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William BlakeNight Thoughts - Rare Book Illustrated by Sir William Blake - 17971797
1797
About the Item
Night Thoughts is an original Modern Rare book written by Edward Young (1683 – 1765) and engraved by Sir William Blake (London, 1757 - London, 1827) in 1797.
It includes a suite of 68 original etchings.
Format: large 8°.
The Book includes XI/ 225 pages and VII/187 pages with 2 frontispieces and 68 etchings, and a list of subscribers at the end.
Good conditions.
The poem is written in blank verse. It describes the poet's musings on death over a series of nine "nights" in which he ponders the loss of his wife and friends, and laments human frailties. The best-known line in the poem (at the end of "Night I") is the adage "procrastination is the thief of time", which is part of a passage in which the poet discusses how quickly life and opportunities can slip away.
Night-Thoughts had a very high reputation for many years after its publication, but is now best known for a major series of illustrations by William Blake in 1797. A lesser-known set of illustrations was created by Thomas Stothard in 1799.
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.
William Blake was commissioned in 1795 to illustrate Night Thoughts for a major new edition of the poem to be published by Richard Edwards. Blake began by making a series of 537 watercolour illustrations from which he planned to engrave about 200 for publication. The first volume – with forty-three engravings by Blake – was published in 1797, but it was a commercial failure and the expensive publishing venture was abandoned.
Edward Young (1683 – 1765). Young was an English poet, critic, philosopher and theologian. Young is said to have been a brilliant talker. Although Night-Thoughts is long and disconnected, it abounds in brilliant isolated passages. Its success was enormous. It was translated into French, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Swedish, Russian, Welsh and Magyar. In France it became a classic of the romantic school. Questions as to the "sincerity" of the poet did arise in the 100 years after his death. The publication of fawning letters from Young seeking preferment led many readers to question the poet's sincerity. In a famous essay, Worldliness and Other-Worldliness, George Eliot discussed his "radical insincerity as a poetic artist."
- Creator:William Blake (1757 - 1827, British)
- Creation Year:1797
- Dimensions:Height: 13 in (33 cm)Width: 8.47 in (21.5 cm)Depth: 0.04 in (1 mm)
- Medium:
- Movement & Style:
- 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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