Blake William

2005 · Best.-Nr. BIBLIO-69101 — The Folio Society London facsimile limited edition 2005. Facsimile limited edition of 1000 copies of the William Blake illustrated edition. 3 vols facsimile 2 vols : quarter morocco and picture boards with morocco title-panels 43 x34 cm; commentary: cloth 8vo 23 cm. facsimile various paginations; commentary xx 362 pp. A superb facsimile edition the first to reproduce all of Blake's illustrations. From the publisher's description: "In 1795 William Blake received a commission from a London bookseller to provide illustrations for an engraved edition of Edward Young's The Complaint: or Night Thoughts on Life Death and Immortality. It was by far the most notable undertaking of Blake's artistic career to this point a perfect marriage of illustrator and subject. The prodigious number of watercolours Blake produced - 537 in all - meant there was one illustration for approximately every 20 lines of verse an extraordinary achievement in itself. Yet the beauty of the work is what truly astonishes. Page after page you cannot help but be moved by the passion and sweep of Blake's imagination. For Night Thoughts this most singular of artists produced a breathtaking procession of individual portraits: the divine and the damned arresting in their conception captivating in their execution. Blake's watercolours do not just ornament the panels of Young's text they dominate and envelop them. From the ringer serpent of Nature to the Soul staggering 'at Futurity' at the edge of a mountain-top; from the bearded figure of Death tearing the pillow from behind the sleeper's head to depictions of Christ the Redeemer and Creator these are images of astonishing inventiveness and emotional power. Set No. 4. The facsimile volumes and commentary are as new; the clamshell case is Near Fine with some minor bumps to corners and edges. The Folio Society, London, facsimile limited edition, 2005 hardcover