Blake, William

Edward Young. The Complaint, and the Consolation; or, Night Thoughts. London: R. Noble for R. Edwards, 1797

Folio (428 x 318 mm, uncut). 43 engraved pictorial border illustrations by and after William Blake; some illustrations shaved (as usual), wi𒈔thout the "explanation of engravings" leaf (as often), scattered marginal soiling. Contemporary vellum over boards, spine gilt; front cover bowed, lightly soiled.

Sir Geoffrey Keynes termed the Blake's🐈 illustrations "splendid examples of plain line engrav🍰ing done by an artist whose creative energy sought to burst through the limitations of his craft." "

Blake made 537 drawings around pages of the first edition of Young's poems, inlaid in album sheets measuring 21 x 16 inches. He chose forty-three of these for engraving in what was intended to be a first installment of the Night Thoughts. "Perhaps baffled by the novelty of Blake's interpretations, the public was not receptive, and the book remains a remarkable fragment💮" (Ray)ღ.

REFERENCES

Bentley, Blake Books 515; Ray, The Illustrator and the Book in England 3

PROVENANCE

The Fermor-Hesketh Library at Easton Neston (armorial bookplate of Sir Thomas Hesketh, Bart., & Easton Neston press-label 33/G; Sotheby's London, 15 December 1999, lot 60)