One of the supreme masterpieces of graphic art

Catalogue Three

BLAKE, William. Illustrations of the Book of Job. London: [John Linnell]. 1825 [1826]

First edition, one of sixty-five sets on French paper, the rarest of the three forms of the original issue of the last series of illustrations that Blake fully completed.

In c.1805-06 Blake had made a set of nineteen watercolour drawings illustrating The Book of Job for his patron Thomas Butts. In September 1821 these were borrowed and shown to John Linnell, who, together with Blake, made copies before returning the originals to Butts. Eighteen months later a plan to engrave and publish the designs emerged. “Linnell’s commissions may have been motivated in part by a desire to provide the ageing artist with a regular income ... the contract [was] signed by Linnell and Blake on 25 March 1823, to engrave the Job illustrations. The commission provided Blake with an income of about £1 a week between 1823 and 1825. The task proved arduous, for Blake engraved the plates without preliminary etching, and the twenty-one designs plus an engraved title-page were not published until March 1825” (Robert N. Essick, writing in ODNB). Blake had an especial devotion to the Prophet Job, inspired in part, no doubt, by his own constant struggles against misfortune borne with Job-like patience and fortitude.

The result is this superb book with its masterly engravings.

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