Blake, William

Illustrations of the Book of Job. Invented & Engraved by William Blake. London: Printed as the Act Directs March 8: 1825 by William Blake [i.e., 1874]

Twenty-two post-proof line-engravings engravings by Blake (title-leaf and 21 plates) on china paper (206 x 154 mm, slightly variable), mounted on unmarked wove paper sheets (505 x 345 mm, slightly variable). Individually matted and housed in a brown buckram fold𝓀ing-case with a facsimile of the original bindiꦚng label on front cover.

A handsomely presented suite of Blake's remarkable engravings for the Book of Job. These illustrations were begun by Blake in 1821 at the suggestion of his friend John Linnell, who hoped to help the artist secure a degree of self-sufficiency. According to Bentley, 215 proof sets were issued in 1826, with title plate dated 1825. The present set is from the 1874 re-issue. Linnell's son wrote to Bernard Quaritch in 1892, explaining how the plates came to be issued again after the 1826 sets were offered: "Mr. Linnell then put the plates away, & they were never again used after this time until the year 1874. At that time my father wishing to have some prints ["i.e. not proofs" Bentley] of the Job to offer for sale, (the or𒈔iginal 100 copies having long since been exhausted) he had 100 copies printed from the plates upon India paper … The above named impressions, taken at the two dates specified , are all that have been taken from the plates, of the Job. My father considered the plates at the last were as good as they ever were, for the work being cut with the graver, and not etched, it is durable—and is not worn by the printing as is the case with an etching."

REFERENCE

Bentley, Blake Books, 421