blank; the Virgil wood engravings, printed on thin white wove paper, are pasted to the rectos of leaves 2 through 18. Album leaves 7 and 16 show a watermark that is very difficult to read. My best guess is “MSS” or “M&S” followed, on a second line, by a year possibly beginning with “18”. The album leaves are glued to thin white paper stubs, which are in turn bound into early to mid-19^th-century half morocco over marbled paper boards, stamped in gilt “VIRGIL. BY W. BLAKE.” on the spine.In an e-mail to me of 29 March, Windle states that he “would tentatively date the binding 1830–​35 (after 1825 and most likely well before 1845).” The bookplate of Samuel Boddington (1766–​1843) is glued to the front pastedown endpaper, also inscribed in pencil by a later owner, David Lindsay, the 27^th Earl of Crawford and 10^th Earl of Balcarres (1871–​1940), “given me by | D. Y. Cameron. | C[rawford].”, the Scottish painter and etcher Sir David Young Cameron (1865–​1945). This is probably the album sold from the collection of Thomas Boddington (Samuel Boddington’s nephew, who inherited his uncle’s library, according to Harrington’s e-mail to Windle), SL, 4 Nov. 1895, #95, “Blake, (Wm.) Seventeen Small Woodcuts, original impressions mounted—​Calvert (Edward) Sixteen Small Designs in the Manner of Blake, mounted, in 2 small scrap-books” (£3.6s. to the dealer Bernard Quaritch).

In addition to the thin paper stubs to which the album’s leaves are attached, there are 29 stubs in the gutter of the binding, without any attachments, scattered at odd intervals between the album’s full, reattached leaves. Fifteen of these stubs are the tails of the thin white paper stubs to which the album’s leaves are attached; 14 stubs are remnants of the album’s ivory leaves. The remnants of the ivory leaves and the use of stubs to attach the 18 full leaves to the spine clearly indicate that the album’s leaves were cut out of, and then returned to, their original binding. Given the number of each type of stub, 3 of the thin white paper stubs with album leaves attached have no visible tails and 4 of the album’s ivory leaves were removed without leaving any visible stubs in the binding.

The whiteness of the paper on which the blocks are printed is in part due to cleaning, possibly by Quaritch, after its acquisition of the album in Nov. 1895, or in more recent years.Adam Douglas of PHB tells me, in an e-mail of 12 April, that the cleaning was not done by his firm. This cleaning explains why the album’s ivory leaves were taken out of their binding: it was necessary to soak each leaf in water to lift off the print for cleaning. Bleach was probably used to remove glue stains and other defects. Not every print was reattached precisely in its original position, with the result that, in a few cases, brown stains from the original mounting glue are visible on the backing leaves, outside the edges of the prints.

John Linnell acquired the woodblocks on which Blake had engraved his 17 Virgil illus. for “two guineas” (£2.2s.) on 16 Sept. 1825 from “Mr. [William] Harrison,” one of the booksellers who published Robert John Thornton’s 1821 ed. of Virgil’s Pastorals.BR(2) 775, quoting from Catalogue of an Exhibition of Drawings, Etchings & Woodcuts by Samuel Palmer and Other Disciples of William Blake, with an introduction and notes by A. H. Palmer, Victoria and Albert Museum, 20 Oct.–​31 Dec. 1926 (London: Board of Education, 1926). Palmer states that this information about the sale of the blocks was written by Robert John Thornton on the back of an advertisement card for his publication: “Received of Mr. Linnell for the Wood-Blocks executed by Mr. Blake two guineas (i.e., about 2/6 each) for Mr. Mr. Mr. (sic) Harrison. R. I. Thornton M. D.” (28). The parenthetical interjections were added by Palmer. Linnell’s eldest son, John Linnell, Jr., writing at an unknown date years later, recorded the subsequent printing history of the blocks: “These blocks after the Publisher had used them, (J. L. bought of him for 2 guineas) E Calvert printed them for J. L. & self, &c (certain number of imprints of the set) (J. L. jun. & brother printed a few of the blocks, but did not finish the set)” (BB p. 630, excluding Bentley’s bracketed comments). Linnell senior recorded in his journal that “Calvert came & brought impressions of Blake’s wood Cuts” on 8 Sept. 1828 (BR[2] 488). Given the quality of the impressions and the provenance of the album, we can be confident that they were printed by “E[dward] Calvert” and were probably among the group that he delivered to Linnell in 1828.

