(Above) First book of Urizen plate 23, by William Blake. © Tate Gallery
Tate has bought eight powerful etchings by William Blake with the help of £141,000 from The Art Fund and £200,000 from Tate Members.
Patrons of the Gallery and members of the public also contributed donations to secure the extraordinary series of works.
"These powerful etchings reveal the immense technical skill of William Blake, as well as his legendary imaginative range, and the story their discovery makes this acquisition all the more exciting," said Art Fund Director Stephen Deuchar.
The etchings were originally inherited by Blake's widow Catherine, who later gave them to a gentleman called Frederick Tatham. After this point their ownership is unknown, until they were discovered hidden between the pages of a railway timetable among a box of second-hand books bought at a local book sale in the 1970s.
The owner, who wishes to remain anonymous, offered them to Tate as a single group.
First book of Urizen Plate 7, by William Blake. © Tate Gallery
Blake originally created the images after printing a remarkable series of illustrated books with the help of his wife in the 1790s. He went on to reproduce images from these books as a set of separate relief etchings, each finished in pen and ink and hand-coloured by layering tempera on watercolour.
The etchings will go on display at Tate Britain in July 2010 before travelling to the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Art, Moscow in November 2011.
