"The Wood Engravings of William Blake for Thornton's Virgil 1821" illuminates a significant chapter in the history of art and book illustration. This volume showcases the revolutionary series of wood engravings created by William Blake to accompany Robert John Thornton's pastoral translation of Virgil's Eclogues.
Blake's miniature masterpieces, initially met with incomprehension by some contemporaries, demonstrate his profound imaginative power and innovative approach to the wood engraving medium. They evoke a mystical, primordial landscape that perfectly complements Virgil's ancient poetry, imbuing it with Blake's unique spiritual vision. This collection reveals Blake's capacity to infuse even the smallest scale with immense feeling and symbolism, making these engravings enduring examples of his genius and a foundational moment in the revival of wood engraving as a fine art.
 
Seventeen subjects commissioned by Dr Robert Thornton for his Virgil of 1821, newly printed in 1977 from the original blocks now in the British Museum.