Samuel Boddington acquired several works by Blake in the 1830s. He probably purchased America copy P and A Descriptive Catalogue copy E from Frederick Tatham (BB pp. 105, 137). He purchased impressions of Blake’s “Chaucers Canterbury Pilgrims” and Job engravings from John Linnell on 30 March 1835 (BR[2] 793-94). It is likely that Boddington acquired his Virgil prints from Linnell at around the same time, with a terminus ad quem of Boddington’s death in 1843. Up to that year the only available impressions were very probably those printed by Calvert. John Linnell, Jr., was born in 1821; his next brother, James, in 1823.See the biographical outline in John Linnell: A Centennial Exhibition, selected and catalogued by Katharine Crouan (Cambridge: Cambridge UP and Fitzwilliam Museum, 1982) xxii. It is highly unlikely that a teenager and one of his younger brothers were printing from the Virgil blocks in the mid-1830s. Further, the comment by John Linnell, Jr., quoted above, that he “printed a few of the blocks, but did not finish the set” implies that any complete and uniformly printed set of Blake’s 17 wood engravings, such as the one described here, could not have been from this later printing by the Linnell brothers. A complete set with a mixture of impressions printed by Calvert and the Linnell brothers would no doubt reveal itself as such due to at least slight differences in inking or other aspects of presswork. I suspect that John Linnell, Jr., and his brother did not attempt printing the blocks until the 1860s, after Alexander Gilchrist or his representative acquired electrotypes of 3 of Blake’s Virgil wood engravings for publication in Gilchrist’s 1863 Life of William Blake.See Robert N. Essick, “The Virgil Wood Engravings in Alexander Gilchrist’s Life of William Blake,” Book Collector 40.4 (winter 1991): 579-81. The publication of the biography greatly increased the attention paid to Blake’s works. Consequently, the Linnell family may have believed that there would be a reinvigorated market for original impressions of Blake’s only wood engravings.

Thomas Boddington may have owned another album of Blake’s Virgil wood engravings, one also containing some of Calvert’s prints of his own designs. In a brief article published in 1930, the art historian A. J. Finberg refers to such an album, “whose first owner’s name was T. Boddington.”Finberg, “A Note on Edward Calvert,” Print Collector’s Quarterly 17.3 (July 1930): [302]. In his e-mail to Windle of 25 March, Harrington speculates that the album mentioned by Finberg is the same as the one described here, but with Calvert’s works removed. Finberg indicates that the source of his information is “a volume published in 1913 by Mr. Thomas Bird Mosher”—​that is, Mosher’s Edward Calvert: Ten Spiritual Designs. Mosher’s cryptic comments on the album of prints from which he derived his Calvert reproductions include a description of what is clearly a different album from the one offered by Harrington and now in my collection. For example, the volume referenced by Finberg and Mosher is “bound in dark green cloth,” measures “7 x 8 inches” (17.8 x 20.3 cm.), and contains “a neat manuscript hand written on its first blank leaf: Eleven Subjects | by | Edward Calvert | and | Seventeen Woodcuts | by William Blake.”Mosher, “Foreword” in Edward Calvert: Ten Spiritual Designs (Portland, Maine: Thomas Bird Mosher, 1913) viii. Mosher implies, but does not explicitly state, that T. Boddington once owned the volume. Mosher’s account of the characteristics of that album accords with neither of the “2 small scrap-books” described in the 1895 SL auction.

Summary provenance: Edward Calvert, who printed the impressions after 1825; John Linnell, probably in 1828; Samuel Boddington, probably in the mid-1830s and certainly no later than 1843, who had the prints mounted in the album in which he added his bookplate; his nephew, Thomas Boddington, by bequest in 1843; sold from T. Boddington’s collection, Sotheby’s, 4 Nov. 1895 (as noted above); the London dealer Bernard Quaritch; the artist Sir David Young Cameron; David Lindsay, the 27^th Earl of Crawford and 10^th Earl of Balcarres, probably until 1940; an heir of Lindsay’s, probably a family member, who sold the album to (or placed it on consignment with) PHB no later than March 2021; Windle in late March 2021; sold April 2021 to Essick.

Virgil, The Wood Engravings of William Blake for Thornton’s Virgil, 1977. DW, 16 Dec., #727, publisher’s box, illus. (£2952 to Windle for stock).

Wollstonecraft, Original Stories. Windle, April online cat., 1796 ed., 3^rd (final) sts. of the pls., contemporary calf, illus. (“sold”). Rob Zanger Books, April online cat., 1791 ed., 2^nd st. of pl. 1, sts. of other pls. not indicated, “a little foxed towards end,” later morocco, the copy sold FM, 28 March 2019, #52, for £3250, illus. ($10,000).

