The Book of Job

The Book of Job  is an original modern rare book illustrated by Sir William Blake (London, 1757 - London, 1827) in 1826 .

Original Edition.

The book includes twenty one plates invented and engraved by William Blake. 21 plates plus title page engraved by W.B.

Format: in Folio. Dimensions: 445 x 360 mm. Sheet size: c.430 x 330 mm.

Subscriber’s copy of Sir Thomas Lawrence

The book is one of 150 copies on laid India paper with the word “Proof”.

Engraved title and 21 engravings on laid India paper with the word 'PROOF' mounted to larger sheets (sheets for plates 2, 8, 13 and 14 watermarked: J WHATMAN / TURKEY MILL 1825), each with guardleaf. Original publisher's ochre boards, printed title label with uncorrected address pasted to upper board. [PROVENANCE: Sir Thomas Lawrence's copy - bought April 29th, 1826 directly from Blake [see below]- with his discreet blindstamp both to title label pasted to front board and title engraving; printed title label with Linnell's unaltered address.

Original boards with printed title label with uncorrected address pasted to upper board.

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The engravings for the ' Illustrations for the Book of Job ' were commissioned formally by John Linnell in an agreement of March 25, 1823. Despite a publication date of March 8, 1825 (the plates bear this date), they probably did not appear until early 1826 (the title label states 'March, 1826') and were sold sporadically by Linnell and his heirs (he died in 1882) over the course of the next century. Indeed, the family sold 68 sets of India proof copies at Christie's in 1918. Sets of the Illustrations for the Book of Job - the last complete series of engravings completed before Blake's death in 1827 - with a contemporary provenance are of the utmost rarity and sets sold during the artist's lifetime and within a month of publication, are in practical terms unknown. Always fascinated by the Book of Job, Blake's engravings were based on a series of watercolours executed between 1805 and 1806 for his patron Thomas Butts. The first edition was issued in 3 versions: 150 copies on laid India with the word 'Proof' as here, 65 copies on French paper with 'Proof', and 100 on Whatman paper with the word 'Proof' erased.  'It was produced while Blake was still working on Jerusalem, his most obscure book; yet the Illustrations are Blake's most lucid; and they are the Supreme example of his reading the Bible in its Spiritual Sense.' (S. Foster Damon, A Blake Dictionary , pg. 217).  'This [Illustrations for the Book of Job]was the last work he completed, upon the merits of which he received the highest congratulations from the following Royal Academicians: Sir Thomas Lawrence ... and many other artists of eminence.' (John Thomas Smith, Nollekens and His Times , 1828 reported in Blake Records, pg. 617).

Sir Thomas Lawrence (1769 - 1830), child prodigy, painter to the Society of the Dilettanti, well-connected society portraitist and President of the Royal Academy was a near contemporary of Blake but at rather a different social remove. Long a supporter of Blake's work - he was an original subscriber to 'The Grave' of 1807 and had defended Blake's illustrations for Thornton's Virgil in 1808 - Lawrence came to be something of a patron and financial crutch to the artist, buying two drawings ('The Wise and Foolish Virgins' and 'The Dream of Queen Katharine' ), almost certainly the last to be executed or at least finished by Blake, for a large sum just before the artist's death and lending Blake money. Shortly after Lawrence's death in 1830, the painter William Etty (formerly apprenticeed to Lawrence) reported a tale of Lawrence's generosity to Blake to Lawrence's biographer Thomas Campbell: 'Mr Blake ... was a year or two ago in great pecuniary distress, which came to the knowledge of Sir Thomas, and he, Mr Blake, came to a friend's of mine ... one morning, with tears of joy and gratitude in his eyes - on being asked the cause, he told my friend that Sir Thomas had sent him a 100£ in bills ... which had relieved his distresses, and made him and his wife's heart leap for joy' (see G. E. Bentley, Blake Records , Second Edition, 2004, pg. 525). Lawrence also bought two sets of the 'Illustrations for the Book of Job' on April 29th, 1826 : 'Sir Thos. Lawrence one copy of proofs for himself' and 'one copy given to the Royal Academy - but Sir T. L. sent 10 Gs. to Mr Blake ', a footnote adds that 'Lawrence's India-paper proof of Job was sold posthumously at Christie's, 10 May 1830, Lot 118' (see Blake Records , pgs. 800 - 801).

The Book of Job  is an original modern rare book engraved by  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.