The Grave, A Poem. By Robert Blair. Illustrated By Twelve Etchings Executed From Original Designs. To Which Is Added A Life Of The Author.
RA Collection: Book
Record number
Author
Imprint
Physical Description
General Note
Contents
Responsibility Note
Each plate (including the frontispiece and added engraved title-plate) carries the publisher's imprint of R. Ackermann and the date.
The name of the printer, T. Bensley is repeated in a colophon on the last page of 'Of The Designs'.
The dedication 'To The Queen' is in verse, signed by William Blake.
References
More general studies of Blake include G.E. Bentley, The Stranger from Paradise: a biography of William Blake (2001); R.N. Essick, William Blake printmaker (1980); D. Bindman, Blake as an artist (1977); D.V. Erdman, The illuminated Blake (1974).
Surveys of writers who took up Blair's themes are P. van Tieghem, La poésie de la nuit et des tombeaux en Europe au XVII siècle (1922) and B. Zumbini, 'La poesia sepolcrale straniera e italiana e il Carme del Foscolo', in Studi di Letteratura Italiana, 1894.
Summary Note
Blair's poem had first been published in 1743. A meditation on death and the fragility of human life - but including lines on friendship and the resurrection - it was the first in a line a line of 'mortuary' verses by such writers as Edward Young, Thomas Gray and James Macpherson.
The edition with Blake's engravings, engraved by Luigi Schiavonetti, was first published in 1808, in folio and in quarto. The present edition was also issued in folio as well as in this quarto format. (A small folio edition is also found, carrying the date '1813' on the title page but in fact published in 1870. This edition replaces the outline type of the words 'Original Designs' of the title page with solid type. Essick and Paley list in detail the other variants.)
The plates are captioned, and show:
[frontis.] 'William Blake';
title plate (uncaptioned);
[1] P.1. 'Christ descending into the Grave';
[2] P.21. 'The descent of Man into the Vale of Death;
[3] P.32. 'Death's Door';
[4] P.12. 'Death of the Strong Wicked Man';
[5] P.30. 'The Death of the Good Old Man';
[6] P.14. 'The Soul hovering over the Body';
[7] 'The Soul exploring the recesses of the Grave';
[8] P.11. 'The Counsellor, King, Warrior, Mother & Child, in the Tomb';
[9] i.e. the added engraved title-plate; uncaptioned but described in 'Of the Designs' as 'The Skeleton Re-Animated';
[10] P.32. 'The Reunion of the Soul & the Body';
[11] 'The meeting of a Family in Heaven';
[12] P.28. 'The Day of Judgment'.
In his 'Advertisement' R.H. Cromek states that 'the Proprietor submitted the Drawings, before they were engraved, to the following gentlemen, members of the Royal Academy of Painting, in London ... Benjamin West ... Sir William Beechey ... Richard Cosway ... John Flaxman ... Thomas Lawrence ... Joseph Nollekens ... William Owen ... Thomas Stothard ... Martin Arthur Shee ... Henry Thomson ... Henry Tresham'.
The lengthy list of subscribers includes nineteen Academicians and six Associates of the Academy.
Binding Note
Name as Subject
Subject
English poetry - Great Britain - 18th century
Pictorial works - Illustrated books - Great Britain - 18th century
Contributors
Luigi Schiavonetti, engraver, etcher
Robert Hartley Cromek
Henry Fuseli RA
Thomas Bensley, printer
Rudolph Ackermann, publisher
Thomas Cadell the younger, bookseller
J. Johnson, bookseller
Thomas Payne, bookseller
John White, bookseller
William Miller, bookseller
John Murray, bookseller
Archibald Constable, bookseller
Charlotte Queen, Consort of George III, King of Great Britain, dedicatee
Thomas Phillips RA, source artist
Cadell and Davies (London), bookseller
Longman, Hurst, Rees and Orme, bookseller
Archibald Constable and Company (Edinburgh), bookseller
Images from this book
13 results
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Thomas Phillips RA
William Blake's portrait, 1698
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William Blake
Title-page , 1813
Etching
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William Blake
Christ descending into the Grave, 1813
Etching
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William Blake
The descent of Man into the Vale of Death , 1813
Etching
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William Blake
Death's Door, 1813
Etching
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William Blake
Death of the Strong Wicked Man, 1813
Etching
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William Blake
The Death of the Good Old Man, 1813
Etching
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William Blake
The Soul hovering over the Body, 1813
Etching
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William Blake
The Soul exploring the recesses of the Grave, 1813
Etching
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William Blake
The Counsellor, King, Warrior, Mother & Child, in the Tomb , 1813
Etching
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William Blake
The Reunion of the Soul and the Body, 1813
Etching
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William Blake
The meeting of a Family in Heaven, 1813
Etching
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William Blake
The Day of Judgment , 1813
Etching