With 12 Plates by Blake

Fables … with a Life of the Author.

London: Printed for John Stockdale, 1793.

Price: $1,750.00


About the item

First Stockdale edition and first with the Blake plates, first issue with the long 's' throughout. 2 engraved title-pages with vignette, “Gay Monument” frontispiece and 68 illustrations (including 12 etchings by William Blake). [ii], xii, 225; [ii], vii, 188 pp. 2 vols. 8vo (10-3/8 x 6-3/4 inches). With 12 Plates by Blake. Contemporary full straight-grained red morocco, covers stamped in gilt with outer roll border, flat spines divided into 6 compartments, 2 with title and volume number, the rest gilt with small tool, a.e.g., marbled endpapers. Light wear to extremities, some foxing to title-pages. Bookplate of Frasier W. McCann. Bentley & Nurmi 371A; Ray, England 1; Essick, William Blake's Commercial Book Illustrations, XXVI.

Item #259455

A tall copy in contemporary binding of the Stockdale edition of Gay’s Fables with 12 engravings by Blake, who freely adapted his source material. Ray considers this one of the best examples of Blake’s work as a reproductive engraver.