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William BlakeFables - Vintage Rare Book Illustrated by William Blake - 17931793
1793
About the Item
Fables is an original Modern Rare book engraved by Sir William Blake (London, 1757 - London, 1827) and written by John Gay (Barnstaple, 1685 – London, 1732) in 1793.
Full title: "Fabels by John Gay, with a life of the author, and embellished with a plate to each fable.
London / Printed by Darton & Harvey, for F. & C. Rivington, B. & B. White, T. Longman, B. Law & Son, G.G. & J. Robinson, T. Cadell, S.Bladon, R. Baldwin, J. Sewell, J. Johnson, H.L. Gardner, J. Bew, W. Goldsmith, J. Murray, W. Lowndes, J. Scratcherd & Co. G. & T. Wilkie, & E. Newbery. / MDCCCXCIII [1793].”
Original First Edition.
Published by Stockdale, London.
Format: Large 8°.
The Book includes XI/ 225 pages and VII/187 pages with two frontispieces and Sixtyeight etchings (with Twelve original realized by Blake) and a list of subscribers at the end.
Good conditions.
Sir William Blake (London, 1757 - London, 1827). Blake's early ambitions lay not with poetry but with painting and at the age of 14, after attending drawing school, he was apprenticed to James Basire, engraver. After his seven-year term was complete, Blake studied at the Royal Academy, but he is known to have questioned the aesthetic doctrines of its president, Sir Joshua Reynolds, and his stay there was brief. It nonetheless afforded him friendships with John Flaxman and Henry Fuseli, academics whose work may have influenced him.
In 1784, he set up a print shop, but within a few years the business floundered and for the rest of his life Blake eked out a living as an engraver and illustrator. His wife, Catharine, whom he married in 1782, remained faithful and diligent and she helped him to print the illuminated poetry for which he is remembered today.
In 1789, he published his Songs of Innocence, the gentlest of his lyrics, but the collection was followed by Songs of Experience, containing a profound expression of adult corruption and repression. His long list of works shows relentless energy and drive. As one of the most complex writers known, it is impossible to summarise his career - he was a combination of extremes. His vision of civilisation as inevitably chaotic and contradictory mirrors the political turmoil of his era. It is only in retrospect that we can begin to appreciate his work and unravel its complex and allusive sources.
- Creator:William Blake (1757 - 1827, British)
- Creation Year:1793
- Dimensions:Height: 8.39 in (21.3 cm)Width: 5.16 in (13.1 cm)Depth: 0.79 in (2 cm)
- Medium:
- Period:1790-1799
- Condition:Insurance may be requested by customers as additional service, contact us for more information.
- Gallery Location:Roma, IT
- Reference Number:
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