Description

2 vols., 8vo., First Edition thus, with a portrait frontispiece and 116 fine watercolour plates in facsimile; pictorial cloth, morocco back, upper board and backstrip lettered in gilt, Commentary Volume in brown cloth, gilt back, the two volumes housed in publisher's buckram solander case lettered in gilt, a fine set. EDITION LIMTED TO 1000 SETS. This splendid FS production reproduces the original watercolours, acquired by Paul Mellon in 1966 and now in the Paul Mellon Collection at the Yale Center for British Art. A number of scholars have written about this work, but Irene Tayler’s 1971 book, Blake’s Illustrations to the Poems of Gray, remains the most comprehensive and compelling reading. Presented here as a separate commentary volume, Tayler’s account tells how the illustrations were produced, relates Blake’s interpretation of the poems to his own ideas, and provides a detailed commentary on each poem.