The book collector's guide : a practical handbook of British and American bibliography / by Seymour de Ricci.

  • Seymour de Ricci
Date:
1921
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The book collector's guide : a practical handbook of British and American bibliography / by Seymour de Ricci. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    75/676 page 53
    G. B. Russell, The engravings of William Blake (Boston and New York Houghton, Mifflin, 1912. 4°). All the booklets privately engraved, printed and coloured by Blake, in a peculiar manner and by processes of which he was the inventor, are ardently sought for by collectors and the small number of extant copies singularly enhances the value of their possession. Such a fastidious col¬ lector as William Beckford had beautiful copies of Blake’s works. The best set dispersed of late years belonged to Lord Crewe (Sotheby’s, 30 March 1903) and had been formed by his father, R. Monckton Milnes. Fine series belong to W. A. White and H. E. Huntington. As nearly every copy shows individual variations, the information con¬ tained in the following list is by necessity of a summary nature. Poetical Sketches by W. B. London, 1783. 8°. £48 Gaisford (Apr. 1890, n. 184) ; £60 Butts (30 Apr. 1906, n. 801) orig. blue wrapper (now T. J. Wise) ; $725 Hoe (Apr. 1911, I, n. 389) citron mor., presentation copy (now Huntington); £56 Arthur (July 1914, n. 46) mor., by Lortic; $445 H. V. Jones (Dec. 1918, n. 181) mor., by Bedford, uncut. Songs of Innocence, 1789* The Author and Printer W. Blake. 8°. 31 pi. often printed on 3 -(-14 leaves. Engraved throughout. The variations between the 22 then known copies (several others have since been discovered) are minutely listed by John Sampson, The poetical Works of William Blake (Oxford, 1905. 8°) pp. 65-83. £ 107 Hodson (Dec. 1906, n. 64) ; $700 Hoe (Apr. 1911, I, n. 390) now Huntington; £250 Dilke (May 1911, n. 55) now Pforzheimer. Copies containing also the Songs of Experience (1794) with a new general title: Songs of Innocence and of Experience showing the two con¬ trary States of the human Soul, in all 54 pi., bring much higher prices. -— £ 146 Beckford (June 1882, n. 951), now W. A. White; £700 Ellis (Nov. 1901, n. 5) inlaid to folio size, with an illuminated border to each page (now W. A. White) ; £216 Sotheby’s, 3 June 1902, n. 140, presentation copy; £ 300 Crewe (March 1903, n. 1) inlaid to 4° size; £ 166 Sotheby’s, 16 March 1909, n. 172, orig. calf; £ 205 Pearson (Nov. 1916, n. 41) mor., by Bedford; £735 Linnell (March 1918, n. 201) half-mor.; £600 C. F. Murray (July 1919, n. 8) mor. The Book of Thel. The Author and Printer W. Blake, 1789. Fol. 8 pi. Engraved throughout. £ 29 Gaisford (Apr. 1890, n. 185) mor. (now W. A. White) ; £ 77 Crewe (March 1903, n, 2); £67 Sotheby’s, 1 June 1905, n. 772; $790 H. V. Jones (Dec. 1918, n. 182) orig. wrapper (now A. E. Newton). The Marriage of Heaven and Hell. [1790]. Fol. 27 coloured pi. Engraved throughout. £50 S'otheby’s, 13 May 1892, n. 1192; £260 Crewe (March 1903, n.
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