With Blake Engraving of Orlando Furioso
Orlando Furioso: Translated from the Italian … with Notes by John Hoole. In Five Volumes.
London: Printed for George Nicol, 1785.
Price: $900.00
About the item
Blake, William. Second Edition. Illustrated with 8 engraved plates designed by Kauffman, Thomas Stothard, Metz and Hamilton (3 plates in Vol. I; 1 plate in vol. II; 2 in Vol. III; and 1 each in vols. IV & V) including the plate (facing p. 164 of volume 3) engraved by William Blake after the drawing by Thomas Stothard. 5 vols. 8vo. Full contemporary tree calf, spines with gilt onrnaments and red and black labels. Bindings a bit rubbed at joints, small chips , internally near fine. Essick XII; Bentley (1977) 417; Keynes (1921) 96; Easson and Essick II; Lowndes 64.
Item #223942
Hoole’s translation, in decasyllabic rhymed couplets, first appeared in 1783 with these illustrations. The Blake engraving dramatically illustrates Orlando brandishing an uprooted tree, for which Blake altered the original Stothard drawing in interesting ways (cf. Essick, figs. 34 & 35). Most notably, Blake enlarged the roots of the uprooted pine dramatically, with an effect far more ‘furious’ than the original.
