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Details
BLAKE, William (1757-1827, illustrator) -- BLAIR, Robert (1699-1746). The Grave. A Poem. London: T. Bensley for R.H. Cromek, 1808. Large 4° (339 x 273mm). Etched portrait of W. Blake by L. Schiavonetti after T. Phillips, etched frontispiece and 11 plates by Schiavonetti after Blake. (Portrait and frontispiece browned, small paper fault affecting bottom margin of portrait, frontispiece slightly cropped at bottom margin, some mainly marginal spotting and thumb-soiling of other plates.) Contemporary half russia (worn, front cover detached). Provenance: John Robertson Bell (bookplate) -- E.C. Sayer, 1839 (pencil inscription).
FIRST EDITION, quarto issue. These etchings became the best known of Blake's designs, a second edition in both folio and quarto appearing in 1813. The first leaf of text is Blake's one-page dedicatory poem to the Queen who heads the six-page list of subscribers, many of whom were artists. Cromek's advertisement, lavishing praise on Schiavonetti, is followed by Fuseli's profounder appreciation of Blake's designs. Bentley 435.
FIRST EDITION, quarto issue. These etchings became the best known of Blake's designs, a second edition in both folio and quarto appearing in 1813. The first leaf of text is Blake's one-page dedicatory poem to the Queen who heads the six-page list of subscribers, many of whom were artists. Cromek's advertisement, lavishing praise on Schiavonetti, is followed by Fuseli's profounder appreciation of Blake's designs. Bentley 435.