bb134.9.xml

<bad id="bb134.9" type="ms" work="Receipt, Thomas Butts, 15 October 1806" copy="9" copyid="9"
    institution="westminster" catalog="bentley" catid="bb134.9">
    <header>
        <filedesc>
            <titlestmt>
                <title reg="Receipt, Thomas Butts, 15 October 1806">
                    <main>Receipt 15 October 1806</main> : electronic edition </title>
                <principal>
                    <resp>Editors: </resp>
                    <name>Morris Eaves,</name>University of Rochester; <name>Robert
                        Essick,</name>University of California, Riverside; and <name>Joseph
                            Viscomi</name>, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill</principal>
                <respstmt> </respstmt>
                <sponsor>The Library of Congress, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
                    and the University of Rochester</sponsor>
                <funder/>
            </titlestmt>
            <editionstmt>Blake Archive Description DTD Version 2005</editionstmt>
            <extent>1 XML file approx. 12KB; 2 JPEG (ISO/IEC 10918) files ranging in size from 75KB
                to 1.5MB</extent>
            <publicationstmt>Chapel Hill: Eaves, Essick, Viscomi; UNC Libraries<date>February 2019</date></publicationstmt>
            <seriesstmt>The William Blake Archive</seriesstmt>
            <updatestmt> The William Blake Archive is pleased to announce the publication of digital
                editions of Blake's receipts. <lb/> Commerce is so far from being beneficial to Arts
                or to Empire that it is destructive of both” ("Public Address"). "Where any view of
                Money exists Art cannot be carried on." "Christianity is Art &amp; not Money"
                (Laocoön). Rail as he might about the destructive force of commerce and money as
                "The Great Satan," Blake had to recognize that money is also "the lifes blood of
                Poor Families" (Laocoön)—and Catherine and William Blake were often a poor family.
                Blake's biographer Gilchrist tells the story of Catherine Blake's way of reminding
                her husband that money was running out—by putting an empty plate in front of him.
                One hoped-for effect was money exchanged for goods or services, perhaps paintings,
                engravings, or drawing lessons—verified by a receipt. <lb/>
                <lb/> Receipts remind us of bookkeepers and taxes. For most people most of the time,
                receipts surely fall near the bottom in rank order of interest and importance—until
                we need one that is missing or discover one that proves something otherwise
                uncertain or unknown. Their unstable place in the hierarchy of documents makes them
                rare. They tend to be small, easily overlooked, or discarded when the works they
                signify move along from place to place, generation to generation. The ones published
                here are survivors, and most have never been reproduced. <lb/>
                <lb/> Blake's receipts often help to establish the first buyer of his works—and the
                date when a specified amount of money was exchanged for specified objects. Beyond
                that, the receipts teach lessons in the easily overlooked business side of Blake's
                arts and the arts of his era, in which he was a full if frustrated participant. And
                the documents are often striking. There are beautiful receipts in formal words,
                numbers, and symbols precisely inscribed in fancy handwriting, decorated with
                colorful seals that certify the transactions. Equally eye catching, there are
                scrawled, scratchy composites that are simply fascinating to look at. And there are,
                of course, plain, practical lists laid out more or less neatly in columns. <lb/>
                <lb/>In our treatment of the receipts, we are departing from the editorial
                principles favored by earlier editors: Geoffrey Keynes mixed receipts and letters in
                a single chronologically ordered category; David V. Erdman largely excluded them; G.
