Blake and the idea of the book / Joseph Viscomi.

By: Viscomi, Joseph, 1952-.

Material type: materialTypeLabel

BookPublisher: Princeton, N.J. : Princeton University Press, 1993Description: xxvi, 453 p, 7 p of col. plates : ill(some col.) ; 23 cm. + hbk.ISBN: 069106962X.Subject(s): Blake, William, 1757-1827

| Prints -- Technique

| Illustration of books -- EnglandDDC classification: 769.92 BLA

Holdings
Item type	Current library	Call number	Copy number	Status	Date due	Barcode	Item holds
General Lending	MTU Crawford College of Art and Design Library Lending	769.92 BLA (Browse shelf(Opens below))	1	Available		00062200

Total holds: 0

Browsing MTU Crawford College of Art and Design Library shelves, Shelving location: Lending Close shelf browser (Hides shelf browser)

Previous								Next
Previous	769.92 BLA The engraved designs of William Blake /	769.92 BLA Songs of innocence and of experience /	769.92 BLA The illuminated Blake /	769.92 BLA Blake and the idea of the book /	769.92 BOR Subject(s) : prints and multiples by Jonathan Borofsky, 1982-1991 /	769.92 BOY Camouflage : a collection of prints by Andrew Boyle /	769.92 BRA Georges Braque : engravings and lithographs 1911-1963 /	Next

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

In this highly innovative "history of the book," Joseph Viscomi drastically revises our understanding of William Blake as he explores the technology behind the Illuminated Books. By using facsimiles created in his own studio, Viscomi, an experienced printmaker, offers the most complete explanation of how the illuminated plates were made, how Blake's techniques compared to other eighteenth-century print technologies, and how the plates were printed and the impressions colored. His analysis of these procedures reveals that the Illuminated Books were produced in small editions and not, as is assumed, one copy at a time and by commission. These new facts of production redefine such basic concepts in Blake scholarship as "style," "period," "intention," and "difference," which in turn alter the dates of nearly all copies of all the Illuminated Books and refute current approaches to reading and editing Blake. By placing Blake's modes of production in their historical, technical, and aesthetic context, Viscomi enables us to see how profoundly Blake's metaphors, images, symbols, themes, and analogies are grounded in graphic execution, while exposing a wealth of connections between material processes and larger meanings throughout the works.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

Illustrations
Preface
Abbreviations
Chapter 1 Fair Copies, Models, and Transfers: Printmaking as Paradigm (p. 3)
Chapter 2 The Argument against Transfers in Illuminated Printing (p. 16)
Chapter 3 Illuminated Printing as Composing Process (p. 26)
Chapter 4 Drawing as Paradigm (p. 32)
Chapter 5 Preparing the Copper Plate (p. 47)
Chapter 6 The "Impervious Liquid" (p. 50)
Chapter 7 Writing the Text (p. 57)
Chapter 8 The Illustration and Its Variations (p. 61)
Chapter 9 Etching the Plate (p. 78)
Chapter 10 Ink, Paper, Proof (p. 91)
Chapter 11 Presswork (p. 103)
Chapter 12 Printing (p. 112)
Chapter 13 Color Printing (p. 119)
Chapter 14 Coloring (p. 129)
Chapter 15 Salvaging and Recoloring (p. 143)
Chapter 16 Editions (p. 153)
Chapter 17 Style (p. 158)
Chapter 18 Difference (p. 163)
Chapter 19 Editing (p. 177)
Chapter 20 The First Relief Etchings 1787-1788: The Approach of Doom and Charity, All Religions are One and There is No Natural Religion (p. 187)
Chapter 21 Producing the Tractates: Originals and Copies (p. 198)
Chapter 22 Editing There is No Natural Religion (p. 217)
Chapter 23 The First Illuminated Books 1789-1790 (p. 233)
Chapter 24 Songs of Innocence 1789 (p. 241)
Chapter 25 The Book of Thel 1789-1790 (p. 252)
Chapter 26 The Marriage of Heaven and Hell 1790 (p. 259)
Chapter 27 Illuminated Printing Resumed 1793: Visions of the Daughters of Albion, For Children: The Gates of Paradise, America a Prophecy (p. 262)
Chapter 28 Songs of Experience and the First Combined Songs of Innocence and of Experience 1794 (p. 267)
Chapter 29 New Illuminated Books 1794-1795: Europe a Prophecy, The Book of Urizen, The Song of Los, The Book of Ahania, The Book of Los (p. 276)
Chapter 30 Reprinting Illuminated Books 1795-1796: The Large-Paper Copies, Songs of Innocence and of Experience, The Large Book of Designs and The Small Book of Designs (p. 289)
Chapter 31 Selected Reprintings and a Work in Progress 1796-1811: Innocence, Experience, America, Jerusalem (p. 305)
Chapter 32 The Production and Evolution of Milton 1804-1818 (p. 315)
Chapter 33 The Resumption of Illuminated Printing 1818-1822 (p. 330)
Chapter 34 The Production and Evolution of Jerusalem 1818-1827 (p. 338)
Chapter 35 The Last Illuminated Books 1825-1827 (p. 362)
Conclusion (p. 369)
Appendix (p. 375)
Notes (p. 383)
Works Cited (p. 429)
Index (p. 439)

Reviews provided by Syndetics

CHOICE Review

This perceptive study of Blake's illuminated printing draws on Viscomi's unique accomplishments as both scholar and printmaker. In initial chapters Viscomi essentially recounts efforts to demonstrate Blake's processes by recreating them in a modern workshop with the tools, materials, and techniques then available to Blake. Remaining chapters recount the technical evidence and arguments for dating Blake's individual works from 1787 to 1827. The volume is heavily illustrated, including 312 black-and-white photos of Blake's illuminations and Viscomi's reproductions and technical demonstrations, as well as 13 color plates. Shedding new light on all previous accounts of Blake's printing processes--including G.E. Bentley Jr.'s Blake Records (1969) and its Supplement (1988); David V. Erdman's revised edition of The Complete Poetry and Prose of William Blake (1988); and Robert N. Essick's The Separate Plates of William Blake (CH, Oct'83), among others--Viscomi's work must be regarded as benchmark in Blake scholarship. Graduate; faculty. J. K. Bracken; Ohio State University