Illustrations of the Book of Job. by [Trianon Press]. Blake, William - 1987

3 huge black slipcases. Paris: Trianon Press for the Blake Trust, 1987. 3 huge black slipcases, with contents in various formats (see below). In perfect condition as issued. § Edition limited to 387 sets, including 365 sets in three different formats, and a super de luxe edition limited to 22 sets of which this is copy D. The super de luxe issue includes David Bindman, ed. William Blake’s Illustrations of the Book of Job[:] The Engravings and Related Material with Essays, Catalogue of States and Printings, Commentary on the Plates and Documentary Record by David Bindman, Barbara Bryant, Robert Essick, Geoffrey Keynes and Bo Lindberg. London: The William Blake Trust, 1987. The monumental work is housed in four cloth slipcases trimmed in morocco and contains fine facsimile reproductions of all three color sets of the plates, the New Zealand set, the Collins set, and the Fitzwilliam plates. The plates are accompanied by detailed commentary and scholarly essays, as well as proofs, guides and stencils from the Trianon Press, and much additional material. A surprisingly hard title to find from the Blake Trust, being their last publication until the 2009 issue of “The Grave” watercolors. The analysis of the various states of the Job plates, and of the coloring of the three colored copies known, is not printed anywhere else and thus this set is essential for anyone studying this book, surely Blake’s masterpiece of engraving. Bentley, BBS, pp.198-99. Full contents of the four slipcases as follows:1. Text volume, with the title page and colophon. Contents:Stephen Keynes, “Acknowledgments.”Charles Ryskamp, “Foreword.”David Bindman and John Commander, “Preface.”Geoffrey Keynes, “The Development of the Job Designs.”David Bindman, “The Book of Job Designs from Butts Series to Final Engravings.”Robert Essick, “Blake’s Engravings to the Book of Job: An Essay on Their Graphic Form [and] Catalogue of States and Printings.”Barbara Bryant, “The Job Designs; a Documentary and Bibliographical Record.”Quarter morocco and cover label. In the same slipcase: William Blake’s Illustrations of the Book of Job[:] The Plates [with related designs, and] with an Introduction and Plate-by-Plate Commentary by Bo Lindberg. Loose in fascicles in a quarter morocco folder, quarter morocco clamshell box with cover label.2. Colour Versions of William Blake’s Book of Job Designs from the Circle of John Linnell. With an essay by Bo Lindberg. Text volume, quarter morocco with cover label. Quarter-morocco clamshell box with cover label, with the following quarter-morocco folders with cover labels (as quoted below), contents loose:a. “The New Zealand set”b. “The Collins set”c. “The Fitzwilliam plates”3. “Additional Material 1.” Quarter-morocco clamshell box with cover label, with the following quarter-morocco folders with cover labels (as quoted below), contents loose:a. “Pages from the ‘Riches’ sketchbook with colour washes (not published)”b. “William Blake Illustrations of the Book of Job Alternative printing [of the engravings] without plate mark”c. “Facsimiles of subjects from the Butts version watercolours printed collotype by Emery Walker for the Pierpont Morgan Library edition, 1935”. Two mounted color reproductions.d. “Proofs, guides and stencils for colour plates from Colour versions of Blake’s Book of Job designs Trianon Press, Paris c. 1974”4. “Additional Material 2.” Quarter-morocco clamshell box with cover label, with the following quarter-morocco folders with cover labels (as quoted below), contents loose:a. “Label printed for original publication, March 1826”b. “Colour versions of William Blake’s Book of Job designs from the circle of John Linnell Collins & New Zealand sets & Fitzwilliam plates.” Housed in three paper folders. The same reproductions as those in box 2, above.