Young, Night Thoughts, 1797. Warren Zimmermann, March online cat., with the “Explanation” leaf and a manuscript “Explication des gravures” in French, “pages are untrimmed,” modern half calf, illus. ($12,000). Pom Harrington of PHB, private offer in an e-mail to Windle of 26 March, with the “Explanation” leaf, “light foxing in a few places,” from the collection of David Lindsay, the 27^th Earl of Crawford and 10^th Earl of Balcarres (1871–​1940), later morocco with “all edges gilt” (£17,500); same copy and price, Voewood Rare Books, July online cat. 3, #6, illus. Windle, April online cat., with the “Explanation” leaf, later half morocco, illus. ($15,000).

Interesting Blakeana

Royal Academy exhibition cats. EB, Jan., cats. of 1784, 1798, 1799, 1801, 1802, and 1804, 6 pamphlets in all, unbound, illus. (acquired by Windle for stock at the “buy it now” price of £250). Windle, Jan. private offer of the 1784 cat. ($250, acquired by Essick); Feb. private offer of the 1799 cat. (acquired by the E. J. Pratt Library, Victoria University, Toronto). The 1784 and 1799 cats. include works by Blake; see BB #520, 525.

Dante, A Translation of the Inferno of Dante Alighieri … by Henry Boyd, 1785. PHB, April online cat., 2 vols., contemporary calf, illus. (£5000). Blake owned and annotated a copy of this work (BB #721, E 633-35).

W. [Paulet] Carey, Critical Description of the Procession of Chaucer’s Pilgrims to Canterbury, Painted by Thomas Stothard, 1808. BB #1338A. EB, March, presentation inscription by Carey to the Earl of Kinnaird, contemporary half calf worn (offered at the “buy it now” price of $500 or “best offer”). Includes a brief reference to Robert H. Cromek’s commissioning Blake to illustrate Robert Blair’s The Grave (pp. 10-11, footnote). An advertisement for Cromek’s 1808 ed. of The Grave with designs engraved by “L. Schiavonetti, V. A. executed from the classical compositions of William Blake” is included at the end of Carey’s pamphlet on 2 unnumbered pages.

Adam and Eve Asleep. A copy of Adam and Eve Asleep (Butlin #536.5) in the series of Paradise Lost illus. Blake executed for Thomas Butts in 1808. Watercolor with pen and black ink over traces of pencil, 50.6 x 40.3 cm., date uncertain. SNY, 27 Jan., #89, offered as “attributed to William Blake,” illus. ($37,800; estimate $30,000-50,000). Previously offered privately by the London dealer Andrew Clayton-Payne, Sept. 2018 (price on request). For illus. and an attribution to Blake, see Martin Butlin, “Blake’s Unfinished Series of Illustrations to Paradise Lost for John Linnell: An Addition,” Blake 51.1 (summer 2017), and Butlin, “The ‘Linnell’ Adam and Eve Asleep: The Case for the Defense,” Blake 51.2 (fall 2017). For arguments against this attribution, see the essays by David Bindman, Robert N. Essick, and Joseph Viscomi in Blake 51.2 (fall 2017). All 5 essays are cited in the SNY cat. Auction lots described as “attributed to” an artist indicate that the attribution is uncertain or disputed.

The Light Blue: A Cambridge University Magazine, vols. 1-5, 1866–​70. Nudelman Rare Books, Aug. online cat., 5 vols. in 4, 19^th-century half calf worn, illus. ($275 to Windle for stock). Vol. 2 (1867) includes an essay on Blake signed “P. M.” The essay contains “the first publication of three poems from the Island in the Moon” (BB #2155).

Blake, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, Camden Hotten facsimile [1868]. SL online auction, 3-14 Dec., #24, foxed, “quarter vellum over boards,” from the collection of Stopford A. Brooke, illus. (£756).

Walt Whitman, autograph letter signed to “My dear Swinton” (John Swinton, managing editor of the New York Times), dated 31 March 1868, 1 p. University Archives auction, Wilton, Connecticut, 14 April, #0345, with Whitman’s signed carte de visite, illus. ($8125). The letter alone previously sold CNY, 16 June 2016, #143, illus. ($3750). See the 2016 sales review in Blake 50.4 (spring 2017) for details about this letter, in which Whitman requests a copy of a review of A. C. Swinburne’s William Blake published in the Times.

Blake, Job engravings, [1875]. EB, Oct., reproductions of the pls. only loose as issued in a faux leather portfolio stamped in blind on the front cover “THE BOOK OF JOB | BLAKE ” and “HELIOTYPE | James R. Osgood & Co.”, with a duplicate of the pl. numbered 4, the portfolio worn, illus. (acquired by Essick at the “buy it now” price of $143.99). The same heliotypes published in BB #422, William Blake’s Illustrations of the Book of Job, ed. Charles Eliot Norton (Boston: James R. Osgood, 1875), this separate issue of the pls. only not previously recorded. A “heliotype” is an early form of collotype patented by Ernest Edwards in 1869; see Geoffrey Wakeman, Victorian Book Illustration: The Technical Revolution (Detroit: Gale Research Co., 1973) 116.

