Per All Religions are One,illbk,c. 1788,1788.A,aro.a.p1.100.jpg,aro.a,aro,"
Through aphoristic declarations and accompanying emblem-like designs, Blake argues for the essential unity of all religions as expressions of the ""Poetic Genius"" within all human beings. As the quoted phrase suggests, All Religions are One implies the unity of the artistic and religious imagination. Several of the numbered ""Principle[s],"" the term used as a heading to each text plate, assert a causal connection between inner spirit and outer body. Because of shared graphic styles, themes, and genre, All Religions are One is closely associated with There is No Natural Religion of the same year.
Blake etched the work on ten small plates c. 1788. There is only one known copy (A), now in the Henry E. Huntington Library and Art Gallery. This copy, lacking the title page now in the Keynes Collection, Fitzwilliam Museum, was printed (with some touches of rudimentary color printing) as a large-paper copy in 1795. Some years later, probably in 1818 or later, Blake returned to these impressions and drew between four and six framing lines in black ink around each plate. The pen and ink work in the designs may have been executed at this same late date. There is one further example of the title page, produced in a different printing and with hand coloring, in the Victoria and Albert Museum.
",aro.info.xml,0,,0, There is No Natural Religion,illbk,c. 1788,1788.B,nnr.c.p2.100.jpg,"nnr.c,nnr.b,nnr.l,nnr.g,nnr.a,nnr.d,nnr.m",nnr,"Blake divided this series of aphoristic declarations and accompanying emblem-like designs into two groups of numbered propositions, designated by modern editors as ""series a"" and ""series b."" In the first, Blake states basic principles, derived from the philosophy of John Locke and his followers, about physical perception, reason, and the limits of knowledge. The second series redefines and confutes the first and argues for the infinitude of spiritual perceptions. Shared graphic styles, themes, and genre closely associate There is No Natural Religion withAll Religions are One.
Blake etched the work in relief on twenty small plates c. 1788.A few designs show touches of white-line work. Impressions of only nineteen plates are now extant; no impression is known from the plate that presumably bore proposition ""III"" in series b. Only two printings are known. The first, c. 1794, is an abridgment consisting of twelve plates (a1-9; b3, 4, 12). These show rudimentary color printing and hand tinting on some plates. This printing is represented by Copies A-D, G, and M, although later extractions and additions in some of these copies have obscured Blake's intentions for his abridgment, in which the Lockean principles of series a are directly refuted by the three plates from series b. The second printing (1795) contains ten plates from series b (b1, 3, 4, 6, 7-12) plus the title page from series a(a2). Only a single large-paper copy (L), printed as a companion to the large-paper copy (A) of All Religions are One, plus a few loose pulls, are known from this printing. It too shows rudimentary color printing. At a much later date, probably no earlier than 1818, Blake added pen and ink framing lines to Copy L.
",nnr.info.xml,0,,0, Tiriel,ms,1789,1789,bb203.1.2.ms.100.jpg,bb203.1,bb203,"Tiriel (c. 1789) comprises a manuscript of fifteen pages of eight numbered sections plus three sketches and twelve known finished drawings (three untraced since 1863). Most of the drawings are more or less clearly related to passages in the manuscript. Originally, Blake may have planned to engrave the writing and the illustrations or a selection of them and assemble the two in a set sequence—with or without a publisher. Alternatively, he may have envisioned a typographic work with engraved illustrations. But he never saw the project through to completion, and the materials are now dispersed.
Tiriel is a harshly ironic family tragedy with strong, suggestive, but elusive mythical and allegorical overtones reinforced by Blake's first use of the verse paragraphs and heroic fourteeners—fourteen-syllable lines with six or seven stresses—that he would employ for the roughly contemporary Book of Thel (1789) and other illuminated works: ""Over the weary hills the blind man took his lonely way"" until at last ""He ceast outstretchd at Har & Hevas feet in awful death"" (object 8, line 2, and object 16, line 7).
The eight-part narrative, though obscure in meaning, is simple in outline. It begins at the gates of a palace with the death of Myratana, wife of the old, blind, tyrannical king Tiriel—the two are monarchs of ""the west"" (object 15, line 5)—and ends with the death of Tiriel himself in the ""vales of Har"" (and Heva, his parents) (object 4, line 5) after a journey that brings him inevitably into conflict with his parents, brothers, and children. There are strong echoes of the Bible, Greek drama, and Shakespeare's King Lear. A passage of rhetorical questions near the end, perhaps added later—""Why is one law given to the lion and the patient Ox . . ."" (object 15, lines 11ff.)—resembles passages in other of Blake's works of the period 1789-93, including The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, The French Revolution, The Book of Thel, Visions of the Daughters of Albion, and America a Prophecy.
