8vo (178 x 102 mm). 150 woodcut and engraved illustrations on 62 sheets by various artists, EXTRA-ILLUSTRATED WITH 17 WOODCUTS BY WILLIAM BLAKE on 5 sheets, 4 woodcuts on 2 sheets after Blake. (Very occasional light spotting, flyleaf and title mounted on stubs with a small repair to flyleaf, the Blake plates remargined at foot and gutter.) Early calf ruled in blind, spine in 6 compartments with 5 raised bands, morocco lettering-pieces gilt in 2, contemporary blue speckled edges (joints restored, light creasing to spine). Provenance: Joseph Goodall (1760-1840), Provost of Eton College from 1809-1840 and dedicatee of this work (presentation inscription from the author).

THE DEDICATION COPY INSCRIBED BY THORNTON TO THE DEDICATEE, THE PROVOST OF ETON COLLEGE on flyleaf: "Presented by the Author to the Rev: Dr. Goodall as a Testimony of Respect, Esteem & Gratitude."

THE RARE SECOND EDITION, EXTRA-ILLUSTRATED WITH A COMPLETE SET OF BLAKE'S 17 WOODCUTS—his entire output in this medium. Thornton's Virgil first appeared in 1812 as School Virgil, with a few woodcuts—not by Blake—and a dedication to Joseph Goodall, Provost of Eton. In 1814, Thornton released a suite of further Illustrations of the School Virgil (still none by Blake), with minimal accompanying text. These illustrations were united with the text in the present second edition, also published in 1814. Gilchrist (I, p.270), Keynes (passim) and Bentley (Blake Books, p.628) all erroneously date this edition to 1819, perhaps because they were unable to inspect a copy. Despite this, according to Keynes, the work's "success was such that a third edition was planned for publication in 1821. Owing to Thornton's association with the Linnells, it came about that in 1820 Blake was introduced to his notice with the suggestion that he should assist in illustrating the new edition of the Virgil" (Blake Studies, p.157). This was the genesis of Blake's first, and only, woodcuts; the work would comprise seventeen Blake woodcuts, three further images re-cut by another hand after his designs, and Blake's drawing after Poussin engraved by one Byfield, along with engravings by Blake and prints after his designs (not present here). In the present volume, the 1821 woodcuts were bound with the 1814 text later in the nineteenth century. If initial reception to the woodcuts was mixed, by 1824 Samuel Palmer would set the tone for future critics. The woodcuts, he said, were "visions of little dells and nooks and corners of Paradise: models of the exquisites pitch of intense poetry" (quoted ibid., p.163). RARE: OCLC locates only one copy institutionally (University of Pittsburgh). Bentley 504, plates 5-25 of this entry. A SUPERB ASSOCIATION COPY.