Reviews (2)

Magnificent book
Beautiful color reproductions plus scholarly dicussion of Blake's technique.I recommend this book for lovers of the work of William Blake

Beautiful and powerful
This book brings the words and images of Blake to brilliant life. The volume is gorgeous, and the colors extremely rich. Having read Blake's poetry in un-illuminated format before, I now am even more appreciative of the value of seeing the work as Blake originally intended.Blake is a marvelous poet and artist, and this collection of his illuminated work is a marvelous book. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Art    2. Art & Art Instruction    3. Blake, William, 1757-1827    4. Design - Book    5. English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh    6. Illumination of books and manu    7. Illumination of books and manuscripts, English    8. Individual Artist    9. Rare Books    10. England    11. Illustration    12. Individual artists    13. Prints & printmaking    14. Works by individual poets: 16th to 18th centuries    15. Works by individual poets: 19th century   

Reviews (2)

"The path of excess leads to the palace of wisdom."
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.

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

Subjects:  1. 1757-1827    2. Art    3. Blake, William,    4. English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh    5. Facsimiles    6. General    7. Illumination of books and manu    8. Illumination of books and manuscripts, English    9. Individual Artist    10. Manuscripts    11. Manuscripts, English    12. Poetry    13. Blake, William    14. England    15. History of art & design styles: c 1800 to c 1900    16. Individual artists    17. Literary Collections / General    18. Prints & printmaking   

Reviews (2)

Hevenly Images
Blake's Illustrations for the Book of Job makes me want to take a Bible study course, just to learn as much as I can about the compelling sketches so beautifully printed on the pages of this eye-catching book.Each lovely oversized page of this book depicts a Scripture episode found the Biblical Book of Job, all of them worth meditating on.I am particularly impressed by the images Blake paints of God, who appears consistently benevolent even in the face of Satan. This book creates fascinating imagery, painted by a man whose life was, apparently, somewhat fixated on this particular subject. Blake painted these images sometime in the early 19th century, but they are still contemporary and memorable.I really love this book for its artistic interest and as a subject for an art history course.

A book that changed my life
I was shown a copy of this book 25 years ago. Blake's art transformed my world. I have been a student of Blake ever since. I still go back to this book often. This book, in a few pages, gave me an entry into Blake's system. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. 1757-1827    2. Art    3. Art & Art Instruction    4. Bible    5. Bible.    6. Blake, William,    7. History - Modern (Late 19th Century to 1945)    8. Illustrations    9. Individual Artist    10. Job    11. O.T    12. O.T.    13. Techniques - Cartooning    14. Themes, motives    15. Art / Fine Arts    16. Blake, William    17. Illustration    18. Prints & printmaking   

Subjects:  1. Art    2. Art & Art Instruction    3. Assemblage Art    4. Individual Artist    5. Video - General    6. Individual artists    7. The Arts: General Issues   

Reviews (2)

Why Blake Matters
This biography concentrates too much on Blake's occupation as an engraver and glosses over his reputation as a poet and visionary. Such a bluntly factual, objective account of Blake seems out of keeping with his spiritual enthusiasm and disdain for the factual (i.e. the physical world). But this book did help me develop an appreciation for Blake. The "Songs of Innocence and of Experience" did not impress me because they seemed to be the epitome of maudlin Christian sentimentality. However, Bentley's biography makes it clear that Blake was not a conventional Christian. I was impressed by the importance Blake placed on the imagination, creativity, and the arts as the true expressions of spirituality and the sublime. I also admire Blake's spirited defense of imagination and the Poetic Genius. Bentley's Generous Act
The scholarship that works through this book is obviously one of love and devotion of many many years. Bentley's sorting out of events in Blake's life is amazingly well researched - it is the first Blake biography that does not have that usual blur of focus that leaves one more mystified than enlightened.Blake's contemporaries, friends, enemies, patrons, etc. are all given voice through their own extant letters, articles . .- this contextualizes him beautifully and clears the field of critical debris that has grown out over the centuries. In fact, it is Bentley's sober critical eye (of fairness) which is so refreshing - his sense of balance is impeccable. Only a lifetime lover of Blake could hit so consistently true tones.But if you're arriving to this book looking for critical scholarship of the work and myth than you're walking through the wrong door. This book is not about the minutae of the work (see Northrop Frye for that) - it assumes already that one is also a lover and "understander" of the work. This book is about the man - written and informed, of course, by the man's work, but is a book about Blake's life - not a treatise on Urthona. Yes, I recommend this book. Walk on in and stroll around. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Biography & Autobiography    2. Biography / Autobiography    3. Biography/Autobiography    4. General    5. Biography: general    6. Christian mysticism    7. England    8. English    9. History / General    10. Individual artists    11. Poetry & poets: 16th to 18th centuries    12. Poetry & poets: 19th century    13. c 1700 to c 1800    14. c 1800 to c 1900   

