Burger, G. A. Blake, William (illustrator).

Leonora [also 'Lenore' and 'Lenora''] [Eight different printings, six in English and two in German, as listed below, including the edition illustrated by Blake].

London: William Miller, 1796 [etc.].

9 titles, mostly bound together, and the magazine printing* present Burger, G. A. Blake, William (illustrator). Leonora [also 'Lenore' and 'Lenora''] [Eight different printings, six in English and two in German, as listed below, including the edition illustrated by Blake]. London: William Miller, 1796 [etc.]. 7 titles, bound together, and the magazine printing* present separately. With a frontispiece and 2 illustrations (headpiece and tailpiece) designed by Blake and engraved by Perry, and other illustrations not by Blake as described below. Old calf, very worn, covers detached, preserved in a new box.
§ Nine printings of Burger’s hugely influential poem, bound together, including the first edition with Blake’s illustrations, ridiculed in the press upon publication. One of the rarest letterpress books to contain illustrations designed by Blake. Four copies have sold in the last 60 years; none have appeared at auction. No recorded copy has seven versions of the poem bound together, let alone the Monthly Magazine printing which preceded them. Although the binding is in very poor condition it was deemed best to keep the “sammelband” in original condition just as it was assembled by the first owner.

Contents:

(1) Leonora. A Tale. London: William Miller, 1796. 8vo, viii, 13p. Frontispiece after Daniel Chodowiecki engraved by Harding, head- and tailpiece by Harding. *Interesting early manuscript notes about the book on half-title (see below). 8.5 x 5.5 ins.

(2) Lenore. Ein Gedicht. London: gedruckt bey S. Gosnell, 1796. 8vo, [3] 4- 14, (2)p. Not illustrated. 8.5 x 5.5 ins. Text in German.

(3) Leonora. A Tale. Translated and altered from the German... by J.T. Stanley... A New Edition... London: printed by S. Gosnell, for William Miller, 1796. 4to, frontispiece by Blake engraved by Perry, half-title, xi, 16p., inserted additional frontispiece by Chodowiecki not called for, headpiece and tailpiece by Blake engraved by Perry, 16p. 12 x 9 ins.

(4) Leonora. Translated from the German... by W.R. Spencer Esq. With Designs by the right Honourable Lady Diana Beauclerc. London: T. Bensley; for J. Edwards, and E. and S. Harding, 1796. Large 4to, (8), [3] 4-35p. Frontispiece, 4 full-page plates, 2 headpieces and 2 tailpieces engraved by Bartolozzi, Harding, etc. Text in German and English. 14.5 x 10.5 ins.

(5) Ellenore, a Ballad originally written in German. Norwich: John
March and sold by J. Johnson, 1796. Sm. to, (4), 14, (2, ad.)pp. 11 x 9 ins. Not illustrated.

(6) Lenore, a Tale. Translated from the German... by Henry James Pye. London: for the author and sold by Sampson Low, 1796. Sm. 4to, (4), 1799. 11 x 9 ins. Not illustrated.

(7) Lenore. Ein Gedicht. London: gedrucht bey S. Gosnell, 1796. Sm. 4to, (2), 12p. Head- and tail-piece by Harding. 11 x 9 ins.

(8-9) Lenora a Ballad from Bürger. Monthly Magazine: [London]: March, 1796. 8vo, [89]-196 pp. In modern paper wrappers.
This copy bears the bookplate of Frederick Collins Wilson, “a keen amateur actor at Cambridge playing female roles... a friend of Alfred Austin.” (Reilly, Mid-Victorian Poetry 1860-1879, 1999). [and] another copy in modern brown wrappers.

* A manuscript note to the half-title of the first book bound here reads: “Dr. Edward Ash of Holles Street Cavendish Square, one of the travelling students of physic upon the Radcliffe Foundation at Oxford, and who at Gottingen became Master of the German language, translated eight stanzas of this poem and showed them to Mr. Stanley: but refusing to compleat the work it was undertaken by Mr. Stanley. Mr. St. communicated his translation from day to day, as it advanced, to Lady Di. Beauclerc who, with[ou]t disclosing her intention, prepared her drawings, since published with the work, to put £100 in the pocket of Mr. Spencer Ld. Charles Spencer’s son, then employed in a translation of it. Upon the discovery of this by Mr. Stanley, he immediately sent out this publication; and there was a great fracas between the parties.” Writer unknown but perhaps Wilson.

