Blake William Thornton Robert John (2 results)

Hardcover. Condition: Good. 3rd Edition. The Pastorals of Virgil, with a course of English reading adapted for schools. illustrated with 230 engravings by Robert John Thornton. Third edition, volume one, London, stereotyped and printed by J M'Gowan. published by F C and J Rivingtons [and others], 1821. Volume one only, pagination xii, 214 with frontispiece and numerous plates throughout including 25 engravings on wood on 11 leaves by William Blake bound in contemporary sheep. CONDITION: Upper board detached and spine lacking, boards scraped, text block a little shaken, brown corner stain to final 10 leaves and endpaper, touching text but not effecting any plates which are in clean condition throughout. This volume is being sold as a collection of plates. FURTHER COMMENTS Third edition (volume one only) is the only edition of Thornton's Pastorals of Virgil to be illustrated by William Blake. Blake had a hand in 27 of the 232 illustrations across the two volumes but 25 of these are contained in the first volume illustrating Virgil's First Pastoral. Of the 6 copper engravings done by Blake, 4 are in this first volume and the other two in the second volume and one is a design for another engraver. The 20 woodcuts in volume one are all after his own designs. It is worth mentioning that these were the only woodcuts that Blake ever cut and Lawrence Binyon wrote of them: 'They have the character of visions called up as if by moonlight out of the darkened surface of the wood'. SIZE: 185 x 107mm REF: Bentley Blake books, 504. BLAKE, WILLIAM (illustrator). …

London: 1821. 2 vols., small 8vo, xii (-vii/viii), 12, xxiv (-i/iv), 214; [I], [215]-592 pp. With an engraved frontispiece to each volume, and 230 illustrations including 17 woodcuts and 6 engraved plates by Blake, and four other designs by Blake engraved by others. Original full rose sheep, backstrips lettered in gilt, slight wear to joints, vol. 1 invisibly repaired. A very fine set internally perfect. Enclosed in a modern protective box. § Presentation copy inscribed by Thornton to his daughter. A very fine copy of a scarce work in any condition as it was issued for use in schools; the impressions of the woodcuts in this copy are the richest I have ever seen. Blake contributed 17 woodcuts to this volume (as well as 10 other plates, of which he engraved six) which were not well received; nor were they well treated by the publisher who cut down the blocks and printed them poorly. Only a few proofs before they were trimmed are now extant. These blocks have remained amongst the most influential woodcuts in the history of British art and their influence can be seen from Calvert (see below) and Palmer all the way up to the present day. The blocks were saved by Linnell and were printed not long after Blake's death as separate impressions (perhaps by Calvert, also see below), and again in 1977 as a set by Iain Bain (see below). Any impressions are now very hard to find. For a full discussion of this wonderful book, see Essick's masterly monograph A Troubled Paradise. (San Francisco: John Windle, 1999). Bentley, BB, 504. Bindman 602-18. Easson and Essick I, X. …