William Blake: The Complete Illuminated Books

Description

In his 'illuminated' books, William Blake combined his handwritten text with his exuberant imagery on pages the like of which had not been seen since the great decorated books of the Middle Ages. To have Blake's great prophetic poems - Jerusalem and Songs of Innocence and of Experience, for example - in cold letterpress bears no comparison to seeing and reading them in Blake's own medium, with his sublime and exhilarating colours. This edition, produced together with The William Blake Trust, contains all the pages of Blake's twenty or so illuminated books reproduced in true size, an appendix with all Blake's text set in type and an introduction by the noted Blake scholar, David Bindman.

David Bindman is emeritus Durning-Lawrence professor of the history of art at University College London and has been a research fellow at the Hutchins Center for African & African American Research at Harvard since 2010. David Bindman is emeritus Durning-Lawrence professor of the history of art at University College London and has been a research fellow at the Hutchins Center for African & African American Research at Harvard since 2010.

'Astonishing ... a magnificent tribute to Blake's genius ... one of the publishing triumphs of recent years' - The Birmingham Post 'Sumptuous facsimiles...glorious coloured pages...like peeping into a furnace of light through a crack in the door' - London Review of Books 'Beautifully reproduces Blake's vibrant images . . . handsome' - Art Newspaper