",bb203.info.xml,0,,0, -Songs of Innocence,illbk,1789,1789.A,s-inn.l.p2-3.100.jpg,"s-inn.d,s-inn.l,s-inn.o,s-inn.q,s-inn.s,s-inn.u,s-inn.g,s-inn.b,s-inn.i,s-inn.x,s-inn.z,s-inn.e,s-inn.f,s-inn.k",s-inn,"This lyric anthology evokes a predominantly pastoral world prior to the dualisms of adult consciousness. Human, natural, and divine states of being have yet to be separated. The child is the chief representative of this condition; other recurrent figures, such as the shepherd and lamb, point ultimately to the figure of Christ as the incarnation of the unity of innocence. In a few poems, the rhetoric, irony, and divided consciousness of experience begin to insinuate themselves into the landscape of innocence. In 1794, Blake combined Innocence with its contrary companion, the Songs of Experience, to create the combined Songs of Innocence and of Experience.
Blake etched the Songs of Innocence in relief, with white-line work in some designs, on thirty-one plates in 1789, the date on the title page. The first printing, also of 1789, produced seventeen (or possibly eighteen) copies: U, W, and possibly untraced Copy V were printed in black ink on 31 leaves; I, J, X, and ""Innocence"" of Songs of Innocence and of Experience Copy F were printed in green ink on both sides of the leaves; A-H, K-M, Z were printed in the same style in yellow ochre or raw sienna ink. In addition, the ""Innocence"" section of what would later become Songs of Innocence and of Experience Copies B-E were printed in this first session. The first copies, printed in black ink on one side of the leaves, were uncolored, appearing more like a book of prints than a book of poems; all the subsequent copies were colored and, with images on both sides of the leaves, had facing pages characteristic of books, though the light imprint, wiped plate borders, and simple washes made these copies appear like ""printed manuscripts.""
After 1794, the printing history of Innocence becomes complex because Blake began printing it with Experience to form copies of the combined Songs while continuing also to issue Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience separately. Complicating matters further are the facts that some separately issued copies of Innocence were combined with Experience by collectors and dealers, and that copies of Innocence now separate were once part of copies of the combined Songs.
In 1795, Blake printed both sections of Songs of Innocence and of Experience Copies A and R. In a separate print-run of the same year, he printed eight sets of Innocence and nine sets of Experience impressions to form Innocence Copy N, the ""Innocence"" section of combined Songs Copy J, the ""Experience"" section of combined Songs Copies J, O, and S, and both sections of combined Songs I, L, M, and BB. The ""Innocence"" section of combined Songs Copy O was once joined with the ""Experience"" section of combined Songs Copy K. In c. 1802, Blake printed three copies of Songs of Innocence (O, R and Y printed as a single copy and later divided into incomplete copies, and the ""Innocence"" section of combined Songs Copy P), along with two copies of Experience (the ""Experience"" sections of Songs of Innocence and of Experience Copies P and Q). In c. 1804, he printed another three copies of Songs of Innocence (P, Q, and the ""Innocence"" section of combined Songs Copy Q); in c. 1811 he printed two more copies (Innocence Copy S and the ""Innocence"" section of combined Songs Copy S). This was the last time Blake printed Songs of Innocence separately. Songs of Innocence Copy T is posthumous, with hand coloring in imitation of Copy B. No two copies of Songs of Innocence share the same arrangement of the plates.
Between 1818 and 1827, Blake always printed Innocence and Experience as parts of the combined Songs. In seven of the eight copies produced, the plate order remained the same (see Songs of Innocence and of Experience).
",s-inn.info.xml,0,,0,"s-inn.e,s-inn.f,s-inn.k" +Songs of Innocence,illbk,1789,1789.A,s-inn.l.p2-3.100.jpg,"s-inn.d,s-inn.l,s-inn.o,s-inn.q,s-inn.s,s-inn.u,s-inn.g,s-inn.b,s-inn.i,s-inn.x,s-inn.z,s-inn.e,s-inn.f,s-inn.k",s-inn,"This lyric anthology evokes a predominantly pastoral world prior to the dualisms of adult consciousness. Human, natural, and divine states of being have yet to be separated. The child is the chief representative of this condition; other recurrent figures, such as the shepherd and lamb, point ultimately to the figure of Christ as the incarnation of the unity of innocence. In a few poems, the rhetoric, irony, and divided consciousness of experience begin to insinuate themselves into the landscape of innocence. In 1794, Blake combined Innocence with its contrary companion, the Songs of Experience, to create the combined Songs of Innocence and of Experience.