Reviews (3)

High quality printing and most helpful commentary
This wonderful volume contains what are referred to as Blake's Continental Prophecies.They are: "America", "Europe", and "The Song of Los".The last has two sections called "Africa" and "Asia" and is by far the shortest. Poetic Genius
Blake's work must be read in reproduction. An engraver by trade, Blake revolutionized book production with his "infernal method" of engraved illumination, hand-crafting each book. In the Continental Prophesies, Blake revolutionizes historiography; _America_'s retelling of the American Revolution, for instance, juxtaposes Washington and Paine with Orc and Urizen, fact with myth, to produce something that powerfully transcends the dull round of history. The accompanying illuminations cannot be omitted-- they do not simply illustrate the text, but ILLUMINATE it, supplementing and counter-pointing. And Blake's art is awesome. The Blake Trust's series is superb, conveniently transcribing the handwritten text of the engraved text on the adjacent page, offering important visual variations between versions of the book, and amply providing comprehensive glosses (in seperate sections, both interpretative and contextual) on each plate/page visually and textually. It is expensive to buy the entire series, but one MUST have Blake's illuminations, and Blake is an author for whom one needs all the notes one can get (Blake's allusions are extremely complex, so one must at least recognize them on the most basic level). One cannot say enough about the the visions of Blake presented in these books, but this is too much; you must SEE.

Fantastic, beautiful edition!
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 ratherthan the standard four. The pages are heavy, opaque and have a gorgouslustre indicating very high quality paper. The text of each bookaccompanies the color reproductions in standard typeface with verycompetent commentary to boot.Read more

Subjects:  1. Blake, William, 1757-1827    2. Design - Book    3. English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh    4. Illumination Of Books And Manuscripts    5. Individual Artist    6. Poetry    7. Art / Individual Artist    8. Art and Architecture    9. British Literature    10. English    11. Works by individual poets: 16th to 18th centuries    12. Works by individual poets: 19th century   

Reviews (3)

Beautiful images, great helps for the general reader
These three works in some ways develop the characters Blake used in the three Continental Prophecies.But don't expect any kind of coherent development or to be able to fathom out any kind of understandable timeline.This is Blake after all.Most of this book is helpful introduction, commentary, notes, and supplementary materials.
A must have!
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.

A must have!
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. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Blake, William, 1757-1827    2. Creation    3. Design - Book    4. English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh    5. Fall of man    6. Illumination Of Books And Manuscripts    7. Illumination of books and manuscripts, English    8. Individual Artist    9. Poetry    10. Art / Individual Artist    11. Art and Architecture    12. British Literature    13. Collections & anthologies of various literary forms    14. English    15. Works by individual poets: 19th century   

Reviews (1)

An absolutely beautiful reproduction of these watercolors
This exquisite volume contains the 102 watercolors that Blake had been commissioned to produce to illustrate Dante's "Divine Comedy".He worked on these watercolors for the last three years of his life and died with the project incomplete.Even though these illustrations are in varying degrees of completion, for people like me who love William Blake, each is a vast treasure and a joy to study.Read more

Subjects:  1. Classics    2. England    3. Individual artists    4. Poetry    5. Romanticism    6. Watercolours   

Reviews (4)

Tries to describe the pictures, not the words
David W. Erdman has managed to describe the details in Blake's drawings, for William Blake's Complete Illuminated Works with a Plate-by-Plate Commentary, but the text which is the main feature of most of Blake's plates is sometimes faint, and occasionally unclear.Due to the comment in BLAKE AND SWEDENBORG, on the source of its subtitle, Opposition Is True Friendship, about plate 20 of Blake's MARRIAGE OF HEAVEN AND HELL, that: The Illuminated Blake
The only possible complaints that one could have with this book are 1)there is no color reproduction and 2)it is a softcover.However these same factors contribute to the wonderfully low price as a hardcover,full-color reproduction would bring it into the price range of thePrinceton Blake.I must make a reference to one of the other reviews andsay that in contradiction to the reader from Portugal's review this editionDOES contain all the Illuminated works with the exception of the one pagework The Laocoon which is not exactly one of the illuminated works. Erdman's commentary is excellent, as is to be expected from one of thethree major Blake scholars of the twentieth century. This commentary makesthe book a value even if one already owns the Princeton series.

