With Twelve Plates Engraved by William Blake
Fables. By John Gay, With a Life of the Author and Embellished With Seventy Plates. Vol. I. [II.].
London: Printed for John Stockdale, 1793.
. Fables. By John Gay, With a Life of the Author and Embellished With Seventy Plates. Vol. I. [II.] London: Printed for John Stockdale, 1793.
Full Description:
GAY, John. Fables.... With a life of the author and embellished with seventy plates. Vol. I. [II.] London: Printed for John Stockdale, 1793.
First edition with plates engraved by Blake. First issue with the long "s" in the text. Two octavo volumes (10 3/8 x 6 3/8 inches; 265 x 160 mm). [2], xi, [1, blank], 225, [1, blank]; [2], vii, [1, blank], 187, [1, ads] pp. With 69 of the 70 engraved plates, including title-page in each volume but without the "Monument to Gay" plate. No plate for Fable 17 in volume II which is correct. Twelve of the plates engraved by Blake after designs by Kent, Wootton, and Gravelot. With the List of Subscribers in Volume II, listing Blake (?Blake Mr.?) on page 178. All plates with guard leaves.
Handsomely bound by Broca & Kaufmann in full tan polished calf. Triple-ruled in gilt. Spines each with red and green morocco spines labels, lettered in gilt. Spines elaborately stamped in gilt. Board edges ruled in gilt. Gilt dentelles. Marbled endpapers. All edges gilt. Very minor off-setting from plates to text and some minor edge-browning. Some minor rubbing aloing spines edges. Still a very good copy.
?Gay?s Fables were originally published at two different times, Vol. I in 1727 with an elegant plate for each fable after W. Kent or J. Wootton, and Vol. II in 1738 with fine plates after H. Gravelot. These illustrations were repeatedly reprinted and silently copied? (Bentley, p. 565).
"The Fables were originally published in the 1720s, well before Blake?s lifetime, but they remained popular. Blake, on commission, contributed a number of engravings, based on designs by others, to this 1793 edition." (Union College).
Bentley 460.
HBS 69627.
$1,500.
Price: $1,500.00
Item #69627