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William Blake. Songs of Innocence and Experience, Shewing the Two Contrary
States of the Human Soul.
London: W. Pickering and W. Newbery, 1839.
Octavo, original plum cloth lettered in gilt. $9500.
First edition to be set in type, preceded only by the illuminated copies printed
by Blake himself. Startlingly vivid and direct, these short visionary lyrics include
“The Lamb,” “The Chimney Sweeper,” “Ah! Sunflower,” “London,” and “The
Tiger”: “When the stars threw down their spears, / And watered heaven with their
tears, / Did he smile his work to see? / Did He,Who made the lamb, make thee?”
William Blake. The Writings of William Blake.
London: The Nonesuch Press, 1925. Royal octavo, original full limp vellum lettered in gilt.
Fifty-eight black and white plates. $1500.
First edition of the single-volume Nonesuch Blake, one of seventy-five copies,
containing not only the poems, but also Blake’s passionate notes, letters, essays,
and marginalia: “Solomon says, ‘Vanity of Vanities, all is Vanity,’ &What can be
Foolisher than this?”
William Blake. The Poems of William Blake.
London: Basil Montagu Pickering, 1874.
Octavo, early twentieth-century crimson crushed morocco gilt. $550.
First edition of this Victorian collection of Blake’s lyrics, containing
Songs of
Innocence and Experience
, early short poems, and key passages from the longer
works: “And was Jerusalem builded here, / Among these dark Satanic mills? / Bring
me my bow of burning gold; / Bring me my arrows of desire; / Bring me my spear:
O clouds, unfold; / Bring me my chariot of fire.” Bound by Roger de Coverly.
Nancy Willard; Alice and Martin Provensen.
A Visit to William Blake’s Inn: Poems for Innocent and Experienced Travelers.
New York and London: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1981.
Slim quarto, original beige cloth over paper boards, original dust jacket. $100.
First edition of the poet NancyWillard’s dreamlike tribute to Blake, illustrated by
the Provensens.Willard imagines Blake as an innkeeper with a staff of dragons and
angels, and a tiger asleep on his hearth.
AVisit toWilliam Blake’s Inn
remains the
only book to receive both Newbery and Caldecott honors in a single year.
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