Excellent book for handy research
I used this book for the illustrations in my thesis on Blake.Although they are not in color, the sharp, black lines of the drawings accentuate a side of Blake that is often overlooked.That being his obstinate adherenceto the "True Style of Art.The Art of Invention Not ofImitation."The Art of the "straight & wirey boundingline."All of the illuminated books are included in this volume, withcommentary on each plate.This is an excellent book for the burgeoningBlake scholar.In fact, I used this book to make a photocopy of plate 10from America a Prophecy for the tatoo I had carved on my right arm.I hadthe tatoo artist add the color from the Princeton editions of theilluminated books, which are the very best copies of Blake available if youcan afford them. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. 1757-1827    2. Blake, William,    3. English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh    4. General    5. Illumination of books and manu    6. Illumination of books and manuscripts, English    7. Poetry    8. Themes, motives    9. Blake, William    10. History of art & design styles: c 1400 to c 1600    11. Individual artists    12. Literary Collections / General    13. Prints & printmaking   

Reviews (1)

An Affordable and Indispensable Volume of Drawings
Published in 1970 this Dover Book DRAWINGS OF WILLIAM BLAKE: 92 PENCIL STUDIES is still available and remains at a very affordable price.Compiled and commented on by Sir Geoffrey Keynes, this resource volume very completely addresses the important pencil drawings Blake made throughout his artistic career.
Read more

Subjects:  1. Art & Art Instruction    2. History - General    3. Techniques - Drawing    4. Art / Fine Arts    5. Drawing & drawings    6. Individual artists    7. Romanticism   

Reviews (1)

From humility, genius.
Dover has done the reading world an enormous favor by keeping books like this available in low-cost editions.Poems like "The Little Black Boy," The Chimney Sweeper," and "The Lamb" are amongthe sweetest, saddest lyrics ever penned by a poet in English.Readingthese poems in an edition that provides facsimile color reproductions ofthe original watercolor plates (painted individually by hand) helps in ourperception of them.These poems were meant to be absorbed visually. Branches, vines and leaves weave through the lines as we read.Of coursechildren can appreciate the sentiment and charm of the poems, but olderreaders will see their sharp social criticism as well, especially whenbalanced against matching poems in Blake's "Songs of Experience." This book has my favorite pastoral lyics in the language.It is apermanent contribution to the spirit of humankind. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. 1757-1827    2. 1757-1827.    3. Art    4. Blake, William,    5. General    6. Illustrations    7. Individual Artist    8. Poetry    9. Printmaking    10. Songs of innocence    11. Literary Collections / General    12. Works by individual poets: 16th to 18th centuries   

Reviews (4)

Lots of helps for the general reader of this difficult lyric
The editors of this great work recognize its difficulties and that it is usually only the domain of specialists.They have filled to volume it commentary, notes, and helps to try and help the general reader to penetrate aspects of this extended poem / lyric / myth.The style is so personal to Blake and so unlike any other writer's style that it is hard for most of us to make sense of what each character means in any instance.A further difficulty is that there really isn't a narrative path or plot or much to help the reader move from one moment to the next.Blake had a view of reality has so multi-layered with each being having simultaneous multiple identities and manifestations that our normal way of viewing reality is quite useless. bet you never knew Milton was a ....!!!
I hate Blake.He and his Zoas and Los can go suck the ample breasts of Albion's emanation Jerusalem.At least Joyce (the only other person I know with this personal mythology splattered out for everyone) had a sense of humor.This guy, though. You don't know these people.
Try as I might, I haven't come up with the blend of radical individualism thwarted by universal awareness which would make this kind of book an intellectual treat for most people.I have read the poems by William Blake (just a few thousand lines, really) that are in this book before, and I even compared the abridged copy of his poems which I've had for years with a complete text from the library to discover what I could about the process of selection.Most of this is still a big mystery to a lot of people, and buying this book was my first attempt to get the whole picture of what a lot of professors might think about a single work, which is printed on plates numbered 1, then 1 to 8, 8*, 9 to 32, 32*, 33 to 46, then a Preface, copy B, plate 2, and even a plate f, followed by variations of the pictures which were on plate 13 and other Supplementary Illustrations.I had some trouble making out words on the colored plates, so the most educational part of the book for me is the printed text with notes from pages 111 to 217.Read more

Subjects:  1. Blake, William, 1757-1827    2. Design - Book    3. English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh    4. Illumination Of Books And Manuscripts    5. Individual Artist    6. Poetry    7. Art / Individual Artist    8. Art and Architecture    9. British Literature    10. English    11. Works by individual poets: 16th to 18th centuries    12. Works by individual poets: 19th century   