                E. Bentley, Jr., excluded them from his edition of William Blake's Writings and
                moved them into an elaborate appendix to Blake Records that attempts to cover a
                broad range of transactions from multiple angles—including, for example, the
                receipts generated by Blake's customer, promoter, and friend John Linnell, a careful
                keeper of accounts, in the course of producing Blake’s engraved <hi rend="i"
                    >Illustrations of the Book of Job</hi> (22 plates, 1823-26). Bentley assembled
                Linnell's payments to Blake but also to dealers in copper, "french paper" and
                "Drawing paper," in specialized printing for engravings, and cloth bindings, among
                other products and services (BR 2nd ed., appendix 3, "Blake's Accounts"). <lb/> We
                have decided instead to publish the receipts in adjacent but separate categories to
                focus attention on a distinctive commercial genre with some striking historical
                features. But the border between receipts and letters is porous because Blake's
                financial and personal dealings are entwined. As he embeds poems in his letters,
                complicating distinctions between them, he similarly personalizes sterile lists of
                products and prices with greetings, inquiries, and news. And sometimes what we label
                a receipt is strictly not—but rather, say, a formal contract to carry out a project
                on specified terms, such as the 25 March 1823 "Memorandum of Agreement" to engrave
                the drawings that would be published as Illustrations of the Book of Job—on copper
                plates that would be provided by Linnell. The agreement is in Linnell's hand, with
                signatures by both men. Deciding how to treat documents that defy the rules of our
                rigid categories is one of the questionable pleasures of editing. <lb/> Special
                thanks to the City of Westminster Archives Center for their courteous assistance,
                excellent digital images, and willingness to share Kerrison Preston's Blake library
                with the world. <lb/> As always, the William Blake Archive is a free site, imposing
                no access restrictions and charging no subscription fees. The site is made possible
                by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with the University of Rochester,
                the continuing support of the Library of Congress, and the cooperation of the
                international array of libraries and museums that have generously given us
                permission to reproduce works from their collections in the Archive.</updatestmt>
            <notesstmt/>
        </filedesc>
        <userestrict>Copyright © <date>2019</date> by Morris Eaves, Robert N. Essick, and Joseph
            Viscomi, all rights reserved. Items in the Archive may be shared in accordance with the
            Fair Use provisions of U.S. copyright law. Redistribution or republication on other terms,
            in any medium, requires express written consent from the editors and advance notification
            of the publisher. Permission to reproduce the graphic images in this archive has been
            granted by the owners of the originals for this publication only.<lb/>
            <lb/>This work copyright &#169; 2019 City of Westminster Archives Centre.
        </userestrict>
        <encodingdesc/>
        <profiledesc/>
        <revisiondesc>
            <changestmt>
                <change>Final proofing and publication</change>
                <date>February 2019</date>
                <respstmt>
                    <resp>Editors:</resp>
                    <name>Morris Eaves,</name>
                    University of Rochester;
                    <name>Robert Essick,</name>
                    University of California, Riverside; and
                    <name>Joseph Viscomi,</name>
                    University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
                    <resp>Assistant Editor:</resp>
                    <name>Michael Fox</name>
                    <resp>Managing Editor:</resp>
                    <name>Joseph Fletcher</name>
                    <resp>Assistant Project Manager:</resp>
                    <name>Grant Glass</name>
                    <resp>Project Coordinator, University of Rochester:</resp>
                    <name>Eric Loy</name>
                    <resp>Consultants on Special Projects:</resp>
                    <name>Ashley Reed,</name>
                    <name>Nikolaus Wasmoen,</name>
                    <name>Laura Whitebell</name>
