Songs of Innocence and of Experience

New edition of William Blake's Songs of Innocence and of Experience. £150

https://www.foliosociety.com/row/blake-songs-of-innocence-and-of-experience.html

>1 assemblyman:

Yeah, I saw it. I suppose it's what they might call a fine edition but I must admit I'm struggling to see its niche. The 1992 edition, published at the correct size, seemed just right and I'm not sure what this is meant to add for £150. I'll be keeping mine.

It looks nice but at $225 usd excluding taxes and shipping... I'm all set.

>2 folio_books: I agree. I love Bill Blake but I don't see the point in having such a large format where the images remain the same size as the originals but with huge margins. The small format of the 1992 edition is perfect, and widely available on the secondary market for around £10.

>2 folio_books: same, the older version is classic FS and definitely not requiring an upgrade in my opinion.

>4 cronshaw:

Exactly. Part of the charm of the original is its small size. Making it larger like this makes it a lot less appealing to me. I would have been interested if a new edition in the original size had a particularly good paper and printing quality compared to the older edition, but this enlargement completely kills this edition for me.

I didn't know there was a 1992 edition, so thanks, everyone, for pointing that out!

Also now available from Island Books for £212 for anyone who likes even bigger margins.

>6 SF-72: A bit of an oddity. As you say, if the reproduction of the pages is higher quality that would be a reason for getting this but the oversizing of the pages seems unnecessary. You can have too much white space (although it might appeal to artistic types who want to do their own homages to Blake in the margins).

Since I have the older version, I shall forgo this even though I wouldn't mind reading Patti Smith's intro.

I hate the old one.

I also hate the new one.

>7 Bookworm59: Regularly sold for well under £15 on the secondary market and reviewed here: https://www.librarything.com/topic/322571

I paid £3.99 in my local Oxfam in 2014 for the 1992 edition, sixth printing 2006, in as new condition and I'll be sticking with it!

(I also have the 1990s Blake Trust/Tate Gallery set, with full annotation/explanation, etc., of which 'Songs of Innocence . . .' forms volume 2 - An excellent publication, essential to Blake lovers.)

>10 gmacaree: 🤣🤣

I might be won to this if the older version didn't exist. On the basis of its reception here I'm guessing it will make its way into a future sale, but I don't think even half price would tempt me just to gain the introduction and the margins.

The new edition isn't finding many friends here. I agree the margins look excessive, however that aside, the book looks very nicely presented to me and I prefer the look of it to the 1992 edition (based solely on the link shared above). The clamshell box also looks like an upgrade on the plain slipcase.

>16 Pendrainllwyn:
Well, for £150, they'd have to offer something rather more than the previous edition did. That's steep, even by their standards.

I have only one LE and have the 1992 edition, so won’t be buying this.
However I was interested in the Patti Smith introduction as mentioned by >9 Cat_of_Ulthar:, so did a quick search and find that it is the introduction used by Vintage (in the UK) based upon the quotes on the FS website.

>8 cronshaw: Beautiful.

Not a fan of this.

The margins are what Blake actually used himself, so it’s a better facsimile; the 1992 edition trimmed them down. The pricing is still silly, though. At least it’s a return to more classic FS material.

>21 cwl: I suspected that may be the case, though there also appear to be facsimiles with significantly lesser margins such as this one painstakingly copied from an original in the British Museum, according to the bookseller's description. Perhaps Blake experimented with numerous formats, as he did with colouring. In any case, I quite agree with you about the pricing and Folio's return to more classic literature. Just a shame they chose to offer us a new edition of a work they've already published rather than a completely new work.

>21 cwl:
At least it’s a return to more classic FS material.
I suppose it is 30 years since they first produced the last edition (although it feels more recent than that - maybe because it's been so readily available, and at far less than £150 - still can't quite get over that), but for me it's just another rehash. I'd love to see a return to more 'classic' FS material, but not yet more of the same classic material (although I suppose there are some older classics I'd have loved to see them redo - eg a standard edition of Tristram Shandy).

>21 cwl:

I saw a copy of the original in Tate Britain and it was as small as the older FS facsimile / didn't have huge margins.

I wonder if this new edition will boost demand for the old edition on the secondary market, with prices rising from "around £10" to £25 or more.

I wonder if the new version has higher quality image scans? They look a bit pixelated if you magnify the page a little in the 1992 edition and technology might have prevented a good copy.

>26 pse1: I was wondering the same.
I’ve briefly looked for the sheet size in King’s copy W without success (let’s shoe the Tabs instead ;) ), so I can’t verify the actual margin size. For anyone who says, “But I saw an original in X”, you saw but one copy as each is different and each is trimmed differently. The Tate copy was the basis for the original FS edition, as it clearly states and why the Tate has sold the same FS version under their own imprint for years.

>18 CarltonC: Patti's intro is not new? Well, I think I could stretch to a Vintage pb, heh.

More seriously, I have been checking on the various copies used for the reproductions and the variation therein is clearly contemporaneous, for whatever reasons. So I take back my 'unnecessary' comment while reserving my own preference for the smaller margins.

I didn't find any pixellation of my copy (sixth printing) of the old version, but my magnifier may not be good enough. If anyone is lucky enough to have both copies to compare, it would be nice to hear what they think :-)

I asked FS about the size, and it seems that Blake kept a copy with huge margins for himself, which is the one they based their new edition on. I must admit that this does make it more appealing to me than just a publisher's decision, but I still prefer the smaller size, to be honest.

>25 CJDelDotto: I can give some current feedback on this. I was inspired by this thread to search out a used copy of the 1992 Folio edition from a seller in Wales on AbeBooks. The book purchased on Nov. 9 was £10 ($12.66 USD) and shipping to the US was $17. I received it in just 10 days, which is a minor miracle coming from the UK, and it is beautiful and in like-new condition. Thanks to everyone who posted about it here and sparked my interest in getting my own copy!

https://blakesociety.org/product/folio-society/

"A Glimpse Behind the Scenes with the Folio Society
The making of The Folio Society’s new edition of William Blake’s Songs of Innocence and of Experience.
Illustrator and Blake Society Trustee, Tamsin Rosewell, will be talking to Folio Society Art Director, Raquel Leis Allion, Production Director, Kate Grimwade, and Senior Designer, Charlotte Tate – all of whom have worked on the creation of this new Folio Society edition. Songs of Innocence and of Experience is arguably Blake’s defining work – certainly, it is the work through which many discover Blake first. The Folio Society is itself a treasure of British culture: an employee-owned and independent publisher founded in 1947, which itself has gathered a dedicated following of those who appreciate artisan-quality publishing."

This Wednesday (13th December)

The video is up:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFGppitwJnA

Apparently they will be releasing a Leather "Origins of Species" in January.

>32 PartTimeBookAddict: Thanks for the tip! I was so excited until they said they combined quarter leather binding with hand marbled sides — they're making it look super traditional. This cute little edition tempted me in the store the other day and based on the little description we have, I don't believe I'll like the FS edition more. We'll see though! Something like a beautiful & unique slipcase and originally commissioned artwork (like they did with The Right Stuff) could absolutely change my mind.