This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 6/1/2023
[BLAKE, William (1757-1827), illustrator]. -- BLAIR, Robert (1699-1746). The Grave. A Poem. London: T. Bensley for R.H. Cromek, 1808.
Folio (394 x 311 mm). Etched portrait of Blake by L. Schiavonetti after T. Phillips, engraved additional title and 11 plates by Schiavonetti after Blake (portrait mounted and laid in, engraved title remargined and with spotting, 3 plates with marginal reinforcements, spotting to all plates); with dedication to the Queen, list of subscribers, and prospectus at end. Text watermarked “J. Whatman 1801” on wove paper. Contemporary boards rebacked, original red morocco gilt-lettering piece on upper cover (original calf corners retained, boards and corners worn).
FIRST EDITION, VERY RARE LARGE-PAPER PROOF COPY, engraved title with “Proof Copy R.H.C. Price 5.5.0” lower right, most plates have “Davies” misspelled “Davis”, and plate 7 is called “The Valley of Death” instead of “The descent of Man into the Vale of Death”. These designs by Blake are considered his best-known work and his “most forcible and poetical thinking on the subject of death”. Bentley 435A.