"RANKING WITH THE SUREME MASTERPIECES OF GRAPHIC ART"

(BLAKE, William) BINDMAN, David, editor. William Blake's Illustrations of the Book of Job. The Engravings and related material with Essays, Catalogue of states and printings, Commentary on the plates and Documentary. London: William Blake Trust, 1987. Folio (13 by 17-1/2 inches), two text volumes in half brown morocco, four sets of plates, loose as issued in four matching half morocco chemises; housed together in the original two clamshell boxes and two original slipcase. $4750.

Limited first edition, copy number 6 out of 250 copies (from a total edition of 387 copies), with a facsimile of a proof copy of the engravings and color facsimiles of the three known earlier sets of Job drawings by Blake, plus an extensive apparatus of notes and commentary.

"Blake had long been fascinated by Job's story. The best of his early engravings is 'Job and his friends' of 1786 or 1787. In the years that followed he returned again and again in his drawings to this book of the Bible. During the second decade of the century he make a set of watercolors on the subject for Thomas Butts. A second set for John Linnell, begun in 1821, let to a commission from his friend and fellow artist for engravings of the story… The moderate size of the central panels does not prevent them from ranking with the supreme masterpieces of graphic art. The Book of Job was published in an edition of 315 copies at ten guineas for India proof impressions and five guineas for ordinary impressions" (Ray 8). The engravings in this set are provided with an introduction and a plate-by-plate commentary by Bo Lindberg, along with a leaf reproducing each print alongside the earlier color versions. In addition, there is a clamshell box containing four volumes: an introductory text, again by Lindberg, and full color facsimile copies of the three known versions (which includes the controversial "New Zealand set," considered by many to be spurious), each loose in its own portfolio. Finally, there is a text volume, with essays by Stephen Keynes, Charles Ryskamp, David Bindman and John Commander, Geoffrey Keynes, Robert Essick, and Barbara Bryant. Bookplates.

Fine condition. A magnificent production.