Songs of Innocence and of Experience (The Illuminated Books of William Blake, Volume 2) [Hardcover]

William Blake (Author), Andrew Lincoln (Editor)

Book Description

Series: Blake | Publication Date: October 7, 1991

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. In 1949 the William Blake Trust was founded to bring these rare, in some cases unique, works to a wider general audience through the publication of superbly produced facsimiles of each book. By the late 1980's these facsimiles had themselves become rare books. The Trust accordingly resolved to initiate a collected edition that would publish accurate reproductions of all the Illuminated Books to be accompanied by notes and commentaries by leading Blake scholars. Songs of Innocence and of Experience, one of the best known of the books, is now reproduced in paperback for the first time from the King's College, Cambridge copy--sometimes known as "Blake's own copy." The poems have been edited with introduction, notes, commentaries, and bibliography.

Editorial Reviews

Review

It is a very strong light indeed that comes from these quarto volumes. They 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. . . . The greatest contribution of the Princeton facsimiles is that they have made Milton and Jerusalem accessible in the only form Blake ever wished to present them. -- Review

From the Publisher

Imaged from The Lessing J. Rosenwald Collection, Library of Congress --This text refers to the CD-ROM edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 212 pages
• Publisher: Princeton University Press; First Edition edition (October 7, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0691069360
• ISBN-13: 978-0691069364
• Product Dimensions: 12 x 8.5 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,493,058 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Blake's most popular illuminated works in a fine edition, January 28, 2004

By 

Craig Matteson (Saline, MI) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Songs of Innocence and of Experience (The Illuminated Books of William Blake, Volume 2) (Paperback)

These are Blake's most popular and accessible works, by far. The poems combined with the wonderful drawings make powerful and memorable statements that stay in your heart and mind. Several, such as "The Tyger", "The Chimney Sweeper", and "London", are very well known. Each of us has our own personal favorites and love turning to them again and again.

One of issues in buying an edition of these works is that they exist in a variety of colorings, and orders. I would recommend this edition for several reasons. The selection of the King's College Copy is one of the most uniformly delightful or the copies Blake (or his wife) colored. Also, the reproduction is of very high quality. Each plate is on a right hand page with the text in print on the left hand page (in case you have problem reading the plate). Even thought the book is in a large format, the plates are reproduced in their actual size (which is surprisingly modest).

There are also a dozen plates provided from other editions. However, I would recommend that you pick up other editions based on other copies. The variety of schemes Blake used in coloring the plates is quite interesting and, well, illuminating.

The second half of the book is commentary on the 54 plates of this copy. There is an introductory essay and a list of works cited in the commentary.

It really is a beautiful reproduction and a joy to have on my shelf.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must have!, October 10, 2000

By 

Joseph J. Thiebes (Portland, OR United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Songs of Innocence and of Experience (The Illuminated Books of William Blake, Volume 2) (Hardcover)

I recommend that any fan of William Blake buy this volume and the other 5 in the series. The books are beautiful, large, and handsomely bound. Each book is reproduced in full color, using a six-color printing process rather than the standard four. The pages are heavy, opaque and have a gorgous lustre indicating very high quality paper. The text of each book accompanies the color reproductions in standard typeface with very competent commentary to boot.

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars songs of innonence, March 21, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Songs of Innocence and of Experience (The Illuminated Books of William Blake, Volume 2) (Hardcover)

a great book thus symbolic meaning of a child innonece reflects the attitude of a lamb who is humble meek and obebient.