Blake, The Book of Thel, William Muir facsimile, 1885. Windle, Dec. online cat., no copy no. but inscribed “Academy”, original wrappers, illus. ($3500).

Blake, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, William Muir facsimile, 1885. Windle, March online cat., the rare issue with coloring based on copy I, with an “Appendix” containing reproductions of the manuscript “Order in which the Songs of Innocence and Experience ought to be paged” (BB #125) and the relief etching of “A Divine Image” from Songs of Experience (BB #139 pl. b), “once badly stained in the margins now washed and cleaned by Court Benson,” the leaves trimmed close to the images, recent cloth, illus. ($5750). This copy, unrestored, sold Addison & Sarova auction, Macon, Georgia, 5 Nov. 2016, #195, illus. ($522.75 to Windle acting for Essick).

Blake, Songs of Innocence, with Songs of Experience, William Muir facsimiles, 1885. BHL, 24 June, #231, 2 vols. in 1, “William Muir’s proof copy” with “several trial tracings pasted in margins, Muir’s manuscript notes, 2 autograph letters signed by Bernard Quaritch to Muir, Quaritch’s 4 pp. 1888 prospectus for works by Blake and Muir, and other ephemera bound in,” original wrappers marked in pencil “Mr Muir’s Master Copy”, contemporary “limp boards,” half morocco slipcase (£6375; estimate £1000-2000); same copy, Lucius Books, online Transatlantic Book Fair, 22-27 July, illus. (£14,750).

Blake, Visions of the Daughters of Albion, William Muir facsimile, 1885. Windle, Dec. online cat., on Hodgkinson wove paper, lacking printed wrappers and limitation statement, modern half calf, illus. ($3500).

Blake, Milton, William Muir facsimile, 1886, with a facsimile of Blake’s letter of 16 March 1804 to William Hayley. NB, July online cat., copy no. 7, later morocco, illus. ($6800). Windle, Dec. online cat., no copy no. but inscribed “Builder”, modern buckram, original wrappers bound in, illus. ($9500); another copy, no copy no. recorded, contemporary half calf, original wrappers bound in, illus. ($9500).

Blake, There is No Natural Religion, Pickering facsimile, 1886. SL online auction, 3-14 Dec., #25, large paper copy, from the collection of Stopford A. Brooke, “some plates hand coloured, original blue wrappers bound in, contemporary blind-tooled calf, rear cover detached, loss of calf to lower edges, joints worn,” illus. (no bids; estimate £500-700).

Blake, Europe, William Muir facsimile, 1887. NB, July online cat., no copy no. recorded, later half calf, illus. ($12,500).

Blake, Poetical Sketches, W. Griggs facsimile, 1890. James Cummins, Nov. online cat., mistakenly described as published by “W. Briggs,” no. 24 of 50 copies, “morocco spine and boards, spine perished,” illus. ($350). BB #130; the only copy I’ve seen on the market since 1990.

W. B. Yeats. Autograph letters signed, 1 to John Linnell, Jr. (1821–​1906, son of Blake’s friend and patron John Linnell), 3 to William Linnell (1826–​1906, son of Blake’s friend), and 1 typed and signed letter to Katherine Riches (W. Linnell’s daughter), 7 pp. in all. None dated, but all probably written 1895 and/​or 1896. FM, 25 March, #69, “discussing the reproductions of William Blake’s drawing for Yeats’s articles in the Savoy Magazine” published in 1896 (BB #3051A), illus. (£4760).

A. C. Swinburne, William Blake: A Critical Essay, new edition, 1906. BHNY, 15 Dec., #204, signature Y1-8 of the text missing, inscribed on the half-title to “William Michael Rossetti | from | Algernon Charles Swinburne | Sept. 16^th 1906”, with a further presentation inscription by Rossetti to his daughter Mary explaining why the half-title was inserted from another copy, illus. ($1020).

Blake, Songs of Innocence, William Muir facsimile, 1927. EB, Aug., copy no. 47, original wrappers, illus. ($1199 to Windle for stock); same copy, Windle, Sept. online cat., illus. ($5750).

G. L. Lambert. Autograph manuscript handlist of the Blake collection formed by Grace Lansing Lambert (1899–​1993) written in black ink in a half-calf album. Eleven pp., including title reading “William Blake | owned by Grace L. Lambert | Pink House, Province Line Road, | Princeton, New Jersey. | 1945—​1949—​”. Includes Songs of Innocence and of Experience copy g¹, Visions of the Daughters of Albion copy L, America copy Q, Night Thoughts colored copy D, and the manuscript of I asked a thief, now all at Princeton University Library. Given 1 Jan. by Windle to Essick as a new year’s gift.

