On his death, Blake was mourned by a small but devoted circle of
admirers, but his work received little public recognition over the following
years. His rediscovery in the middle of the 19th century was due to the
Pre-Raphaelites, especially Dante Gabriel Rossetti, and their interest
culminated indirectly in the first full-length biography of Blake (Gilchrist,
1863), subtitled �Pictor ignotus�. To Victorian admirers Blake represented
variously the exemplary Christian life, a devotion to art that foreshadowed
�Art for art�s sake�, a �gothic� sincerity worthy of the Italian Primitives, and
the ideal of the humble artist�craftsman. Behind these conceptions lay the
assumption that Blake stood wholly apart from his age. Throughout the
19th century his prophetic books, except for Songs of Innocence and
Experience, were regarded almost universally as incomprehensible and
irrational, and where his poetry was admired it was entirely apart from its
setting in the illuminated books. During the 20th century there was a
sustained effort, mainly by American literary scholars, to reveal the
intellectual coherence of the prophetic books and to place them at the
centre of his achievement. At the same time, further research into
18th-century Dissenting religion continues to demonstrate that, despite the
unique forms his art took, Blake�s religious and political attitudes were not
alien to the thought of his era.
ILLUMINATED BOOKS
Places and/or dates in quotation marks are those engraved by Blake
on the title-page. High-quality facsimiles of the illuminated books (and
several of Blake�s other works) have been produced by the William
Blake Trust (1949�95).
All Religions Are One; There Is No Natural Religion [2 versions:
series a and b] (1788) [14 sets known, consisting of 8 to 14 pls]
The Book of Thel (�1789�) [17 copies known]
Songs of Innocence (�1789�) [21 copies known]
America: A Prophecy (�Lambeth 1793�) [13 copies known, plus 1
untraced and 3 posth. printed]
The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (�1793 � Lambeth�) [9 complete
copies known]
Visions of the Daughters of Albion (�1793�) [15 complete copies
known]
The [First] Book of Urizen (�Lambeth 1794�) [7 copies known]
Europe: A Prophecy (�Lambeth 1794�) [12 copies known, 10 without
the prefatory poem]
Songs of Innocence and Experience: Shewing the Two Contrary
States of the Human Soul (�Lambeth 1794�) [28 copies known]
The Book of Ahania (�Lambeth 1795�) [1 complete copy known:
Washington, DC, N.G.A.]
The Book of Los (�Lambeth 1795�) [1 complete copy known: London,
BM]
The Song of Los (�Lambeth 1795�) [5 copies known]
Jerusalem: The Emanation of the Giant Albion (�1804�) [5 complete
copies known; also 3 posth. printed]
Milton: A Poem in 2 Books (�1804�) [4 copies known]
WRITINGS
Notebook (London, BL); facs. ed. D. V. Erdman (Oxford, 1973, rev.
2/1977)
A Descriptive Catalogue of Pictures, Poetical and Historical
Inventions by William Blake (London, 1809)
G. Keynes, ed.: The Letters of William Blake (London, 1956, rev.
Oxford, 3/1980)
��: The Complete Writings of William Blake (Oxford, 1957, rev.
2/1966)
D. V. Erdman, ed.: Poetry and Prose of William Blake (Garden City,
NY, 1965, rev. 2/1982 as The Complete Poetry and Prose of William
Blake)
T. Bindman, ed.: Blake�s Illuminated Books (London, 1995)
BIBLIOGRAPHY
monographs
A. Gilchrist: Life of William Blake: �Pictor ignotus�, 2 vols (London,
1863); ed. R. Todd (London, 1942, rev. 2/1945)
S. Foster Damon: Blake: His Philosophy and Symbols (Boston, 1924,
rev. London, 1969)
N. Frye: Fearful Symmetry: A Study of William Blake (Princeton, 1947,
R 4/1969)
G. L. Keynes, ed.: Blake Studies: Essays on his Life and Work
(Oxford, 1949, rev. 1971)
D. V. Erdman: Blake: Prophet against Empire (Princeton, 1954, rev.
3/1977)
A. Blunt: The Art of William Blake (Oxford, 1959)
S. Foster Damon: A Blake Dictionary (Providence, 1965/R 1973)
M. D. Paley: Energy and the Imagination (Oxford, 1970)
D. Bindman: Blake as an Artist (Oxford, 1977)
W. J. T. Mitchell: Blake�s Composite Art (Princeton, 1978)
collections and catalogues
G. Keynes and E. Wolf: William Blake�s Illuminated Books: A Census
(New York, 1953)
H. D. Willard: William Blake: Water-color Drawings, Boston, Mus.
F.A. cat. (Boston, 1957)
G. E. Bentley jr: Blake Records (Oxford, 1969)
D. Bindman, ed.: William Blake: Catalogue of the Collection in the
Fitzwilliam Museum (Cambridge, 1970)
M. Butlin: William Blake: A Complete Catalogue of Works in the
Tate Gallery (London, 1971)
R. Easson and R. N. Essick: William Blake: Book Illustrator (Normal,
IL, 1972)
D. V. Erdman: The Illuminated Blake (Oxford, 1974, 3/1978)
William Blake (exh. cat., ed. W. Hofmann; Hamburg, Ksthalle, 1975)
G. E. Bentley jr: Blake Books (Oxford, 1977)
D. Bindman: The Complete Graphic Works of William Blake (London
and New York, 1978)
William Blake (exh. cat. by M. Butlin, London, Tate, 1978)
M. Butlin: The Paintings and Drawings of William Blake, 2 vols
(London, 1981)
William Blake: His Art and Times (exh. cat. by D. Bindman, New
Haven, Yale Cent. Brit. A.; Toronto, A.G. Ont.; 1982�3)
R. N. Essick: The Separate Plates of William Blake (Princeton, 1983)
��: The Works of William Blake in the Huntington Collections
(San Marino, 1985)
specialist studies
J. H. Wicksteed: Blake�s Vision of the Book of Job, with
Reproductions of the Illustrations: A Study (London, 1910, rev.
2/1924)
A. S. Roe: Blake�s Illustrations to the �Divine Comedy� (Princeton,
1953)
G. E. Bentley jr: William Blake: Vala or the Four Zoas (Oxford, 1963)
Blake Newsletter (1967�77); cont. as Blake: An Illustrated Quarterly
(1978�)
Blake Studies (1968�)
I. Tayler: Blake�s Illustrations to the Poems of Gray (Princeton, 1971)
B. Lindberg: William Blake�s Illustrations to the Book of Job (Abo,
NM, 1973)
P. Dunbar: Blake�s Illustrations to the Poetry of Milton (Oxford, 1980)
D. V. Erdman and others: Blake�s Designs for Edward Young�s �Night
Thoughts� (Oxford, 1980)
R. N. Essick: William Blake: Printmaker (Princeton, 1980)
M. Eaves: William Blake�s Theory of Art (Princeton, 1982)
R. Essick and M. D. Paley: Robert Blair�s �The Grave� Illustrated by
William Blake (London, 1982)
D. Bindman, ed.: William Blake: Illustrations of the Book of Job and
Colour Versions of Blake�s Book of Job Designs (London, 1987)
J. Viscomi: Blake and the Idea of the Book (Princeton, 1993)
http://www.iath.virginia.edu/blake