London: Stereotyped and Printed by J. M'Gowan. Published by F.C. & J. Rivingtons, et al., 1821. In two volumes. Third edition (first William Blake edition). 8vo. xii, 12, v-xxiv, 214; (ii), 215-592 pp. Edited by Robert John Thornton. Profusely illustrated with wood- and steel-engraved plates, including 27 (on 13 leaves) by or after William Blake. Full 19th-century tan calf, decorated in blind and in gilt, rebacked with original spines laid down, boards and extremities lightly worn; blue speckled edges; armorial book-plate of George R. Gardner on front paste-down of each volume; light offsetting from plates; scattered minor spotting. Bentley & Nurmi 411; Keynes 77

A lovely set of Robert John Thornton's translation of Virgil, the first edition with illustrations by William Blake, and Blake's first foray into the medium of wood-engraving. Although Thornton was critical of Blake's work, deemed by him to be unconventional, he nonetheless included them at the behest of John Linnell--Blake's patron-- Sir Thomas Lawrence, and others. Beneath the frontispiece for the "Imitation of Eclogue I" (facing p. 13), Thornton has written, "The illustrations of this English Pastoral are by the famous Blake, the illustrator of Young's Night Thoughts and Blair's Grave; who designed and engraved them himself. This is mentioned, as they display less of art than genius, and are much admired by some eminent painters." Blake's wood-engravings proved to be some of his most influential work, inspiring the likes of George Richmond, Edward Calvert, and Samuel Palmer, the latter who called them, "visions of little dells, and nooks, and corners of Paradise."