Blake etched the Songs of Innocence in relief, with white-line work in some designs, on thirty-one plates in 1789, the date on the title page. The first printing, also of 1789, produced seventeen (or possibly eighteen) copies: U, W, and possibly untraced Copy V were printed in black ink on 31 leaves; I, J, X, and ""Innocence"" of Songs of Innocence and of Experience Copy F were printed in green ink on both sides of the leaves; A-H, K-M, Z were printed in the same style in yellow ochre or raw sienna ink. In addition, the ""Innocence"" section of what would later become Songs of Innocence and of Experience Copies B-E were printed in this first session. The first copies, printed in black ink on one side of the leaves, were uncolored, appearing more like a book of prints than a book of poems; all the subsequent copies were colored and, with images on both sides of the leaves, had facing pages characteristic of books, though the light imprint, wiped plate borders, and simple washes made these copies appear like ""printed manuscripts.""
After 1794, the printing history of Innocence becomes complex because Blake began printing it with Experience to form copies of the combined Songs while continuing also to issue Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience separately. Complicating matters further are the facts that some separately issued copies of Innocence were combined with Experience by collectors and dealers, and that copies of Innocence now separate were once part of copies of the combined Songs.
In 1795, Blake printed both sections of Songs of Innocence and of Experience Copies A and R. In a separate print-run of the same year, he printed eight sets of Innocence and nine sets of Experience impressions to form Innocence Copy N, the ""Innocence"" section of combined Songs Copy J, the ""Experience"" section of combined Songs Copies J, O, and S, and both sections of combined Songs I, L, M, and BB. The ""Innocence"" section of combined Songs Copy O was once joined with the ""Experience"" section of combined Songs Copy K. In c. 1802, Blake printed three copies of Songs of Innocence (O, R and Y printed as a single copy and later divided into incomplete copies, and the ""Innocence"" section of combined Songs Copy P), along with two copies of Experience (the ""Experience"" sections of Songs of Innocence and of Experience Copies P and Q). In c. 1804, he printed another three copies of Songs of Innocence (P, Q, and the ""Innocence"" section of combined Songs Copy Q); in c. 1811 he printed two more copies (Innocence Copy S and the ""Innocence"" section of combined Songs Copy S). This was the last time Blake printed Songs of Innocence separately. Songs of Innocence Copy T is posthumous, with hand coloring in imitation of Copy B. No two copies of Songs of Innocence share the same arrangement of the plates.
Between 1818 and 1827, Blake always printed Innocence and Experience as parts of the combined Songs. In seven of the eight copies produced, the plate order remained the same (see Songs of Innocence and of Experience).
",s-inn.info.xml,0,,0, Songs of Innocence and of Experience,illbk,"1789, 1794",1789.B,songsie.b.p1.100.jpg,"songsie.r,songsie.v,songsie.t,songsie.z,songsie.y,songsie.c,songsie.b,songsie.a,songsie.f,songsie.e,songsie.aa,songsie.n,songsie.l,songsie.u,songsie.w",songsie,"A complete copy of Songs of Innocence and of Experience contains fifty-four plates etched in relief with touches of white-line work in a few designs. Plate a (a tailpiece probably etched in the late 1780s) appears only in Copies B-D of the combined Songs; Plate b (""A Divine Image"") appears only in Copy BB of the combined Songs among those printed by Blake. Blake moved Plates 34-36 to Experience in 1794 and Plates 53 and 54 to Experience in 1818.
The printing history of the combined Songs is complicated because Blake printed it while also continuing to print Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience separately, and because some copies of the combined Songs were assembled by collectors or dealers from copies of Innocence and Experience separately issued, while other copies now consist of only one section. The separately issued copies of Innocence are listed under Songs of Innocence, while the few separate and separately issued copies of Experience are listed below. Experience was first printed while it was still a work in progress; seventeen of the plates were color printed in c. 1794 and now make up Songs Copies F, G, H, and T1-2. The first copies of the combined Songs were B, C, and D, formed in 1794 from copies of Innocence printed in 1789 and copies of the complete Experience printed in 1794. Combined Songs Copy E also consists mostly of impressions from these print runs, but appears to have been assembled or at least recolored c. 1806 for Blake's patron Thomas Butts.
The first copies of the combined Songs in which the two sections were printed together were A and R in 1795. That same year, Blake printed eight sets of Innocence and nine sets of Experience impressions to form Innocence Copy N, the ""Innocence"" section of combined Songs Copy J, the ""Experience"" sections of combined Songs Copies J, O, and S, and both sections of combined Songs Copies I, L, M, and BB. ""Innocence"" of combined Songs Copy O was once joined with ""Experience"" of combined Songs Copy K, and untraced Innocence Copy W was probably once combined with ""Experience"" of combined Songs Copy N. In c. 1802, Blake printed three copies of Innocence (O, R and Y printed as a single copy and later divided into two incomplete copies, and the ""Innocence"" section of combined Songs Copy P), along with two copies of Experience (the ""Experience"" sections of combined Songs Copies P and Q). In c. 1804, he printed another three copies of Innocence (P, Q, and the ""Innocence"" section of combined Songs Copy Q); in c. 1811 he printed two more copies (Innocence Copy S and the ""Innocence"" section of combined Songs Copy S).
