Hilton, Nelson (editor).
[Hamden]: Shoe String Press, 1986. 8vo, x, 333pp. With illustrations in b/w. Original green cloth, ex-library copy with extensive markings, annotations etc. § First edition, with essay by numerous Blake scholars of the period including Eavmes, de Luca, Adams, Gleckner, Ostriker, etc.
Paley, Morton D. Phillips, Michael.
Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1973. 4to, xvi, 390 pp, with 82 black and white illustrations. Near fine in original cloth and dust-jacket. § First edition. Contents: I. Blake's Early Poetry by Michael Phillips; II. Blade's 'Gothicised Imagination' and the History of England by David Bindman; III. The Altering Eye: Blake's Vision in the Tiriel Designs by Robert N. Essick; IV. Justifying One's Valuation of Blake by F. R. Leavis; V. Blake's Frame of Language by Josephine Miles; VI. Blake's Songs of Sprong by Michael J. Tolley; VII. Christ's Body by Jean H. Hagstrum; VIII. The Chapel of Gold by G. Wilson Knight; IX. Reading the Illuminations of Blake's Marriage of Heaven and Hell by David V. Erdman with Tom Dargan and Marlene Deverell- Van Meter; X. Blake's Figures of Despair: Man in his Spectre's Power by Janet Warner; XI. the Title-page of the Book of Urizen by Morris Eaves; XII. Blake, Coleridge, and Wordsworth: Some Cross-currents and Parallels, 1789-1805 by John Beer; XIII. William Blake, The Prince of the Hebrews, and The Woman Clothed with the Sun by Morton D. Paley; XIV. Blake, the Varleys, and the Graphic Telescope by Martin Butlin; XV. References to Blake in Samuel Palmer's Letters by Raymond Lister; XVI. William Blake in the Wilderness: A Closer Look at his Reputation, 1827-1863 by Suzanne R. Hoover; XVII. Geoffrey Keynes's Work on Blake: Fons et Origo, and a Checklist of Writings on Blake by Geoffrey Keynes, 1910-1972 by G. E. Bentley, Jr. Bentley, Blake Books Supplement 598.
Paley, Morton.
Oxford: Clarendon Press,1983. 8vo, xii, (i), 330pp. With 2 color plates, 18 b/w plates, and 2 handwriting examples. Original blue, cloth, internally fine but ex-library with bookplate and other stamps. § First edition, a surprisingly scarce and important title by eminent scholar Morton Paley.
Sterling, George.
San Francisco: A. M. Robertson, 1907. Small 8vo, 142 pp. Blue cloth, lettered and illustrated in silver. Without dust-jacket. Backstrip sunned, extremities lightly rubbed, deckle edges age-toned, scattered foxing. § Third edition or Sterling's first book, inscribed "For Miss Anna Holden with the best wishes of George Sterling. San Francisco, Sept. 16th, 1919."
[Massachusetts Bay; Governor Pownall].
1713-1735. 8vo, 5 parts bound as one, various paginations. Old calf ruled in gilt, rebacked. Boards rubbed, worn, and darkened but binding sound, contents somewhat age-toned with a few light pencil marks to some parts but generally clean. § An sammelband of 18th century works on poetry with the signature of Thomas Pownall, governor of the Province of Massachusetts Bay from 1757 to 1760. The book bears ownership inscriptions of Thomas Nevile (1720-1781) of Jesus College, Cambridge on the second front blank and the first title page, recording that he entered college July 21, 1738 (the Cambridge alumni directory records July 20, 1738) and that he paid 3 shillings for the book. Beneath is written "Pownall, The Gift of Nevile", in Pownall's hand. Both men were born in Lincolnshire and though Pownall was two years younger and attended Trinity College Cambridge it is possible that they had known each other from grammar school days.Nevile remained an academic and published several imitations of classical poets. Pownall's career as a colonial official threw him into the heart of the dramas and debates that preceded the Revolutionary War. In later life he returned to England and became an active and undersung fellow of the Royal Society of Antiquaries. The contents of the volume are as follows:*An Essay on Translated Verse by the Earl of Roscomon. Fourth Edition. 1717. With t-p. (12), [1]-54, 179-245, (1) pp.*Remarks on Horace's Poetry. No title-page. [247]-296 pp.*An Essay on Poetry by John Sheffield, Earl of Mulgrave. London 1713. With t-p. (2), 299-318 pp.*[Bramston, James]. The Art of Politicks, In Imitation of Horace's Poetry. London: Printed for Lawton Gilliver, 1731. With engraved frontis and t-p. [1]-47, (1, ads for Lawton Gilliver dated 1729) pp.*[Miller, James]. Harlequin-Horace or, the Art of Modern Poetry. The Third Edition, corrected. London: Printed for Lawton Gilliver, 1735. With engraved frontis and t-p in red and black. (10), [1]-61, (2, ads), (3, blank) pp.
Madison: University of Winsconsin Press, 1973. 8vo, xix, 384 pp, with 38 black and white illustrations. Yellow cloth and illustrated dust-jacket, closed tear, spotting on rear panel, name on front blank, internally very good. § First edition of this ground-breaking series of studies of Blake's longer poems. Bentley, BB, A1437 listing all 14 essays. BBS p.446.
New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1981. 2 vols., large 4to, Vol. 1 668pp, text, Vol. 2 with 1193 illustrations, many in color. Very fine in original cloth, dust-jackets. § The definitive work on the subject, long out of print and hard to come by. The study reproduces virtually every extant original Blake work of art, including 104 leaves of color reproduction. Bentley, Blake Books Supplement, 297.
