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Night Thoughts
The Complaint, and the Consolation; or, Night Thoughts
Night Thoughts
Illustrated by: William Blake (English, 1757–1827)
Author: Edward Young (English, 1683–1765)
Printer: Robert Noble (English, active about 1800)
Publisher: Richard Edwards (English, active 1792–1800)
Binding by: Annie S. MacDonald (Scottish, active late 19th–early 20th century)
Author: Edward Young (English, 1683–1765)
Printer: Robert Noble (English, active about 1800)
Publisher: Richard Edwards (English, active 1792–1800)
Binding by: Annie S. MacDonald (Scottish, active late 19th–early 20th century)
1797
Place of Publication: London, England
Medium/Technique
Illustrated book with 43 engravings, hand-colored
Dimensions
Overall: 41.4 x 33 x 2 cm (16 5/16 x 13 x 13/16 in.)
Credit Line
William A. Sargent Collection—Bequest of William A. Sargent
Accession Number37.2493
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsEurope, Prints and Drawings
ClassificationsIllustrated books
London: R. Noble, for R. Edwards, 1797
Catalogue Raisonné
ESTC (RLIN) T020820; Keynes, Bibliography of William Blake, 70; Bentley, Blake Books, 515 (copy H); Ray, Illustrator and Book in England, 3
Description(London: R. Noble, for R. Edwards, 1797) Folio; 54 leaves; modern hand-worked blind-stamped brown calf (Annie S. MacDonald, Edinburgh, 1901).
First edition, hand-colored copy. Border illustrations designed and engraved by Blake. Contains "explanation of the engravings." Title to "second" night, p. [17], in second state. This copy cited and described (with confused provenance) by Bentley in "Blake Books," no. 515, copy H, where it is described as "coloured about 1805, perhaps Blake's model."
MFA owns two other copies: 37.2492 and BR1545a.
"Blake made 537 drawings in watercolor around pages of the first edition of Young's poem, inlaid in album sheets measuring 21 x 16 inches. He chose forty-three of these for engraving in what was intended to be a first installment of illustrations to the Night Thoughts. Perhaps baffled by the novelty of Blake's interpretations, the public was not receptive, and the book remains a remarkable fragment." --Ray, Illustrator and Book in England, p. 9
The elaborate sculpted calfskin binding is by Annie S. MacDonald of the Guild of Women Binders in Edinburgh, and is dated 1901. She designed over fifty such designs. For another binding by her on the Kelmscott Chaucer, see Sotheby's London, 13 July 2006, lot 402.
First edition, hand-colored copy. Border illustrations designed and engraved by Blake. Contains "explanation of the engravings." Title to "second" night, p. [17], in second state. This copy cited and described (with confused provenance) by Bentley in "Blake Books," no. 515, copy H, where it is described as "coloured about 1805, perhaps Blake's model."
MFA owns two other copies: 37.2492 and BR1545a.
"Blake made 537 drawings in watercolor around pages of the first edition of Young's poem, inlaid in album sheets measuring 21 x 16 inches. He chose forty-three of these for engraving in what was intended to be a first installment of illustrations to the Night Thoughts. Perhaps baffled by the novelty of Blake's interpretations, the public was not receptive, and the book remains a remarkable fragment." --Ray, Illustrator and Book in England, p. 9
The elaborate sculpted calfskin binding is by Annie S. MacDonald of the Guild of Women Binders in Edinburgh, and is dated 1901. She designed over fifty such designs. For another binding by her on the Kelmscott Chaucer, see Sotheby's London, 13 July 2006, lot 402.
ProvenanceUnidentified collector (bookplate with initials "H.M." and motto "Omnia pro bono" [Bentley suggests perhaps W. Rae McDonald or J. M. Gray]); offered by Tregaskis at an unknown date for £25 [per Bentley]; offered by Ellis & Elvey in cat. 120 for £45 [per Bentley]; sold at Sotheby's, 4 June 1908, lot 734, for £24, to Stirling [per Bentley]; acquired in 1919 by William A. Sargent, Boston (1858-1936), by whom bequeathed to MFA, November 17, 1937.