Between 1818 and 1827, Innocence and Experience were always printed as part of the combined Songs. In c. 1818, Blake printed combined Songs Copies T2 and U; in c. 1821, Copy V; in 1825, Copies W and Y; in 1826, Copies Z and AA; and in 1827, Copy X. In all but Copy V, the plate order is the same, though Copy T2 has had Plate 49 repositioned and a few Innocence poems replaced with earlier impressions. The plate order in these last copies and in ""Innocence"" of combined Songs Copy S (c. 1811) follows, with minor variations, the plate order of combined Songs Copy R, which was Blake's personal copy until he sold it to John Linnell in 1819. The coloring of combined Songs Copies K and M is posthumous.
",songsie.info.xml,0,,0, The Book of Thel,illbk,1789,1789.C,thel.b.p2.100.jpg,"thel.r,thel.g,thel.f,thel.d,thel.b,thel.o,thel.n,thel.l,thel.j,thel.i,thel.h,thel.c,thel.e,thel.k,thel.a-proof,thel.m",thel,"The Book of Thel is Blake's first illuminated book written in lines of fourteen syllables, a measure used in most of his subsequent books. Thel, a virgin shepherdess burdened by her sense of mortality, seeks meaning for her life by talking with several creatures—a lily, cloud, worm, and clod of clay. These speaking symbols of life's transience are satisfied with their lot because all believe themselves to be part of natural cycles related through self-sacrifice to a higher purpose. On the final plate, Thel comes to her grave and hears her own unanswered questions redolent with fears of both death and sexuality. This voice, and Thel's flight from it, indicate either her failure to accept the harsh facts of life or the failure of her interlocutors' philosophy to satisfy the human desire for transcendental truths.
Blake etched The Book of Thel in relief, with a few touches of white-line work, on eight plates in 1789, the date on the title page, and 1790. Plate 1, ""Thel's Motto,"" and Plate 8, the final plate, which may be a substitute for an earlier version of the poem (although there is no evidence that any such early version was etched), appear to have been etched later than Plates 2-7.Their lettering style is present in The Marriage of Heaven and Hell but not in Thel's other plates. Both plates are missing from the first copy of Thel printed, proof Copy a (black ink, Plates 2-5, 7 only, with Plate 6 and a duplicate Plate 2 in the San Francisco Public Library). This first printing of the finished work can be divided into five issues according to ink color: Copies H-L (green), B, E, M (raw sienna), A, D, R (orange-yellow ochre), C (raw umber), and G (blue). Untraced Copies P and Q may also be from this printing; but, given gaps in the relevant provenances, they might also be the same as Copies G and H. Large-paper Copy F, with rudimentary color printing, was produced in 1795; Copies N and O can be dated to c.1818. A pencil drawing in the British Museum shows alternative versions of Plates 6 and 7.
",thel.info.xml,0,,0, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell,illbk,1790,1789.D,mhh.b.p1.100.jpg,"mhh.f,mhh.g,mhh.d,mhh.e,mhh.b,mhh.c,mhh.l,mhh.m,mhh.k,mhh.h,mhh.i,mhh.a",mhh,"Even within the context of Blake's canon, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell stands out for its combination of genres (e.g., poetry and prose, Menippean satire and cultural history) and its heterodox perspectives. Through the voice of the ""Devil,"" Blake parodies and attacks the theology of Emanuel Swedenborg, the cosmology and ethics of Milton's Paradise Lost, and biblical history and morality as constructed by the ""Angels"" of the established church and state. Energy and passion are positively valorized; reason and temperance are characterized as restraints on spiritual insight and self-expression. The concluding three plates (25-27), ""A Song of Liberty,"" announce the coming revolution.
Blake etched in relief, with a few touches of white-line work, the twenty-seven plates of The Marriage in 1790. The printing of the same year included three copies in black ink (K, Plates 21-24 only, and Copies L and M, Plates 25-27 only). The complete copies from the first printing are A-C, H. Copies E and F were printed in 1794; large-paper Copy D was produced in 1795. Only two later Copies are known: G (c. 1818) and I (1827). Copies K, L, and M may have been printed as separate pamphlets. Copy G has a variant arrangement of the plates: 1-11, 15, 14, 12-13, 16-27.
",mhh.info.xml,0,,0,