Subjects:  1. Architecture in art    2. Art    3. Art & Art Instruction    4. Assemblage Art    5. Blake, Jeremy    6. Digital art    7. Exhibitions    8. General    9. Individual Artist    10. Video art    11. Electronic & video art   

Subjects:  1. Art    2. Artists, Architects, Photographers    3. Biography / Autobiography    4. Individual Artist    5. Art / Individual Artist    6. Individual artists    7. Pop art   

Reviews (3)

Five beautiful works from 1788 - 1793
This beautifully produced volume contains five of Blake's early works in relief etching (his illuminated books from 1788 to 1793 save "The Songs of Innocence" from 1789 - published in volume 2 in this series).They are the early tract like "All Religions Are One" and "There Is No Natural Religion", then the fable of "Thel", the magnificent "Marriage of Heaven and Hell" (one of Blake's most popular works), and the beautiful "Visions of the Daughters of Albion". A must have!
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.

A must have!
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. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Blake, William, 1757-1827    2. Design - Book    3. English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh    4. Illumination Of Books And Manuscripts    5. Individual Artist    6. Poetry    7. Art / Individual Artist    8. Art and Architecture    9. British Literature    10. English    11. Illustration    12. Poetry & poets: 16th to 18th centuries    13. Poetry & poets: 19th century    14. Works by individual poets: 19th century   

Reviews (1)

Empire Is No More!
William Blake's prophetic poems, "America" and "Europe" were both written almost twenty years after the American Revolution began, and about five years or so after the start of the French Revolution in the late 1700's.Both poems exhibit Blake's intense engagement with the socio-political atmosphere of his time.Both address contemporary figures:King George III of England, George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, and so on.Over this layer of response to history, Blake mythologizes the spirits of the age with his own pantheon of fantastic, complicated personalities, like Orc, the fiery spirit of revolution, and his primary opponent, Urizen, the spirit of rationality, order, and law.Read more

Subjects:  1. 1757-1827    2. America, a prophecy    3. Art    4. Blake, William,    5. General    6. Illustrations    7. Photography    8. Printmaking    9. United States    10. Art / Fine Arts    11. Blake, William    12. Europe, a prophecy    13. Illustration & commercial art    14. Individual artists   

Reviews (2)

Illustrations are a Must Have!
The full page colored illustrations included in this set are essential to your understanding of Blake's poetry. These illustrations were engraved by Blake himself to accompany each of his poems, and they really let you see the deeper meaning in much of his poetry. I would recommend these books to anyone who would like to take a deeper look into Blake's mind. Blake meant for his poetry and art to be viewed together, and many collections of Blake's poems these days do not include this thought provoking art.

Essential Blake
This is a GREAT set. I was amazed and well-pleased. Blake is essential for thinkers...and this is just a slight sample of his talent. I'd recommend it for those who love to think and to learn. Very heady--good food!Read more

Subjects:  1. Art    2. Collections, Catalogs, Exhibitions - General    3. English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh    4. General    5. Individual Artist    6. Poetry    7. Literary Collections / General    8. Works by individual poets: 16th to 18th centuries    9. Works by individual poets: 19th century   

Subjects:  1. 1757-1827    2. Anatomy    3. Blake, William,    4. Body, Human, in literature    5. Criticism and interpretation    6. English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh    7. European - General    8. Human figure in art    9. Knowledge    10. Literary Criticism    11. Literature - Classics / Criticism    12. Women Authors    13. English    14. Europe    15. Individual artists    16. Literary Criticism & Collections / Women Authors    17. Literary studies: 19th century    18. Poetry & poets: 19th century    19. c 1800 to c 1900   

Subjects:  1. 1757-1827    2. 1757-1827.    3. Art    4. Art & Art Instruction    5. Blake, William,    6. Criticism    7. Criticism, Textual    8. English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh    9. Illumination of books and manu    10. Illumination of books and manuscripts, English    11. Individual Artist    12. Manuscripts    13. Songs of innocence and of expe    14. Songs of innocence and of experience    15. Art / Individual Artist    16. Art and Architecture    17. British Literature   

Subjects:  1. 1757-1827    2. 18th century    3. 19th century    4. Art    5. Artists    6. Biography    7. Biography / Autobiography    8. Blake, William,,    9. Family    10. General    11. Great Britain    12. Literary    13. Poets, English    14. Sources    15. Biography & Autobiography / Literary    16. Blake, William    17. English    18. History of art & design styles: c 1600 to c 1800    19. History of art & design styles: c 1800 to c 1900    20. Individual artists    21. Poetry & poets: 16th to 18th centuries    22. Poetry & poets: 19th century    23. Reference works    24. c 1700 to c 1800    25. c 1800 to c 1900