                    <resp>Bibliographer:</resp>
                    <name>Mark Crosby</name>
                    <resp>Project Assistants:</resp>
                    <name>Katherine Calvin,</name>
                    <name>Erin Francisco,</name>
                    <name>Ani Govjian,</name>
                    <name>Rachael Isom,</name>
                    <name>Joey Kingsley,</name>
                    <name>Mary Learner,</name>
                    <name>Rob Rich,</name>
                    <name>Anneke Schwob,</name>
                    <name>Oishani Sengupta,</name>
                    <name>Elizabeth Shand,</name>
                    <name>Matthew Skwiat,</name>
                    <name>Jewell Thomas,</name>
                    <name>Marcie Woehl,</name>
                    <name>Meaghan Green,</name>
                    <name>Kendall DeBoer</name>
                    <name>Helen Davies</name>
                </respstmt>
            </changestmt>
            <changestmt>
                <change>
                    Textual transcriptions and notes
                </change>
                <date>September 2017</date>
                <respstmt>
                    <resp>Editors:</resp>
                    <name>Morris Eaves,</name>
                    University of Rochester;
                    <name>Robert Essick,</name>
                    University of California, Riverside; and
                    <name>Joseph Viscomi,</name>
                    University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
                    <resp>Assistant Editor:</resp>
                    <name>Michael Fox</name>
                    <resp>Managing Editor:</resp>
                    <name>Joseph Fletcher</name>
                    <resp>Assistant Project Manager:</resp>
                    <name>Grant Glass</name>
                    <resp>Project Coordinator, University of Rochester:</resp>
                    <name>Eric Loy</name>
                    <resp>Consultants on Special Projects:</resp>
                    <name>Ashley Reed,</name>
                    <name>Nikolaus Wasmoen,</name>
                    <name>Laura Whitebell</name>
                    <resp>Bibliographer:</resp>
                    <name>Mark Crosby</name>
                    <resp>Project Assistants:</resp>
                    <name>Katherine Calvin,</name>
                    <name>Erin Francisco,</name>
                    <name>Ani Govjian,</name>
                    <name>Alison Harper,</name>
                    <name>Rachael Isom,</name>
                    <name>Joey Kingsley,</name>
                    <name>Mary Learner,</name>
                    <name>Rob Rich,</name>
                    <name>Anneke Schwob,</name>
                    <name>Oishani Sengupta,</name>
                    <name>Elizabeth Shand,</name>
                    <name>Matthew Skwiat,</name>
                    <name>Jewell Thomas,</name>
                    <name>Emily Tronson,</name>
                    <name>Lisa Vandenbossche,</name>
                    <name>Alex Zawacki</name>
                </respstmt>
            </changestmt>
            <changestmt>
                <change>BADs created</change>
                <date>January 2012</date>
                <respstmt>
                    <resp>Editors: </resp>
                    <name>Morris Eaves, </name>
                    University of Rochester;
                    <name>Robert Essick, </name>
                    University of California, Riverside; and
                    <name>Joseph Viscomi, </name>
                    University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
                    <resp>Technical Editor: </resp>
                    <name>William Shaw</name>
                    <resp>Project Manager: </resp>
                    <name>Ashley Reed</name>
                    <resp>Project Coordinator, University of Rochester:</resp>
                    <name>Rachel Lee</name>
                    <resp>Project Assistants: </resp>
                    <name>Esther Arnold, </name>
                    <name>Kate Attkisson, </name>
                    <name>Laura Bell, </name>
                    <name>Lauren Cameron, </name>
                    <name>Katherine Carlson, </name>
                    <name>Cassandra Etter-Wenzel, </name>
                    <name>Andrea Everett, </name>
                    <name>Joseph Fletcher</name>
                    <name>Ali McGhee, </name>
                    <name>Jennifer Park, </name>
                    <name>Adair Rispoli, </name>
                    <name>Sarah Shaw, </name>
                    <name>Hardeep Sidhu, </name>
                    <name>Sarah Tolf, </name>
                    <name>Nikolaus Wasmoen, </name>
                    <name>Bihan Zhang</name>
                </respstmt>
