BIB_ID
404684
Accession number
MA 6048
Creator
Blake, Catherine Boucher.
Display Date
1800 September 14.
Credit line
Purchased by Pierpont Morgan, 1906.
Description
1 item (2 pages, with address) ; 19.7 x 16 cm
Notes
The letter and signature are in the hand of William Blake, who also signs his own name. See The Letters of William Blake, ed. Keynes, 3rd ed., (Oxford, 1980) page xvii, for a discussion of examples of Catherine Blake's handwriting.
Blake gives the place of writing as "H.B. Lambeth," "H.B." standing for "Hercules Buildings," an address in Lambeth where the Blakes lived from 1791 to 1800.
Address panel: "Mrs. Flaxman."
With a poem of four stanzas on the second page, "To my dear Friend Mrs. Anna Flaxman," about the pleasures they anticipate at Felpham.
Blake gives the place of writing as "H.B. Lambeth," "H.B." standing for "Hercules Buildings," an address in Lambeth where the Blakes lived from 1791 to 1800.
Address panel: "Mrs. Flaxman."
With a poem of four stanzas on the second page, "To my dear Friend Mrs. Anna Flaxman," about the pleasures they anticipate at Felpham.
Provenance
Removed from a volume (disbound in 1931) of Blake-related material (PML 9948); the volume was offered by Sotheby's 22 April 1902 (Henry White collection), December 9, 1905, and December 15, 1906; purchased by Pierpont Morgan in 1906.
Summary
Writing of her and her husband's gratitude towards Ann and John Flaxman: "I hope you will not think we could forget your Services to us, or any way neglect to love & remember with affection even the hem of your garment"; telling her that they have been very busy preparing for their move to Felpham; adding that they will call on them in Hampstead on Sunday afternoon to take their farewells; mentioning that her husband "has been obliged to finish several things necessary to be finish'd before our migration the Swallows call us fleeting past our window at this moment. O how we delight in talking of the pleasure we shall have in preparing you a summer bower at Felpham, & we not only talk but behold the Angels of our journey have inspired a song to you."
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