William Blake
Ballads - Rare Book Illustrated by William Blake - 1805
1805

Name: Ballads - Rare Book Illustrated by William Blake - 1805
Brand: William Blake
Price: 11074.65 USD
Availability: InStock

About the Item

Ballads is an original modern rare book written by William Hayley (Chichester 1745 - Felpham, Sussex, 1820) and illustrated by Sir William Blake (London, 1757 - London, 1827) in 1805. Original Edition, published by J. Seagrave for R. Phillips, London. The book has 212 pages with original grey boards and 5 original etchings in the first state by Blake. Format: Small 8° Mint Conditions. Sir William Blake (London, 1757 - London, 1827). Blake's early ambitions lay not with poetry but with painting and at the age of 14, after attending drawing school, he was apprenticed to James Basire, engraver. After his seven-year term was complete, Blake studied at the Royal Academy, but he is known to have questioned the aesthetic doctrines of its president, Sir Joshua Reynolds, and his stay there was brief. It nonetheless afforded him friendships with John Flaxman and Henry Fuseli, academics whose work may have influenced him. In 1784, he set up a print shop, but within a few years the business floundered and for the rest of his life Blake eked out a living as an engraver and illustrator. His wife, Catharine, whom he married in 1782, remained faithful and diligent and she helped him to print the illuminated poetry for which he is remembered today. In 1789, he published his Songs of Innocence, the gentlest of his lyrics, but the collection was followed by Songs of Experience, containing a profound expression of adult corruption and repression. His long list of works shows relentless energy and drive. As one of the most complex writers known, it is impossible to summarise his career - he was a combination of extremes. His vision of civilisation as inevitably chaotic and contradictory mirrors the political turmoil of his era. It is only in retrospect that we can begin to appreciate his work and unravel its complex and allusive sources. William Hayley (Chichester 1745 - Felpham, Sussex, 1820) an English poet, biographer, and patron of the arts. Hayley is best remembered for his friendships with William Blake, the great pre-Romantic poet, painter, and designer, and with the 18th-century poet William Cowper. He was also a patron of less well-known writers, including the poet and novelist Charlotte Smith. Hayley is also recalled for his well-meant but destructive patronage of George Romney, a painter whom he persuaded to continue the “drudgery of face-painting” when Romney would have preferred to paint ideal subjects.

Creator:

William Blake (1757 - 1827, British)

Creation Year:

1805

Dimensions:

Height: 6.86 in (17.4 cm)Width: 4.53 in (11.5 cm)Depth: 0.4 in (1 cm)

Medium:

Paper,Etching

Period:

1800-1809

Condition:

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