Eden Engraved and Erased: The Jealousy That Tried to Kill Prophecy

Blake's Lot and His Daughters, Huntington Library, c. 1800 William Blake - The William Blake Archive Miami Art Reviews

Then Came Frederick Tatham:

The Betrayal of a Prophet's Legacy

A story of vision, betrayal, and the eternal war between creation and destruction.

Then Came Frederick Tatham After the Prophet Died, the Garden Was Unprotected

When William Blake died in 1827, the world barely noticed.
There was no state funeral. No marble statue. No grand obituaries.
He died poor, mostly ignored, singing to an angel with a pencil in his hand.

But one person did notice: Catherine Blake, his wife and eternal partner.
She did not mourn him with flowers.
She mourned him with duty.

For four more years, she carried on his work, printing, coloring, preserving.
She kept his visions alive, not in galleries, but in dusty drawers and careful hands.
She spoke to him still, they say, not as a ghost, but as a presence.

And then came Frederick Tatham.

The Widow and the Betrayal.

The Follower Who Wanted to Possess the Flame

Frederick Tatham (b. 1805) was a young artist, part of the Shoreham Ancients —
a group that claimed to revere Blake’s mystical vision.

He befriended Catherine late in her life.
He offered help, company, and admiration.
And when she passed away in 1831, he claimed she had bequeathed all of Blake’s remaining works to him, plates, books, notes, sketches, letters.

But admiration is not the same as understanding.
And jealousy is not the same as love.

The Serpent in the Garden

Tatham’s devotion twisted.
Not long after inheriting Blake’s materials, he converted to the Irvingite sect, a fanatical religious movement that saw visions as dangerous and art as suspect.

He turned on Blake’s work.
He began to call it demonic.
And then… he destroyed it.

Many original prints, drawings, and copper plates, gone forever.
Not lost in war.
Not damaged by time.
But burned by someone who claimed to be a disciple.

"Then came Tatham — and Eden was set on fire from the inside."

The Worst Sin Is Envy Disguised as Devotion

Tatham wasn’t a villain in the way of stories.
He didn’t wear black. He didn’t steal for profit.
He envied what he could never become.

He could not dream like Blake.
He could not love like Catherine.
So he tried to own them.
And when he couldn’t… he erased them.

This is the ancient sin, not ignorance, not even hatred —
but envy in religious disguise.

The same sin that exiled Adam.
The same poison that turned Cain against Abel.
The same impulse that destroys prophets and buries visionaries.

The Symbolism of Betrayal

Frederick Tatham becomes more than a man in this story.
He becomes an archetype:
the false keeper,
the thief of fire,
the guardian who sets the temple ablaze.

He is what happens when vision is too big for its followers.
When legacy is claimed by ego, not understanding.
When admiration turns to destruction.

He reminds us that not every admirer is an ally —
and that sometimes, the ones who destroy… once knelt in reverence.

But the Vision Survived

What he could not destroy was this:

The memory of Catherine’s hands coloring the flames
The sound of Blake’s hymns echoing beyond death
The scattered pages that survived in private hands
And the truth that vision, once born, never fully dies

Tatham is forgotten by most.
Blake lives on.

“He who desires but acts not breeds pestilence.”
— William Blake

The Fall of Eden and the Rise of Memory

Eden was built by William and Catherine —
not in gold, but in copper and color, pain and devotion.
And though it was desecrated by a man too weak to bear its brilliance,
it was never fully lost.

Because vision always returns
In new eyes.
In new hands.
In words, like these, that still dare to speak their names.

What survives when prophets are silenced?
Is legacy a flame, or a garden that must be protected from inside and out?
Leave your thoughts below, and speak for those whom history tried to erase.

The Betrayal of William Blake’s Legacy: Frederick Tatham and the Fall of Eden

🖼️ William Blake – Museum & Archive Links

Tate Britain (London, UK) – Holds one of the largest collections of William Blake’s works, including his original engravings, paintings, and illustrated books.
🔗 https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/william-blake-39
The British Museum – Prints and Drawings Department
Includes engravings, illustrated manuscripts, and rare works by Blake.
🔗 https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/term/BIOG14572
The Fitzwilliam Museum (Cambridge, UK) – Hosts a strong Blake collection and online access to prints and illuminated books.
🔗 https://www.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/
(Use search: William Blake)
The Morgan Library & Museum (New York, USA) – Holds several original Blake manuscripts and illuminated books.
🔗 https://www.themorgan.org/collection/drawings/138214
The Huntington Library (California, USA) – Hosts original prints and a permanent Blake archive.
🔗 https://www.huntington.org/
(Use search: William Blake)
Yale Center for British Art (New Haven, USA) – Digitally accessible works by Blake including early printed books.
🔗 https://collections.britishart.yale.edu/?q=william+blake

“To explore William Blake’s original works, manuscripts, and prints in person or online, visit the collections at Tate Britain, the British Museum, The Morgan Library, and other archives keeping his flame alive.”