Customer Reviews

The Marriage of Heaven and Hell: A Facsimile in Full Color (Dover Fine Art, History of Art)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The illuminations accompanying Blake's poetry should be considered necessary to the reading of his poems. The illuminations are beautiful, descriptive, obviously terribly time consuming and should not be counted as something separate from the words. That said, sometimes it is difficult to read the poems on the illuminations, as they were meant to be read. This book provides the complete illuminations followed by the poems sans illumination, for ease of reading. Also, the price is of course outstanding, as illuminated versions of Blake's poetry can get quite pricey.

If a reader should stumble across this little book of poetry and visual art he ought to be warned that contemporaries considered the author insane because they could not understand him. The reason can be found in the suffusion of his works by his regular discourse with spirit or call it higher dimensions of consciousness, and, therefore, cannot be fully understood by everyday consciousness. His works are full of symbolism and hidden meanings (whole books have been written just to explain the symbolism). For instance the title suggests the solution of duality which obviously is a difficult to grasp esoteric concept. Even some of the easy to comprehend and insightful gems could be understood as just a ploy to attract the reader and in a way saying `there is more, keep digging'. It also appears that the visual content is more than an adornment and more likely to be an integral part of the book, simply because certain thoughts cannot be expressed in words but can still be expressed in images.

This is certainly a book of treasurers, however, some are hidden very deep.

One of Blake's fantastic works, with all of the artwork right there with it. This is the first copy of a William Blake book I ever owned and I still love it to death, as small as it is, and read it again and again.

William Blake is a humorous satirical writer. His Proverbs of Hell is widely favored and I completely understand why it is so. The 70 axioms under the Proverbs of Hell are both humorous and good principals to hold. Many of these axioms are "quotable" and I've found myself quoting one here and there throughout my day.
I highly recommend this book to anyone! It comes with pictures of the original copper plates the book was printed on but also only has the text at the end.
Takes 30 minutes tops to read.

Peter Ackroyd's biography, Blake, renewed my interest in Blake's graphic work. This small copy of Blake' work is intriguing and unintimidating,given that it is short and exquisitely designed from a graphic standpoint. In short, it's accessible. An inexpensive taste test, you might say. I bought two copies just to share with friends.

I have enough background now to think I understand the major controversies facing the English when William Blake wrote this book. I still find some lines shocking. Plate 21 picks on Swedenborg for boasting "that what he writes is new." As Blake pointed out: "he shews the folly of churches and exposes hypocrites, till he imagines that all are religious, & himself the single one that ever broke a net." Social systems that rely on doctrines don't have much staying power in a world in which the future keeps getting snatched away from those with superficial opinions. If this book is frightening for some, it has stood the test of time since 1794 and might last longer than what we think of it.

It's great to read Blake is his own typeset. And the book is essential Blake.

This is a book I needed for a college Humanities class. Amazon and the book sellers on this site are GREAT resources for school books! The service is always so quick, you have the options for paperback editions which are way easier to carry around, and the prices are unbeatable. Thank you for offering so many options and for great pricing and service.