Leonard Baskin (American artist, 1922–​2000). Head of William Blake (After Life Mask). Bronze, 18.0 cm. high, initialed and dated “[19]54.” DRW, 12 Oct., #285, illus. (£1500; estimate £400-600).

Blake, Poems from William Blake’s “Songs of Innocence,” illus. by Maurice Sendak, 1967. Reader’s Books, May online cat., publisher’s wrappers, “very slight marks to front cover,” illus. (£3500). Battledore Ltd., online cat. for the New York Virtual Book Fair, 9-12 Sept., presentation inscription by Sendak, original wrappers, illus. ($4500).

Blake, Songs of Innocence and of Experience (Manchester: Manchester Etching Workshop, 1983). Windle, Feb. online cat., 56 Works of Bibliography, #16, issue limited to 40 copies with the pls. hand colored, with Joseph Viscomi’s essay, “The Art of William Blake’s Illuminated Prints,” as issued, publisher’s morocco album and cloth folding box, illus. ($6750).

Blake, Illustrations of the Book of Job, ed. David Bindman (Paris: Trianon Press for the Blake Trust, 1987). Windle, Feb. online cat., 56 Works of Bibliography, #15, deluxe issue limited to 22 sets, 3 vols., publisher’s boards trimmed with morocco, slipcases, illus. ($16,500). BHNY, 15 Oct., #237, deluxe issue limited to 22 sets, 3 vols. bound as in the Windle set, illus. ($7650).

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.

CALVERT, EDWARD
Early drawings, paintings, and original graphics

Hamadryades Sketch (so inscribed), with Nymphs & Satyrs, both pen and ink, 4.6 x 5.8 cm. and 3.6 x 8.4 cm. respectively. DW, 23 July, #358, illus. (£900). David Bindman suggests to me (e-mail, 18 Aug.) that the Hamadryades may be an early work.

“The Lady with the Rooks,” wood engraving. Parker Fine Art auction, Farnham, Surrey, 21 Jan., #1, 3^rd st., framed, illus. (£625).

“The Ploughman,” wood engraving. Parker Fine Art auction, Farnham, Surrey, 21 Jan., #2, 3^rd st., framed, illus. (£938). Larkhall Fine Art, Feb. online cat., 3^rd st. from the Memoir, illus. (£975).

“The Return Home,” wood engraving. Larkhall Fine Art, Feb. online cat., 2^nd st. from the Memoir, illus. (£825).

FLAXMAN, JOHN
Drawings and sculpture

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

Antony’s Oration over the Dead Caesar. Pencil, ink, and wash, 22.2 x 33.7 cm. LLY, Nov. list of “recent sales,” illus. (not priced).

The Bard. Pencil, pen and ink, 27.7 x 28.7 cm., probably dating from the mid-1780s. Guy Peppiatt Fine Art, Oct. private offer (£4500); same price, Guy Peppiatt and Harry Moore-Gwyn, Dec. cat., #12, claiming that the “drawing relates to William Blake’s poem ‘The Voice of the Ancient Bard,’” illus. Previously offered SL, 31 March 1999, #6, illus. (not sold; estimate £2000-3000), and AH, March 2020 online cat. 501, #40, illus. (£4250). If a text prompted Flaxman’s drawing, it is probably Thomas Gray’s poem “The Bard: A Pindaric Ode” (1757), not Blake’s poem 1^st published in Songs of Innocence, 1789.

Classical Figures, attributed to Flaxman. Pencil, 11.4 x 17.8 cm. Burstow & Hewett auction, Battle, East Sussex, 25 March, #313, “tear on bottom edge running halfway up the sheet near bottom left-hand corner,” illus. (£144). This would appear to be a preliminary drawing for several figures in pl. 17, “The Good Race,” among Flaxman’s Hesiod designs engraved by Blake and published in 1817 (BB #456), but David Bindman believes that this is a copy based on the engraving (e-mail, 10 April).

Peace Keeping War Out of the Temple of Janus. Pen and ink, gray wash, 25.0 x 34.0 cm., inscribed “Peace & War” in pencil lower left, “N^o 4” in pencil lower right, and with “John Flaxman R. A.” and the title inscribed in pencil lower right on the backing leaf, datable to c. 1787. Semley auction, Shaftesbury, Dorset, 23 Jan., #286, illus. (£2125 to a British private collector). David Bindman has informed me that this is a variant preliminary study for a Wedgwood plaque of 1787, Peace Preventing Mars Opening the Gates of Janus (e-mail, 24 Jan.). For illus. of the plaque and comments, see John Flaxman, ed. Bindman (London: Thames & Hudson, 1979) 63, no. 51.

