Poet, Printer, Prophet. A Study of The Illuminated Books of William Blake.

London and Paris: The Trianon Press for The William Blake Trust. 1964.

Tall quarto. Original red quarter morocco, marbled sides, spine lettered in gilt, top edge gilt. In the original matching marbled slipcase. Colour frontispiece and illustrations throughout after William Blake. A fine copy.

Signed limited edition, number 475 of 525 copies only, all signed by Geoffrey Keynes on the limitation leaf; an unsigned trade edition was also published by the Orion Press.

The book was designed by Arnold Fawcus, comprising a selection of plates from Blake’s illuminated books, all printed in 6- and 8-colour offset on paper specially manufactured to match the tint of the paper used by Blake.

Geoffrey Keynes (1887-1982) was an academic, biographer, and the younger brother of John Maynard Keynes. He was a world authority on Blake, and was instrumental in the production of the Trianon facsimiles, writing the accompanying bibliographical texts and contributing material from his own collection.

From the library, though unmarked as such, of David Lindsay, 28th Earl of Crawford and 11th Earl of Balcarres (1900-1975), who served as chairman of the National Trust from 1945 to 1965, alongside serving as trustee of the Tate and National Galleries, the British Museum, and the National Library of Scotland.