The year 1796 saw four translations of Burger’s “Lenore,” one by J. T. Stanley, one by H. J. Pye, one by William Taylor the Poet Laureate, and a fourth by W. R. Spencer, with designs by Lady Diana Beauclerc. Blake was commissioned to create three illustrations for the Stanley translation, including the famous frontispiece, “Lenore, clasping her spectral bridegroom.” The British Critic for September, 1796, spitefully compared Lady Diana’s pictures with those of Blake’s: “We are highly impressed by the propriety, decorum and grace which characterizes all the figures of this elegant artist [Lady Beauclerc], even those of a preternatural kind; forming a most striking contrast to the distorted, absurd and impossible monsters exhibited in the frontispiece to Mr. Stanley’s last edition [i.e. Blake’s design]. Nor can we pass by this opportunity of execrating that detestable taste, founded on the depraved fancy of one man of genius, which substitutes deformity and extravagance for force and expression, and draws men and women without skin, with their joints all dislocated; or imaginary beings which neither can nor ought to exist.” The Analytical Review chimed in with comments including “perfectly ludicrous, instead of terrific.”

According to German language scholar John George Robertson in his “History of German Literature” (1970), “[Lenore] exerted a more widespread influence than perhaps any other short poem in the literature of the world. [...] like wildfire, this remarkable ballad swept across Europe, from Scotland to Poland and Russia, from Scandinavia to Italy. The eerie tramp of the ghostly horse which carries Lenore to her doom re-echoed in every literature, and to many a young sensitive soul was the revelation of a new world of poetry. No production of the German “Sturm und Drang”—not even Goethe’s Werther, which appeared a few months later—had such far-reaching effects on other literatures as Bürger’s Lenore; it helped materially to call the Romantic movement in Europe to life.” It is also seen by some as a foundational book in the literature of vampirism.

Bentley, BB, 440; BBS p. 203 (noting that the Nat. Lib. Scotland copy is colored). Easson and Essick, WBBI, Vol. II, XLVI. Bindman, Complete Graphic Works of Blake, 380-382. At the Vershbow auction, two bidders quickly drove the Leonora watercolor of the tailpiece well past the high estimate of $80,000. The work sold for a hammer price of $170,000 ($207,750 with the premium). (123358)
$29,750.separately. With a frontispiece and 2 illustrations (headpiece and tailpiece) designed by Blake and engraved by Perry, and other illustrations not by Blake as described below. Old calf, very worn, covers detached, preserved in a new box.

§ Eight printings of Burger’s hugely influential poem, bound together, including the first edition with Blake’s illustrations, ridiculed in the press upon publication. One of the rarest letterpress books to contain illustrations designed by Blake. Four copies have sold in the last 60 years; none have appeared at auction. No recorded copy has seven versions of the poem bound together, let alone the Monthly Magazine printing which preceded them. Although the binding is in very poor condition it was deemed best to keep the “sammelband” in original condition just as it was assembled by the first owner.

Contents:

(1) Leonora. A Tale. London: William Miller, 1796. 8vo, viii, 13p. Frontispiece after Daniel Chodowiecki engraved by Harding, head- and tailpiece by Harding. *Interesting early manuscript notes about the book on half-title (see below). 8.5 x 5.5 ins.

(2) Lenore. Ein Gedicht. London: gedruckt bey S. Gosnell, 1796. 8vo, [3] 4- 14, (2)p. Not illustrated. 8.5 x 5.5 ins. Text in German.

(3) Leonora. A Tale. Translated and altered from the German... by J.T. Stanley... A New Edition... London: printed by S. Gosnell, for William Miller, 1796. 4to, frontispiece by Blake engraved by Perry, half-title, xi, 16p., inserted additional frontispiece by Chodowiecki not called for, headpiece and tailpiece by Blake engraved by Perry, 16p. 12 x 9 ins.

(4) Leonora. Translated from the German... by W.R. Spencer Esq. With Designs by the right Honourable Lady Diana Beauclerc. London: T. Bensley; for J. Edwards, and E. and S. Harding, 1796. Large 4to, (8), [3] 4-35p. Frontispiece, 4 full-page plates, 2 headpieces and 2 tailpieces engraved by Bartolozzi, Harding, etc. Text in German and English. 14.5 x 10.5 ins.