Study of Figures on a Frieze. Pen and brown ink, pencil, gray wash, 16.7 x 19.3 cm. Woolley & Wallis auction, Salisbury, 11 Aug., #399, illus. (£875).

Study of Oriental Figures. Pencil, 12.4 x 16.7 cm. Woolley & Wallis auction, Salisbury, 11 Aug., #398, illus. (£600).

FUSELI, HENRY
Drawings, paintings, manuscripts, and separate pls.

The Incubus Leaving Two Young Women. CNY, 14 Oct., #57, described as a “recent discovery,” illus. ($3,510,000; estimate $3,000,000-5,000,000). See illus. 8.

8. The Incubus Leaving Two Young Women (see enlargement). Stated to be by Henry Fuseli in the CNY auction cat. (14 Oct., #57). Oil on canvas, 86.4 x 110.5 cm., not dated. The extensive cat. entry compares the iconography of this composition with Fuseli’s most famous painting, The Nightmare. Another version of The Incubus, datable to the early 1790s, is a slightly larger oil painting in the Muraltengut, Zürich. An engraving of the design by Theodor Falckeisen (or Falckeysen, 1765–​1814) is not dated but must have been produced after 1794 (Weinglass #135). Photo courtesy of Christie’s.

David Bindman (e-mail, 1 Oct.), Joseph Viscomi (e-mail, 8 Oct.), and I share some doubts that this work is by Fuseli. The painting illus. here is identical in its placement of major motifs and their outlines to the Muraltengut version. Did an artist as imaginative as Fuseli repeat himself this studiously? The colors are subdued in a way uncharacteristic of an artist notorious in his own time for his unconventional, even lurid, palette. The right arm of the woman behind her companion is evenly washed in a single color with a highlight on her forearm; the same arm in the Muraltengut painting shows shaded and vigorously articulated folds of cloth that hint at underlying musculature. In comparison to that version, this newly discovered work lacks Fuseli’s spirited brushwork and seems more than a little lifeless. Might it be a careful but blandly executed copy by another hand? For the Muraltengut version, see <https://​commons.​wikimedia.​org/​wiki/​File:​Johann_​Heinrich_​Füssli_​014.​jpg>.

Indications of the cloth folds noted above also appear in Falckeisen’s print. Thus, the suggestion in Christie’s cat. that their version might have been the one copied by the engraver is probably wrong. This leaves the work at Christie’s bereft of an early provenance record.

Study of One of the Quirinal Dioscuri. Pencil, pen and brown ink, 16.5 x 13.4 cm., datable to c. 1775–​78. CL, 6 July, #76, illus. (£11,875). Previously sold CL, 14 April 1992, #47, illus. (£2420), and CL, 8 June 2000, #84, illus. (£4935). The 1992 auction cat. notes that the same subject appears on both recto and verso, but no verso drawing is recorded in either the 2000 or 2021 auction cats.

Study of “Prometheus” (recto), Study of “Jonah” (verso), both after Michelangelo. Pen and ink over pencil (recto), pencil (verso), leaf 19.0 x 26.7 cm., recto inscribed in ink “M. A. B.” (Michael Angelo Buonarroti) and “Feb. ’89” (Feb. 1789) in pencil lower right. Clars auction, Oakland, California, 17 Jan., #2293, recto and verso illus. ($8320).

Autograph receipt signed “H. Fusely” and dated 23 Oct. 1788. Issued to “M.^r Alderman Boydell” for “fifty Guineas [£52.10s.] on account of a Picture of Hamlet delivered.” James Cummins, Nov. online cat., illus. ($2000). One of Fuseli’s paintings for Boydell’s Shakespeare Gallery.

“Chrysogone Conceives, in a Ray of Sunshine, Amoretta and Belphoebe,” soft-ground etching by Fuseli after his own design, dated by Weinglass #154 to c. 1800–​10. DW, 25 March, #339, “on heavy cream wove paper,” leaf 21.5 x 29.2 cm., illus. (£6448; estimate £300-500). Joseph Viscomi tells me that Fuseli appears to have strengthened the dark hatching strokes by going over them with a needle after etching the pl. (e-mail, 7 March). The subject is based on Edmund Spenser’s The Faerie Queene, book 3, canto 6. The only impression I’ve ever seen on the market.

A soft-ground etching is made by covering a copperplate with an etching ground (acid-resistant material) to which a substance (such as tallow) is added to prevent the ground from fully hardening. A leaf of paper is placed over the copperplate and the artist uses a sharp instrument, such as a pencil, to draw the image on the paper. When carefully removed, the paper lifts the ground from the pl. wherever the artist has inscribed the lines delineating the design, thereby exposing the metal. The pl. is then etched in the usual way for intaglio printmaking.

