The Illuminated Books of William Blake, Volume 3: The Early Illuminated Books(Blake)

The core of William Blake's vision, his greatness as one of the British Romantics, is most fully expressed in his "Illuminated Books", masterworks of art and text intertwined and mutually enriching. Made possible by recent advances in printing and reproduction technology, the publication of new editions of "Jerusalem" and "Songs of Innocence and of Experience" in 1991 was a major publishing event. Now, these two volumes are followed by "The Early Illuminated Books and Milton, A Poem". The books in both volumes are reproduced from the best available copies of Blake's originals and in faithfulness and accuracy match the acclaimed standards set by "Jerusalem" and "Songs". These two volumes are uniform in format and binding with the first two volumes. "The Early Illuminated Books" comprises "All Religions Are One" and "There Is No Natural Religion"; "Thel"; "Marriage of Heaven and Hell"; and "Visions of the Daughters of Albion". "Milton, A Poem", second only to "Jerusalem" in extent and ambition, is accompanied by "Laocoon", "The Ghost of Abel", and "On Homer's Poetry".

Table of Contents:
PREFACE by David Bindman, General Editor 7 FOREWORD 8 INTRODUCTION 9 A NOTE ON TEXTS AND VARIANTS 16 CITATIONS AND ABBREVIATIONS 18 ALL RELIGIONS ARE ONE and THERE IS NO NATURAL RELIGION Introduction 21 Text and Reproduction 43 Supplementary Illustrations 68 THE BOOK OF THEL Introduction 71 Text and Reproduction 87 Supplementary Illustrations 102 Notes to Blake's Text 108 THE MARRIAGE OF HEAVEN AND HELL Introduction 113 Text and Reproduction 141 Supplementary Illustrations 194 Notes to Blake's Text 208 VISIONS OF THE DAUGHTERS OF ALBION Introduction 225 Text and Reproduction 243 Supplementary Illustrations 264 Notes to Blake's Text 275 WORKS CITED 279

About the Author :
David Bindman is Durning-Lawrence Professor of the History of Art at University College, London. Morris Eaves, Robert N. Essick, and Joseph Viscomi are Professors of English at, respectively, University of Rochester, University of California at Riverside, and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Review :
[Blake's] illuminated books, parables of earthly life, were peopled with fanciful creatures drawn from an elaborate invented mythology. Blake published these works himself, but his ambition to reach a wide audience was never realized. Now the William Blake Trust, in association with Princeton University Press, has initiated a five-volume facsimile series... The first two volumes ... are now available. Produced with meticulous care, each has a brief introduction. Each volume also contains exquisite reproductions of the original plates, a new transcription of Blake's text and scholarly but accessible plate-by-plate commentaries. -- Andrea Barnet, The New York Times Book Review The color printing is exceptional. -- Lewis Segal, The Los Angeles Times Book Review In every way this initial release is a triumph. The exquisite images and a lucid text of each volume endow not just Blake's work, but the relationships between word and image, with a crystalline clarity. -- Eric Gibson, The Washington Times [These volumes] reproduce, plate by plate, Blake's hand-lettered verses and colored illustrations... These illuminated books, masterpieces of the book-maker's art, answer critical questions, especially about the poet's late, recondite allegories. They remind the poetry scholar that his Blake was first a visual artist, indebted to Raphael and Michelangelo, and second a writer beholden to Spenser and Milton... -- New Criterion