The frontispiece is an original Samuel Palmer etching ("Christmas" or "Folding the Last Sheep") dating to 1850 but unpublished until its publication in this book. (the etching has often been removed by various cognoscenti making complete copies such as this fairly scarce). Further illustrated by 12 autotypes (including a photographic portrait print of Palmer) & 9 woodcuts of which 5 are on separate sheets & 4 within the text. Illustrated title page to the reverse of which has been glued a newspaper review of the book from a copy of 'The Spectator' (dated February 24, 1883) & also a short obituary of the artist Edward Calvert who died in that year. Samuel Palmer was one of the most original artists Britain has produced & first exhibited Turner-inspired works at the Royal Academy at the age of fourteen.. Palmer met William Blake in 1824. Blake's influence can be seen in work he produced over the next ten years and generally reckoned to be his greatest. He embarked on an intensely personal journey that led to an astonishing outpouring of mystical drawings and later to England's first artistic colony, "The Ancients," based in the idyllic landscape of Shoreham. This book contains the first major writings on Palmer, which were published for a retrospective exhibition in 1881. They include a biography by his son, A. H. Palmer. Loosely inserted are some extracts from art auction catalogues relating to sales of Palmer's works.