Blair's Grave—a conundrum

The place that books have in the social values of their time is expressed in the frame built to hold them, that is to say, the splendour and beauty of their external protection, their binding.

Last week, at the London International Book Fair (22-24 May 2014), Sims Reed Rare Books offered for sale an elaborately bound copy of Robert Blair's The Grave, with the William Blake illustrations engraved by Luigi Schiavonetti. This is the description in the Sims Reed fair checklist.

7. BLAKE, WILLIAM. Robert Blair. The Grave, A Poem. London. Printed by T. Bensley ... for the Proprietor, R. H. Crombie [sic] &c. 1808. Folio. (420 x 330 mm). [42 leaves; pp. xiv, 36]. Frontispiece portrait of Blake by Schiavonetti after T. Phillips, printed title with verse by Montgomery verso, leaf with Blake's poem 'To the Queen', additional etched frontispiece marked 'Proof', 3 leaves with 'List of Subscribers', leaf with Cromek's 'Advertisement', leaf with Fuseli's appreciation and text and 11 plates, all by Schiavonetti after Blake; plates printed on white laid paper with the watermark 'AUVERGNE', the text on cream wove paper with the watermark 'J WHATMAN 1801' where applicable; sheet size: 410 x 320 mm. Contemporary full red straight-grained morocco by Charles Hering with his ticket to front free endpaper verso, boards with elaborate decorative tooling in  gilt and large central Cathedral stamp, skull tools to corners, blue watered silk doublures with gilt decorative tooling, a.e.g. A magnificent copy of the large paper issue of Blake's illustrations for The Grave bound in red morocco in Cathedral style by Hering.                                                                            £18,500

The book does not appear on the current Sims Reed website (http://books.simsreed.com/) so may have been sold at the fair. The description differs from that given by Essick for the 1808 folio in including an additional frontispiece marked 'Proof' and being apparently printed on different paper—'AUVERGNE' and 'J WHATMAN 1801'—rather than the laid paper with crown watermark cited by Essick.

Who could have commissioned this elaborate binding? My first thought was that it must have belonged to Rebekah Bliss. She was an admirer of Blake's work and quite possibly personally acquainted with the artist. A number of books in her Bibliotheca splendidissima were bound by Charles Hering. However the copy of Blair's Grave sold at her sale in 1826 is noted as bound "calf extra" which would exclude this morocco binding. But I can't think of any other contemporary collectors of Blake who indulged in fancy bindings.

I needed to look again at the subscribers to The Grave (1808). One possibility is that the binding was executed for Samuel Boddington (1766-1843). He was both a subscriber to Blair's Grave and a major print collector, particularly of designs by Stothard, but also including other work by Blake. Boddington apparently owned copies of America (P), Descriptive Catalogue (E), For the Sexes (C), Songs of Innocence and of Experience (c), Jerusalem (H), and coloured copies of Europe (M), and Young’s Night Thoughts (T).   He also owned Blake's print of the Canterbury Pilgrims in addiiton to Stothard's, and subscribed to Job. His books were sold at Christie's auction house on 29 March 1881, with another sale at Sotheby’s, 4 November 1895.

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Further reading

Robert N. Essick.—Robert Blair's The grave illustrated by William Blake : a study with facsimile / by Robert N. Essick and Morton D. Paley.—London : Scolar Press, 1982.