ABAA-IPLA-PBFA

The Complaint and the Consolation; or, Night Thoughts.
Blake, William. Young, Edward.

London: R. Noble, 1797. Large 4to, viii, [1], 95, [2] pages; with the ‘Explanation of the Engravings’ leaf, and 43 full-page engravings by Blake surrounding the letterpress text. Full green morocco c. 1890, gilt top, covers rehinged, a wonderfully well-margined copy, uncut at the fore- and lower edges. Armorial gilt stamps on both covers, Gibbs armorial bookplate dated 1891, and modern bookplate “ff” at front. First edition, the Henry Martin Gibbs (Lord Aldenham)-Robert N. Essick copy with Essick’s notes recording that two plates are in the very rare proof state before imprint and (equally rare) only two plates with the imprints trimmed away -- this copy measuring the same as the only copy in original boards uncut that I have owned, at 43.2 x 33.3 cm. Blake completed 537 watercolor designs when he was commissioned to illustrate Young’s masterpiece. The publisher only issued the first four ‘Nights’and had Blake engrave (and partially etch) 43 plates to test the market. The response must have been poor since no further engravings were requested of Blake. Ironically, today the poet Young, once compared with Shakespeare and Milton, is forgotten save for this edition. Bentley, Blake Books, 515. Essick and LaBelle, Night Thoughts, Dover, 1975. Ray, The Illustrator and the Book in England, 1790-1914, 3. (Item ID: 6294)

$25,000.00