Life of William Blake, with selections from his poems and other writings. by Gilchrist, Alexander; William Blake - 1880: New and enlarged edition illustrated from Blake's own works with additional letters and a memoir of the author.

London: Macmillan, 1880. Second edition. Very Good/Finished and much expanded version of the 1863 pilot edition, which was interrupted by the author's death. Anne Gilchrist completed the work, with the help of Dante Gabriel Rossetti, who edited the poems and writings, William Michael Rossetti, who catalogued the paintings. Gilchrist can be credited with securing Blake's reputation.. 24 cm; 2 volumes: xxi, 431 pages ;ix, 383 pages, engraved portrait frontispiece and numerous illustrations, including the entire set of engravings for the Book of Job, the entire set of Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience (bound out of order), images from The Gates of Paradise (printed on India paper and mounted), and many illustrations from the "prophetic" books, from the Virgil and Dante illustrations, and from his sketches, prints, and his work as an illustrator for hire. Justly celebrated covers of blue cloth stamped in gilt with art nouveau rendering (by Frederic J. Shields) of a sketch from Blake's manuscript notebook of two figures reclining in an open poppy petal beneath a canopy of belladonna petals under a spangled night sky. The spine reproduces in gilt a figure from Blake's "Night Thoughts." Binder's ticket (Burn & Co.) present. Pages uncut. This copy extremely well-preserved. Distinctly fresh look without edge wear or discoloration. Wordsworth scholar Ernest de Sélincourt's copy, with his bookplate and signature in both volumes.