The Illuminated Blake: William Blake's Complete Illuminated Works With a Plate-By-Plate Commentary

Rating:
Summary: Tries to describe the pictures, not the words
Review: David W. Erdman has managed to describe the details in Blake's drawings, for William Blake's Complete Illuminated Works with a Plate-by-Plate Commentary, but the text which is the main feature of most of Blake's plates is sometimes faint, and occasionally unclear. Due to the comment in BLAKE AND SWEDENBORG, on the source of its subtitle, Opposition Is True Friendship, about plate 20 of Blake's MARRIAGE OF HEAVEN AND HELL, that:

"beneath this `reptile of the mind,' partially obscured by Blake's thick patina of watercolor pigments in several copies of this hand-painted book, is Blake's final comment on his battle with Swedenborg's angelic alter ego:

Opposition is true Friendship." (Harvey F. Bellin, BLAKE AND SWEDENBORG, p. 38).

The detail which is shown on page 38 of BLAKE AND SWEDENBORG looks more like "Opposition is True !"

Page 117 of Erdman's THE ILLUMINATED BLAKE has a copy of Plate 20, copy I, which hardly even shows the T of True, and a small detail from Copy E with the words "you whose works" just before the last line "are only Analytics," so the little extra squiggle that it provides might be a subliminal comment by Blake on those who think we have the power to explain anything. The drawing of the serpent is ambiguous enough that Erdman's comment, "In I the artist has carelessly colored the angular wave seen through the first loop as though it were part of the serpent's body," (p. 117) might be an indication that Blake intended to show a bit of the tail of the serpent close to the serpent's head, symbolic of logic biting its own tail, or arguments which are circular in nature. As a wave, it looks more like the serpent than the other waves, though the black and white illustrations in both books are not entirely clear, Erdman's book has better shades of gray.

Comparing plates of "The Divine Image," SONGS 18g on page 59 in Erdman's book, with the copy on page 88 of BLAKE AND SWEDENBORG, Erdman's is clearer, but page 88 of BLAKE AND SWEDENBORG also prints the words ("To Mercy, Pity, Peace and Love") alongside the illustration, so it is easier to read. Erdman's attempts to explain the figures make this plate more interesting, mentioning Lazarus? Adam? Eve? and Jacob's ladder.

There is a "Holy Thursday" from Innocence, SONGS 19I on page 60, and a "Holy Thursday" from Experience, SONGS 33I on page 75. The big disappointment is that "The Tyger," SONGS 42I on page 84 is so difficult to read. I thought that I might remember that poem, but hardly well enough to read it in this book.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent book for handy research
Review: I used this book for the illustrations in my thesis on Blake. Although they are not in color, the sharp, black lines of the drawings accentuate a side of Blake that is often overlooked. That being his obstinate adherence to the "True Style of Art. The Art of Invention Not of Imitation." The Art of the "straight & wirey bounding line." All of the illuminated books are included in this volume, with commentary on each plate. This is an excellent book for the burgeoning Blake scholar. In fact, I used this book to make a photocopy of plate 10 from America a Prophecy for the tatoo I had carved on my right arm. I had the tatoo artist add the color from the Princeton editions of the illuminated books, which are the very best copies of Blake available if you can afford them.

Rating:
Summary: The Illuminated Blake
Review: The only possible complaints that one could have with this book are 1)there is no color reproduction and 2)it is a softcover. However these same factors contribute to the wonderfully low price as a hardcover, full-color reproduction would bring it into the price range of the Princeton Blake. I must make a reference to one of the other reviews and say that in contradiction to the reader from Portugal's review this edition DOES contain all the Illuminated works with the exception of the one page work The Laocoon which is not exactly one of the illuminated works. Erdman's commentary is excellent, as is to be expected from one of the three major Blake scholars of the twentieth century. This commentary makes the book a value even if one already owns the Princeton series.