1910s-1920s. 52 items from a variety of presses and publishers. A complete itemized list with condition notes is available on request. § An extensive collection of books, broadsides, and ephemera showcasing the illustrations of Claud Lovat Fraser (1890?1921), English artist, designer, and author, and one of the three men behind the private press The Sign of the Flying Fame.Claud Lovat Fraser attended Westminster School of Art where his tutors included Walter Sickert. With the support of the art critic Haldane McFall he built a career on book illustration, advertising, and private commissions. With the poet Ralph Hodgson and the writer and bibliophile Holbrook Jackson he founded the private press The Sign of Flying Fame which issued poetry broadsides and chapbooks in affordably priced limited editions with the intention of making poetry more accessible to the general public. Gassed in the trenches during the First World War and with a history of heart trouble, he died tragically young in 1921 at the age of 31. Assembled by a passionate collector, the collection provides a broad overview of Fraser's illustrations including both ephemeral broadsides and chapbooks and his work for mainstream publishers. It includes 9 chapbooks and 6 broadsides issued by The Sign of the Flying Fame, 3 broadsides, 4 books, and 2 chapbooks issued by the Poetry Bookshop, as well as numerous other books, chapbooks, advertisements, and letterheads illustrated by Fraser. The collection also includes two books by Grace Lovat Fraser, Claud's wife, as well as exhibition guides, reference works, and bookseller catalogues. In total 52 items. Please inquire for a detailed list.
Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1980. 2 volumes large folio, 548 pages full-colour facsimile & accompanying 362 pages commentary; as new in blue cloth, dust-jackets. In a blue cloth box, worn. A complete facsimile of all 537 watercolors from the original edition in the British Museum. As new. § 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 watercolor 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. In 2005 The Folio Society published in two volumes a fine edition facsimile accompanied by a commentary by Robyn Hamlyn. This is the first time the entire series has been published in full-color facsimile and it is a superb production. It is unlikely ever to be repeated.Due to the fact that the principal evidence of Blake's work on these illustrations was the comparatively short series of engravings, art history has been slow to recognize the significance of the project within Blake's oeuvre. In 1980, the Oxford University Press began publication of a projected five-volume scholarly edition of Blake's Night Thoughts, edited by J. E. Grant et al.; two volumes have so far appeared. Bentley, Blake Books postscript 2000, page 7, noted that the planned volumes ofcommentary were still in preparation. The commentary seems to have been abandoned.
Washington: Government Printing Office, 1869. Tall 4to, 251 pp. 8 plates of which 2 are folding. Original brown cloth titled in gilt, skillfully rebacked with original backstrip laid down, boards a little spotted, endpapers and index stained, but a sound copy. § First edition of this careful geographic survey of Alaska. "The information herein conveyed of the coast, harbors, climate, and productions of Alaska, formed the principal part of the official report of George Davidson, who was in charge of the party of the United States Coast Survey for the geographical reconnoissance of the coast of Alaska, in August, September, October, and November 1867. In the absence of other official and authentic information, it has been deemed proper to retain the articles upon the climate, vegetable productions, fisheries, timber, fur-bearing animals, and population of the coast." The illustrations include two detailed views of Sitka and its inhabitants on folding plates as well as two views of the totem poles at Port Simpson. An appendix contains a vocabulary of local languages: Unalaska, Kadiak, Kenai, and Sitka. An early reader who was clearly very familiar with the area has made numerous neat corrections to the spelling of place names as well as an occasional note.
n.p.: n.d. Pencil and ink drawing on paper approx. 6 x 8 1/4", mounted in frame. Signed to the lower left by the artist; very good. § Original framed drawing by Helen Mary Jacobs (1888-1970). Jacobs drew comic strips for The Sunday Fairy (1919-), later known as The Children's Fairy and Bubbles, as well as Cassell's Children's Annual, Little Folks, Playbox, Rainbow, The Wonder, and the Joy Street Annuals, which ran for 14 years. She also illustrated children's books, particularly fairy tales, and educational books.
Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1970. 8vo, xxiv, 476 pp., plates with 121 illustrations, 8 in color. Original cloth, dust-jacket. Ex-library copy with minimal markings. Very good. § First edition of this major compilation of 20 critical essays and illustrations including all of America copy K. Bentley, Blake Books, 1580, devoting two pages to the contents.
August 5, 1893(?). 1 page (114 x 180 mm) laid notepaper, 15 lines in ink on recto, verso blank. Fully mounted on a larger piece of paper; slight shadow from framing, otherwise very good. § A one page autograph letter from George A. Walkem (1834-1908), 3rd Premier of British Columbia from 1874-1876 and 5th Premier from 1878-1882. The last digit of the year is carelessly drawn but seems to suggest 1893. Walkem writes to someone called Russell to cancel that evening's dinner arrangement out of respect to Mrs Russell.Walkem, known as "Boomer" Walkem, was born in Ireland and emigrated to what was then the Colony of British Columbia as a young man. He entered politics as a support of Canadian Confederation and succeeded the eccentric Amor de Cosmos to the premiership in 1874. His governments were characterized by expensive public works projects and anti-Chinese policies.The letter reads in full: "Aug 5/93 / Dear Russell, Upon reflection I think that we had better drop this evg's dinner engagement. It would be a bad compliment to Mrs Russell to break in upon her evening's pleasure by deferring it till 9 or 10 p.m. You would be uncomfortable and so would I. Some other opportunity, I hope, will soon occur when we shall be able to have an evening to ourselves. I withdrew the other(?) invitation this morning. Please give my regards to Mrs R. [one word illeg.] Geo. A Walkem."