“TIGER! TIGER! BURNING BRIGHT…”: BLAKE’S SONGS OF INNOCENCE AND OF EXPERIENCE, FIRST LETTERPRESS EDITION, 1839, CONTAINING THE POEM, "THE LITTLE VAGABOND," SEEN IN VERY FEW COPIES

BLAKE, William. Songs of Innocence and of Experience, Shewing the Two Contrary States of the Human Soul. London: W. Pickering and W. Newbery, 1839. Slim octavo, original blind- and gilt-stamped plum cloth recased. Housed in custom full morocco clamshell box.

First edition set in type of Blake’s most important poems, preceded only by the virtually unobtainable first issue which Blake himself hand-printed and hand-colored. This desirable copy with the "The little Vagabond" present on leaf F4 (seen in few copies).

"Blake's works reverse the roles of [moral verses and didactic fables]… in them it is not the poet who instructs the child, but the child who teaches the poet. In Songs of Innocence the child recounts the pleasures of a life in nature; in Songs of Experience the reader is shown children trapped and bewildered in the prisons of state and church" (Britannica). This, the rare first typographic edition, was the first time the poems appeared following the very small number of copies that Blake himself engraved, hand-printed and hand-colored. "In 1838 Mr. Charles Augustus Tulk lent Mr. Wilkinson a copy of Wm. Blake's 'Songs of Innocence and Experience,' a copy of Blake's own making… The delicacy and spiritual simplicity of the Songs made a deep impression on Garth Wilkinson… His brother William, holding no lower opinion came forward with the necessary funds; subscribers were sought for high and low; a preface was written and the edition, a thin cloth-bound octavo was published jointly by Pickering & Newbery on July 9, 1839. It is of much bibliographic interest, but the edition was probably a small one, and the book is now somewhat rare" (Keynes). "It enjoyed a narrow circulation" (Dorfman, 47). Two versions of the first edition text are found: with and without the poem "The Little Vagabond" on leaf F4r. Most copies appear without the poem—this exceptional copy contains "The Little Vagabond." Priority is now in dispute. Some believe that the poem was inadvertently omitted from the volume and was added later by the publisher, in place of the section title at the end. Others argue that the Church took offense at the poem (its being a criticism of the Church by a hungry child) and persuaded the publisher to remove it, which he then replaced with the section title. Regardless, copies containing the poem are most rare and desirable. Keynes 135. Bentley, Blake Books 171b. Booklabel of Pamela Lister, whose husband, Raymond, owned Golden Head Press. Owner gift inscription of musician and Shakespeare scholar Alfred Roffe. Bookplate. Owner signatures.

Only a few scattered spots to interior, expert restoration to cloth. A desirable copy in near-fine condition.