“Lycidas,” stipple etching/​engraving by Moses Haughton after Fuseli with aquatint by F. C. Lewis, 1803. Ewbank’s auction, Woking, Surrey, 2 Dec., #2208, leaf approximately 39.0 x 30.0 cm., illus. (£45.50). Weinglass #178, titled “Solitude, Twilight.”

LINNELL, JOHN
Early drawings, paintings, and original graphics

A Baby Seated. Pencil, 12.5 x 9.5 cm., signed and dated April 1822. Sworders auction, Stansted Mountfitchet, Essex, 15 Sept., #566, illus. (£325). Previously sold SL, 6 June 2007, #172, titled Study of a Young Child (£960). Possibly Linnell’s first son, also John, born in 1821. See also Study of a Sleeping Baby, below.

Fence Posts. Pencil on gray paper, leaf 25.4 x 20.3 cm., initialed and dated “1806–​7”. EB, June, illus. ($75).

Gleaning before the Storm. Oil, 30.0 x 37.0 cm., initialed and dated “1834”. Stroud auction, Stroud, Gloucestershire, 7 July, #97, illus. (£590).

Landscape with a Large Tree. Watercolor, 49.0 x 54.0 cm. Auction Antiques auction, Hele, Devon, 22 April, #25, “signed and inscribed under mount, dated 1817,” illus. (£250). Difficult to tell from the illus., but there may be condition problems with this work.

Milking Time. Oil, 19.1 x 22.9 cm., signed. Minster auction, Leominster, Herefordshire, 7 July, #249, illus. (£371.20). Probably a very early work. The barn in this painting would appear to be the same as the one in Study of Buildings (Tate Collection), dated on a label “1806”.

Portrait of Dr. Thomas Monro. Pen and brown ink, watercolor, 19.7 x 14.2 cm., signed and dated 1827. SL online auction, 2-8 July, #188, illus. (£1386).

Portrait of John Varley. Oil, 20.2 x 15.8 cm., signed and dated 1823. Parker Fine Art auction, Farnham, Surrey, 8 July, #68, with a “companion piece,” an oil portrait of an unidentified woman, apparently the same size as the portrait of Varley, both illus. (£4250). The woman is probably Varley’s first wife, née Esther Gisborne, who died in 1824. Her nose and chin are very similar to those features in a pencil drawing of Mrs. Varley by John Flaxman illus. in Adrian Bury, John Varley of the “Old Society” (Leigh-on-Sea: F. Lewis, 1946) pl. 76.

Portrait of Mrs. William Wilberforce and Child. Oil, 32.5 x 26.5 cm., signed and dated 1824. SL online auction, 7-14 July, #46, illus. (£10,710). William Wilberforce (1759–​1833) was a leader of the anti-slave-trade movement in the British parliament. By 1824 Wilberforce’s six children were considerably older than the child pictured here; he may be a grandchild. The youthful woman may not be the parliamentarian’s wife, born in 1777, but the wife of his eldest son, also William (born 1798).

Shepherds. Oil, 16.5 x 22.2 cm., signed, datable to the late 1820s. LLY, June online cat., illus. (£28,000).

Study of a Sleeping Baby. Pencil, leaf 19.5 x 24.5 cm., signed. DW, 13 Oct., #145, dated to “circa 1820,” illus. (not sold; estimate £150-200). Possibly Linnell’s first son, also John, born in 1821. See also A Baby Seated, above.

View towards the Woods. Watercolor, signed lower left, 13.3 x 19.1 cm. Potomack Company auction, Alexandria, Virginia, 10 June, #54, illus. ($1187.50). Probably an early work.

“Sheep at Noon,” etching, 1818. Jones & Jacob auction, Watlington, Oxfordshire, 13 Jan., #321, oddly described as “after [rather than by] John Linnell” and as a “reprint,” with “six other topographical prints” not further described, illus. (£50).

PALMER, SAMUEL
Drawings, paintings, and letters

Hope, or the Lifting of the Cloud. Watercolor, 26.0 x 38.0 cm., signed, datable to 1865. Given 2020 by the estate of Stephen Keynes to the Fitzwilliam Museum, accession no. PD.30-2020.Arts Council England, 2020 report (see note 4) 81.

Porta di Posillipo and the Bay of Baiae, Italy, Ischia and Misenum Beyond. Watercolor, 19.0 x 41.0 cm., datable to c. 1838. BHL, 22 Sept., #10, illus. (£8287.50). Previously offered SL, 28 Nov. 2002, #269, illus. (not sold; estimate £10,000-15,000); SL, 1 July 2004, #234, illus. (not sold; estimate £8000-12,000); and CL, 5 July 2011, #180, illus. (not sold; estimate £7000-10,000).

