Wood Engravings of William Blake. 17 Subjects commissioned by Dr. Robert Thornton for his Virgil of 1821. Newly printed from the original blocks now in the British Museum. Introduction by Andrew Wilton.

8vo. London: BM Publications Ltd., 1977. 8vo, introductory pamphlet and 17 woodcuts on special paper, each in an individual folder, all contained in a brown cloth folding box with black leather gilt-lettered labels on upper cover and backstrip. As issued. § Limited to 150 sets (this copy unnumbered), this superb reprinting of Blake’s only woodcuts from the original blocks was executed by Iain Bain (the Bewick authority) and sold out immediately. Very few sets have since come to market as most were purchased by institutions. The accompanying commentary volume includes an introduction by Lord Clark, a technical account of the printing of the blocks by Bain and David Chambers, an essay on the engravings by Andrew Wilton, and the text of Ambrose Phillip's "Imitation of Virgil's First Eclogue," which the illustrations were made to accompany. Bentley, BBS, p.262. (Inventory #: 124599)