The Complaint: or, Night Thoughts on Life, Death, & Immortality

The Complaint; or, Night Thoughts on Life, Death, & Immortality by Edward Young.

London: The Folio Society, [2005].

Notes

3 vols (see below). Dark green three-volume clamshell box, leather spine-label titled (as above) in gold. Volumes [1] and [2] consist of a colour reproduction of a copy of the 1743–1745 edition of Young’s work (now in the British Museum), which was window-mounted on larger sheets on to which Blake drew and painted his illustrations to the poem. The three volumes are as follows:

[1] The complaint: or, Night thoughts on life, death, & immortality . . . London: printed by R. Dodsley . . . and sold by M. Cooper . . . 1743 [facsimile]. 428 × 341 × 44 mm. Pp. [1–4], i–ii, [1–3] 4–30; [3–4] 5–44; [3–4] 5–34; [1–3] 4–47 [48]; [3–7] 8–60; [i–iii] iv–v [vi], [1] 2–42 [43–44]. Printed by the Bath Press. Bound by Smith Settle in quarter dark blue morocco, pale blue cloth boards with a design in silver and black by David Eccles (after Blake), leather cover-label; silver endleaves. This volume contains nights 1 to 7 (part 1). The final leaf bears a colophon which reads in part ‘This facsimile . . . consists of 1000 numbered copies for sale to members of the Folio Society and 20 lettered copies which are not for sale . . .’

[2] The complaint. Or, Night thoughts on life, death, & immortality. London: printed by G. Hawkins . . . and sold by M. Cooper . . . MDCC XLIV [facsimile]. 428 × 341 × 47 mm. Pp. [1–2], [i–v] vi–vii [viii], [1], 2–72; [i–ii], [1] 2–70; [i–ii], [1] 2–119 [120–122]. Printed and bound as volume [1]. This volume contains nights 7 (part 2) to 9. The final leaf bears a colophon as in volume [1].

[3] Night thoughts, the poem by Edward Young, illustrated with watercolours by William Blake, commentary by Robin Hamlyn. 252 × 162 × 40 mm. Pp. [i–vi] vii–xx, [1–2] 3–362 [363–364]. Type: Ehrhardt. Printed by the Saint Edmundsbury Press. Bound by Cambridge University Press in full dark green artificial cloth, metallic silver cover-label; metallic silver endleaves. This volume was designed to be inserted in a recess in the box, beneath the facsimile. However, it was not published until the dying days of 2005, so copies bought before this time had nothing in the recess, the commentary-volume being supplied and inserted later.

Case Size and Weight: 46.5 cm x 37 cm x 14.5 cm, 13 kg.

Background

In 1795, William Blake received a commission from a London bookseller to provide illustrations for an engraved edition of Edward Young’s The Complaint: or Night Thoughts on Life, Death, and Immortality. It was by far the most notable undertaking of Blake’s artistic career to this point, a perfect marriage of illustrator and subject. The prodigious number of watercolours Blake produced – 537 in all – meant there was one illustration for approximately every 20 lines of verse, an extraordinary achievement in itself. Yet the beauty of the work is what truly astonishes. Page after page, you cannot help but be moved by the passion and sweep of Blake’s imagination. For Night Thoughts, this most singular of artists produced a breath-taking procession of individual portraits: the divine and the damned, arresting in their conception, captivating in their execution. Blake’s watercolours do not just ornament the panels of Young’s text, they dominate and envelop them. From the ringer serpent of Nature to the Soul staggering at Futurity’ at the edge of a mountain-top; from the bearded figure of Death tearing the pillow from behind the sleeper’s head, to depictions of Christ the Redeemer and Creator, these are images of astonishing inventiveness and emotional power.

Condition

All three volumes are in near-fine condition, with the exception of a small, faded (oil?) stain on the back board of the second elephant Folio volume. The sixth picture hopefully shows this, however please note this has been taken in very good light and the stain is, in reality, more faded. Book blocks are in immaculate condition, complete and free from any inscriptions.

The clamshell case is in very good condition with some lightly bumped corners and a few very-small dents. 

Overall, considering its age and gargantuan size, we would say these are near-fine books in very good slipcase.