Illustrations of the Book of Job. Plate #8 "Let the Day Perish Wherein I was born.

1826. 1826.

Folio, single sheet 16 1/4 x 11, image (inc. platemark) 8 1/4 x 6 1/2 ins. Fine.

§ First edition, from the printing of 65 sets with the word "Proof" on French wove paper. A fine impression of one of the most affecting plates in this series, in which Job laments his unfortunate existence while his friends bear witness to his grief in silence (Job 3:3). Illustrations of the Book of Job was Blake's last completed prophetic book. "It was produced while Blake was still working on Jerusalem, his most obscure book; yet the illustrations are Blake's most lucid; and they are the supreme example of his reading the Bible in its spiritual sense" (S. Foster Damon, A Blake Dictionary, p. 217). "The modest size of the central panels does not prevent them from ranking with the supreme masterpieces of graphic art" (Ray, Illustrator and the Book in England #8). Bentley, Blake Books, 421A. Bindman, Complete Graphic Works of Blake, 625-641C. Provenance: Sotheby's May 4& 5, 1983.