(5) Ellenore, a Ballad originally written in German. Norwich: John
March and sold by J. Johnson, 1796. Sm. to, (4), 14, (2, ad.)pp. 11 x 9 ins. Not illustrated.

(6) Lenore, a Tale. Translated from the German... by Henry James Pye. London: for the author and sold by Sampson Low, 1796. Sm. 4to, (4), 1799. 11 x 9 ins. Not illustrated.

(7) Lenore. Ein Gedicht. London: gedrucht bey S. Gosnell, 1796. Sm. 4to, (2), 12p. Head- and tail-piece by Harding. 11 x 9 ins.

(8) Lenora a Ballad from Bürger. Monthly Magazine: [London]: March, 1796. 8vo, [89]-196 pp. In modern paper wrappers.
This copy bears the bookplate of Frederick Collins Wilson, “a keen amateur actor at Cambridge playing female roles... a friend of Alfred Austin.” (Reilly, Mid-Victorian Poetry 1860-1879, 1999).

* A manuscript note to the half-title of the first book bound here reads: “Dr. Edward Ash of Holles Street Cavendish Square, one of the travelling students of physic upon the Radcliffe Foundation at Oxford, and who at Gottingen became Master of the German language, translated eight stanzas of this poem and showed them to Mr. Stanley: but refusing to compleat the work it was undertaken by Mr. Stanley. Mr. St. communicated his translation from day to day, as it advanced, to Lady Di. Beauclerc who, with[ou]t disclosing her intention, prepared her drawings, since published with the work, to put £100 in the pocket of Mr. Spencer Ld. Charles Spencer’s son, then employed in a translation of it. Upon the discovery of this by Mr. Stanley, he immediately sent out this publication; and there was a great fracas between the parties.” Writer unknown but perhaps Wilson.

The year 1796 saw four translations of Burger’s “Lenore,” one by J. T. Stanley, one by H. J. Pye, one by William Taylor the Poet Laureate, and a fourth by W. R. Spencer, with designs by Lady Diana Beauclerc. Blake was commissioned to create three illustrations for the Stanley translation, including the famous frontispiece, “Lenore, clasping her spectral bridegroom.” The British Critic for September, 1796, spitefully compared Lady Diana’s pictures with those of Blake’s: “We are highly impressed by the propriety, decorum and grace which characterizes all the figures of this elegant artist [Lady Beauclerc], even those of a preternatural kind; forming a most striking contrast to the distorted, absurd and impossible monsters exhibited in the frontispiece to Mr. Stanley’s last edition [i.e. Blake’s design]. Nor can we pass by this opportunity of execrating that detestable taste, founded on the depraved fancy of one man of genius, which substitutes deformity and extravagance for force and expression, and draws men and women without skin, with their joints all dislocated; or imaginary beings which neither can nor ought to exist.” The Analytical Review chimed in with comments including “perfectly ludicrous, instead of terrific.”

According to German language scholar John George Robertson in his “History of German Literature” (1970), “[Lenore] exerted a more widespread influence than perhaps any other short poem in the literature of the world. [...] like wildfire, this remarkable ballad swept across Europe, from Scotland to Poland and Russia, from Scandinavia to Italy. The eerie tramp of the ghostly horse which carries Lenore to her doom re-echoed in every literature, and to many a young sensitive soul was the revelation of a new world of poetry. No production of the German “Sturm und Drang”—not even Goethe’s Werther, which appeared a few months later—had such far-reaching effects on other literatures as Bürger’s Lenore; it helped materially to call the Romantic movement in Europe to life.” It is also seen by some as a foundational book in the literature of vampirism.

Bentley, BB, 440; BBS p. 203 (noting that the Nat. Lib. Scotland copy is colored). Easson and Essick, WBBI, Vol. II, XLVI. Bindman, Complete Graphic Works of Blake, 380-382. At the Vershbow auction, two bidders quickly drove the Leonora watercolor of the tailpiece well past the high estimate of $80,000. The work sold for a hammer price of $170,000 ($207,750 with the premium). Item #123358

Price: $19,750.00