A Shepherd Leading His Flock under the Full Moon. SL, 7 July, #10, “from the Collection of the late Cyril and Shirley Fry,” illus. (£1,588,000; estimate £700,000-900,000). I have not been able to identify the new owner, probably a private collector. See illus. 9.

9. Samuel Palmer, A Shepherd Leading His Flock under the Full Moon (see enlargement). Black watercolor over black chalk, heightened with scratching out, 14.8 x 17.8 cm., datable to c. 1829–​30. Palmer executed 3 similar pastoral scenes also featuring a full moon and mammatus clouds: A Kentish Idyll (Victoria and Albert Museum), Moonlight Landscape (or Moonlit Landscape, Princeton University Art Museum), and Shepherds under a Full Moon (Ashmolean Museum). The £1,588,000 ($2,191,440) fetched by the present drawing is the 2^nd highest price ever paid at auction for a work by Palmer, exceeded only by the $2,415,000 paid for A Church with a Boat and Sheep at SNY, 31 Jan. 2018, #13. For illus. and comments on the latter, see the 2018 sales review in Blake 52.4 (spring 2019): illus. 7. Photo courtesy of Sotheby’s.

Sketch for a Pastoral Scene. Watercolor, 15.5 x 22.9 cm., datable to c. 1851. Hindman auction, Chicago, 3 May, #112, illus. ($34,375). Previously sold SL, 7 July 1983, #112, titled A Shepherd and His Flock Resting beneath a Spreading Tree, illus. (£1980); previously offered Martyn Gregory Gallery, Feb. 1984 cat. 35, #102, titled Sketch for “Sheep in the Shade,” illus. (£5500).

The Welsh Cottage (recto), small sketch of an old man sitting surrounded by 2 children and a woman (verso). Recto pencil and watercolor, verso pencil, leaf 44.5 x 33.0 cm., datable to c. 1835. CNY online auction, 14-28 Jan., #86, illus. ($100,000; estimate $3000-5000).

A Woodland Study—​Possibly Clovelly Park, Devon. Watercolor, 19.1 x 27.5 cm., datable to the 1830s or 1840s. SL, 4 Dec. 2020, #213, illus. (£10,710).

Autograph letters signed, 4 to John Linnell, Jr. (1821–​1906, son of Blake’s friend and patron John Linnell), undated but datable to c. 1860–​64, 1 to William Linnell (1826–​1906, son of Blake’s friend) dated Aug. 1861. FM, 25 March, #62, mostly concerning Palmer’s lease of Furze Hill House from John Linnell, Jr., these letters “apparently unpublished,” illus. (not sold; estimate £2000-2500); same group, 15 July, #226, illus. (£4352).

Autograph letter signed to Henry Mogford, 2 pp., n.d. Lion Heart Autographs, California Virtual Book Fair, 4-6 March, illus. ($1600); same letter, University Archives auction, Wilton, Connecticut, 29 Sept., #112, illus. (not sold; estimate $1500-1800).

RICHMOND, GEORGE
Early drawings, paintings, and original graphics

Portrait of Theodor Matthias von Holst. Pen and ink over pencil, inscribed with the subject’s name, signed “GR” and dated “Decr 29 1827”. SL online auction, 2-8 July, #193, illus. (£6,930; estimate £1000-1500). The artist Theodor von Holst (1810–​44) was a student of Henry Fuseli’s.

Study of a Nude Man. Pencil, squared, 22.2 x 19.0 cm., indistinctly inscribed in ink. Parker Fine Art auction, Farnham, Surrey, 18 Feb., #35, copied after a sculpture, illus. (£375). Probably an early work extracted from a sketchbook and inscribed by Richmond at a later date. My best guess at the inscription: “Drawn by Richmond after Volteize.”

Study of Soldiers. Watercolor and gouache, 24.0 x 16.0 cm., signed and dated 1838. DRW, 27 May, #321, illus. (£2375). Previously sold SL, 21 March 2001, #226, illus. (£5040). Previously offered Fine Art Society, May-June 2012 “Samuel Palmer [and] His Friends and His Followers” cat., #28, illus. (£12,000), and SL, 5 Feb. 2019, #16, illus. (not sold; estimate £2000-3000).

Study of the Prophet Daniel, after Michelangelo. Watercolor, 63.5 x 49.2 cm., signed “GR” and datable to c. 1838. Roseberys auction, London, 20 July, #136, illus. (£1000).

Appendix: New Information on Blake’s Engravings

Listed below are substantive additions or corrections to Essick, The Separate Plates of William Blake: A Catalogue (1983).

Pp. 55-59, “Enoch.” For a previously unrecorded impression, only the 5^th known, see the listing under Separate Plates and Plates in Series and illus. 6.