1Bibliophile-I
Did the LEC or any of Macy’s other companies put out any copies of William Blake’s work?
2WildcatJF
Yes! There is a book, The Poems of William Blake, released by Cardevon during their run in 1973, which included his artwork alongside his poems. The LEC and Heritage Press also issued John Milton's L'Allergo/Il Penseroso and John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress featuring Blake's artwork. The Heritage Press themselves issued Dante's The Divine Comedy (the LEC had Hans Mardersteig), and Milton's Paradise Lost (the LEC has Carlotta Petrina's art).
3Bibliophile-I
>2 WildcatJF:, thanks. I definitely want to find that book of his poetry. I love Songs of Innocence and Experience. I have a Franklin Library edition of that volume.
4Django6924
>3 Bibliophile-I:
The Limited Editions Club Blake volume is good, but my own choice of Songs of Innocence and Experience is the beautiful facsimile published by the Orion Press (1967) in association with the Trianon Press (Paris). It is the exact size of Blake's original, printed on a special cream-tinted paper (not slick) which matches the original. The texts of the poems are printed letterpress en face, the reproductions of Blake's pages are in 6- and 8- color offset, and are very good, and there is a useful critical apparatus by Blake expert Geoffrey Keynes. I think you should find affordable copies of this as it was not a limited edition. Of course if you have deep enough pockets, the first, limited Trianon Press edition from 1955 is the ultimate collector's edition, bound in full morocco with the colors applied via collotypes and stencils by Beaufumé and Duval. (Blake used collotypes himself for his illuminated books.)
In a similar vein is Blake's astounding The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, in a 1975 facsimile by the Oxford University Press in association with the Trianon Press. It is very well printed, in France, with the the reproductions of Blake's pages in 6- and 8- color offset. No slipcase this time but the paper dust jacket reproduces the original title page. It may be harder to find than Songs of Innocence and Experience, but it should still be affordable. Once again, the ultimate collector's edition is the limited 1960 Trianon Press version, in quarter green morocco with hand-marbled paper sides and the color plates reproduced by the collotype and pochoir processes, printed on Arches pure rag paper.
The Limited Editions Club Blake volume is good, but my own choice of Songs of Innocence and Experience is the beautiful facsimile published by the Orion Press (1967) in association with the Trianon Press (Paris). It is the exact size of Blake's original, printed on a special cream-tinted paper (not slick) which matches the original. The texts of the poems are printed letterpress en face, the reproductions of Blake's pages are in 6- and 8- color offset, and are very good, and there is a useful critical apparatus by Blake expert Geoffrey Keynes. I think you should find affordable copies of this as it was not a limited edition. Of course if you have deep enough pockets, the first, limited Trianon Press edition from 1955 is the ultimate collector's edition, bound in full morocco with the colors applied via collotypes and stencils by Beaufumé and Duval. (Blake used collotypes himself for his illuminated books.)
In a similar vein is Blake's astounding The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, in a 1975 facsimile by the Oxford University Press in association with the Trianon Press. It is very well printed, in France, with the the reproductions of Blake's pages in 6- and 8- color offset. No slipcase this time but the paper dust jacket reproduces the original title page. It may be harder to find than Songs of Innocence and Experience, but it should still be affordable. Once again, the ultimate collector's edition is the limited 1960 Trianon Press version, in quarter green morocco with hand-marbled paper sides and the color plates reproduced by the collotype and pochoir processes, printed on Arches pure rag paper.
6wcarter
The 1992 Folio Society edition is reviewed at https://www.librarything.com/topic/322571
The 2023 FS edition seems to show the same illustrations in the same size but set on a far larger page with a huge amount of white space.
The 2023 FS edition seems to show the same illustrations in the same size but set on a far larger page with a huge amount of white space.
7Django6924
I have several photos from my Orion Press edition on Post Image but don't know how to get them to display here.
See if the link to the gallery works for you; if not I need some advice from those who understand how to add images here:
https://postimg.cc/gallery/xV17gp3V
See if the link to the gallery works for you; if not I need some advice from those who understand how to add images here:
https://postimg.cc/gallery/xV17gp3V
8abysswalker
>7 Django6924: click the share button, then under "Codes for all images:" select "Hotlink for website" and then copy the html it generates for you to your post here.
I like to add width=600 to the img tags for each image to help with sizing, but not critical to basic functionality.
I like to add width=600 to the img tags for each image to help with sizing, but not critical to basic functionality.
10Django6924
>8 abysswalker:
Sure seems easy--when you know how--thanks!!
Hopefully these will give you an idea of the quality of the reproductions. These were made , at the Trianon Press, from a copy in the Library of Congress, which is thought to be one of the best preserved of Blake's originals. The existing copies show rather remarkable differences in the coloring. Compare the version of the plate "The Divine Image" I posted from the Orion, with the reproduction of the same poem in the Yale copy posted on Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Songs_of_Innocence_and_of_Experience#/media/File:S...
I have seen one of the two copies of Songs of Experience in the Huntington Library which is very near my home, but I didn't have my Orion edition to compare, and unless you are a credited Blake scholar, you can only view their copies when they go on public display (likewise for the Ellesmere manuscript of the Canterbury Tales and the manuscript of Bernal Diaz' Conquest of New Spain which formed the basis of the translation used for the LEC edition). From my memory, I would say the plates were very much like the Orion edition, but not identical.
Sure seems easy--when you know how--thanks!!
Hopefully these will give you an idea of the quality of the reproductions. These were made , at the Trianon Press, from a copy in the Library of Congress, which is thought to be one of the best preserved of Blake's originals. The existing copies show rather remarkable differences in the coloring. Compare the version of the plate "The Divine Image" I posted from the Orion, with the reproduction of the same poem in the Yale copy posted on Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Songs_of_Innocence_and_of_Experience#/media/File:S...
I have seen one of the two copies of Songs of Experience in the Huntington Library which is very near my home, but I didn't have my Orion edition to compare, and unless you are a credited Blake scholar, you can only view their copies when they go on public display (likewise for the Ellesmere manuscript of the Canterbury Tales and the manuscript of Bernal Diaz' Conquest of New Spain which formed the basis of the translation used for the LEC edition). From my memory, I would say the plates were very much like the Orion edition, but not identical.
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