            </changestmt>
        </revisiondesc>
    </header>
    <objdesc>
        <source>
            <objdescid>
                <objtitle>
                    <title>Receipt, Thomas Butts, 15 October 1806</title>
                </objtitle>
                <origination>Thomas Butts
                    <role>author,</role>
                    <role>inventor,</role>
                    <role>delineator.</role>
                </origination>
                <origination>William Blake
                    <role>author,</role>
                    <role>inventor,</role>
                    <role>delineator. Thomas Butts wrote this receipt, and Blake signed it.</role>
                </origination>
                <compdate value="1806.D">1806</compdate>
            </objdescid>
            <objinfo>
                <numberobj>1</numberobj>
                <objorder>1</objorder>
                <objsize>7.7 x 18.6 cm.</objsize>
                <numberleaves>1<note></note>
                </numberleaves>
                <leafsize>7.7 x 18.6 cm.</leafsize>
                <medium>pen and ink</medium>
                <inkcolor>black</inkcolor>
                <support>laid paper</support>
                <watermark>none</watermark>
                <binding>none</binding>
            </objinfo>
            <provenance n="1">
                <name>Westminster City Archives</name>
                <date>1967</date>
                <dealer></dealer>
                <price>Not recorded</price>
                <note>Thomas Butts; from the Butts collection; acquired from Butts's grandson, Captain Butts between 1903 and 1906 by the late W. Graham Robertson; bequeathed by Robertson to his executor, Kerrison Preston about 1948; presented by Preston with his Blake collection to the City of Westminster Reference Library in 1967. </note>
            </provenance>
            <repository>
                <institution>Westminster City Archives</institution>
                <addressline>10 St. Ann's Street</addressline>
                <addressline>London</addressline>
                <addressline>SW1P 2DE</addressline>
                <addressline>United Kingdom</addressline>
                <addressline>Telephone: 020 7641 5180</addressline>
                <addressline>Fax: 020 7641 5179</addressline>
                <addressline>E-mail: archives@westminster.gov.uk</addressline>
                <addressline>URL: https://www.westminster.gov.uk/archives</addressline>
                <department>Special Collections</department>
                <collection>Preston Blake Collection</collection>
                <repositoryid label="Call number">Accession 924</repositoryid>
            </repository>
        </source>
        <desc id="bb134.9.ms.01" dbi="BB134.9.1.MS">
            <objtitle>
                <title type="transcribed">15 October 1806</title>
                <title type="alt">Receipt, Thomas Butts, 15 October 1806</title>, 
                <objid>
                    <objnumber code="A8">Object 1 </objnumber>
                    <objcode code="B9">(Bentley Receipt 9)</objcode>
                </objid>
            </objtitle>
            <physdesc desclevel="brief">
                <objsize>7.7 x 18.6 cm.</objsize>
                <objnote>
                    <p>Thomas Butts wrote this receipt, and Blake signed it.</p>
                    <p> To the left of the text is an embossed revenue stamp depicting a shield
                        bearing the union flag and surrounded by the motto &#8220;DIEU ET MON
                        DROIT&#8221;. Above the shield is a coronet and on the left and right sides
                        are sprigs of long, narrow leaves. Below the shield is the phrase &#8220;TWO
                        PENCE / FOR RECEIPTS&#8221;.</p>
                    <p>In the top right corner, the number "5" is inscribed in pencil in an unknown hand.</p>
                </objnote>
                <windowsize width="500" height="630"/>
            </physdesc>
            <phystext>
                <lg justify="left">
                    <l n="bb134.9.ms.01.01" justify="left" indent="18">15: <choice><orig>Octo <hi rend="superscript">r</hi></orig><reg type="abbrev">October</reg></choice>. 1806</l> 
                    <l n="bb134.9.ms.01.02" justify="left" indent="10">Received of M<hi rend="superscript">r</hi>. Butts five</l>
                    <l n="bb134.9.ms.01.03" justify="left" indent="2">Pounds 5/. on further account&#8212;</l>
                    <l n="bb134.9.ms.01.04" justify="left" indent="2">&#163; 5,,5 &#8212;<space extent ="11"/><hi rend="u"><choice><orig>Will<hi rend="superscript">m</hi></orig><reg type="abbrev">William</reg></choice> Blake</hi></l>
                </lg>
            </phystext> 
        </desc>
    </objdesc>
</bad>