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.


The Other Blake   January 26, 2005
 6 out of 9 found this review helpful

Sorry, all, I'm not much of a poetry fan. I like "Tyger," "Garden of Love," and a few others, but I can't add to the scholarship on his verse.

I am, however, fascinated by his use of relief etching in creating these pages. It's a rare process even now, and was revealed to Blake in a vision (plus a lot of painstaking experimentation). It's the process by which he shaped each letter, reversed, in the printing plate, plus much of the 'illumination' on each page.

The preface is vague and the reproduced images are hard to read, but Blake printed the lettering and line work on each page, then hand-decorated with watercolors. The preface says that Blake went on to create color printing processes, but what they were or whether they're used here is not explicit. I tend to think not, unless a few pages were printed with one or two more plates to emphasize the dark areas. If these illustrations really are true size, then inking on the plate would have been tedious, imprecise, and would not have given the results seen here.

There's much to say about his illustration. That includes an odd conflict, between figures fully drawn even under clothing and the androgyny or sexlessness of so many, an ambiguity that appears in the poems as well. I'll leave that commentary to others, though. The thing that impresses me about these editions is their artistic intensity. Each individual copy of the book was printed and decorated on demand, for a specific buyer. Blake had full control of every part of the creation, the words, images, and reproduction.

It is a rare mind that can master visual and verbal arts, both, then the craft of creating the book that carries them. Perhaps I miss parts of the presentation, but I very much admire the parts that I understand. Four stars because better reproduction would have served his visual art and craft much better.

//wiredweird


A book filled with childhood innocence & adult experiences.   April 2, 1999
 5 out of 6 found this review helpful

William Blake's Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience are both filled with amazing poetry. In Songs of Innocence, Blake reveals the true innocent and peaceful ways of a person's childhood. One of the most famous poems from this book is "The Lamb." This particular poem tells the story of a young boy asking an innocent lamb,"Who made thee?" "The Lamb" is religious and is very pleasant to read. Songs of Experience is a book filled with deceitful and cruel poems. The book's poems are based on the hardships of the "real" world. "The Tyger" is a famous poem from Songs of Experience. This is a contrary poem to "The Lamb." "The Tyger" also speaks of God the Creator of all things, but the poem has a dark theme and setting unlike "The Lamb." Songs of Innocence and Experience are two enjoyable works to read, and I would recommend them to anyone who enjoys poetry!