Poetical Sketches

About “Poetical Sketches”

Poetical Sketches is the first collection of poetry and prose by William Blake, created between 1769 and 1777. It was printed in 1783 with the help of Blake's friends, artist John Flaxman and Reverend Anthony Stephen Mathew, at the request of Blake's wife, Harriet Mathew. The book was not published for the general public but given as gifts to friends and others. Forty copies were made. By 1921, fourteen copies were known, and by 1957, eight more had been found. In 2011, a previously unknown copy was sold at auction for £72,000. (Summary adapted from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.)