William Blake — Remember Me! A New Year's Gift or Christmas Present. 1825 — First Edition, First Issue — “The Hiding of Moses” — Publisher’s Original De Luxe Gilt Binding

BLAKE, WILLIAM. Remember Me! A New Year’s Gift or Christmas Present, 1825. London: I. Poole, [1824]. First edition, first issue.

An exceptional example of one of the scarcest books containing an original engraving designed and engraved by William Blake, preserved in its extraordinarily elaborate publisher’s original de luxe red leather binding.

The volume contains Blake’s “The Hiding of Moses,” signed within the plate “Blake del et sculpt.” The engraving is particularly significant as the final plate both designed and engraved by Blake himself for a commercial publication.

The plate is here preserved integral to the book for which it was created, with the engraved title “Hiding of Moses”beneath the image and Blake’s engraved signature at lower right. The impression is strong and detailed, retaining generous margins.

The Blake Engraving

“The Hiding of Moses” is among the rarest of Blake’s commercial book illustrations.

The composition depicts the concealment of the infant Moses among the bulrushes, surrounded by a characteristically Blake conception of Egypt, with monumental architectural forms, pyramids, the Sphinx, and highly expressive human figures.

The rarity of “The Hiding of Moses” is exceptional even within Blake’s commercial graphic work. Early bibliographical scholarship recorded only a handful of examples, and G. E. Bentley’s later census located just twenty-four copies of Remember Me! across its various issues and bindings. Its scarcity is compounded by its historical importance: “The Hiding of Moses” was the last commercial plate both designed and engraved by Blake himself, and represents the culmination of Blake’s career as a commercial engraver.

Publisher's De Luxe Binding

Of particular importance is the remarkable publisher’s original de luxe binding: full red leather extensively decorated in gilt, with broad ornamental borders to the covers and an exceptionally rich gilt spine. A contrasting black leather spine label is lettered REMEMBER ME, with LONDON / 1825 gilt at the foot.

The volume retains its striking original marbled endpapers and gilt-decorated turn-ins.

The decorative character of these bindings is itself an important feature of the publication. G. E. Bentley’s census recorded only twenty-four copies and noted that the surviving examples differ in their combinations of binding pattern, endpapers, fore-edge treatment, and other decorative details—reflecting publisher John Poole’s background as a maker of marbled papers and luxury fancy goods.

The Volume

In addition to the Blake engraving, Remember Me! is an unusually elaborate Regency gift book incorporating an engraved frontispiece and title, additional full-page engravings, botanical illustrations, engraved music, calendar material, and other decorative contents.

The engraved title is dated 1825, identifying this copy as the first issue, preceding the 1826 reissue.

The binding remains exceptionally handsome, with light rubbing and localized wear consistent with age, particularly at the extremities. Internally, the volume shows some expected toning and occasional spotting. Early pencil notations are present. A period or early collector’s mark consisting of a heraldic bird above the initials W.R.H. appears at the rear.

A particularly desirable copy of a celebrated William Blake rarity, distinguished not only by the presence of “The Hiding of Moses”, but by its survival in one of the publisher’s highly decorative original de luxe bindings.

References: Bentley, Blake Books, 490B; Easson & Essick, William Blake: Book Illustrator, XI; Keynes, Blake Studies, XIX; G. E. Bentley Jr., “Remember Me! Customs and Costumes of Blake’s Gift Book,” University of Toronto Quarterly, 80.4.