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Articles Poetry REVIEW G. E. Bentley, Jr., Blake Books Robert N. Essick Blake/An Illustrated Quarterly, Volume 11, Issue 3, Winter 1977-1978, pp. 178-199 178 REVIEWS G. E. Bentley, Jr. Blake Books. Annotated Catalogues of William Blake's Writings in Illuminated Printing, in Conventional Typography and in Manuscript and Reprints thereof, Reproductions of his Designs, Books with his Engravings, Catalogues, Books he owned, and Scholarly and Critical Works about him. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1977. Pp. XH + 1079. £40 U.K., $88 U.S. Reviewed by Robert N. Essick The first impression is one of sheer overwhelming ranging from Edinburgh to Auckland" (p. 9). Thus size and of the Herculean effort that must have Bentley has no doubt inspected more copies of Blake's gone into this book's production. Have we really writings than anyone else--save for their author. churned out enough Blake criticism since 1964 to He has replaced the "perfunctory descriptions" of increase the enchiridion dimensions of the Bentley Blake's writings in Bentley & Nurmi with "the results & Nurmi Bibliography to over one thousand pages? of work on the originals" (p.11). A final "Post- Not quite. Blake Books is far more than an script" (p. 14) notes that "the body of the text" updating of its predecessor, for it supplies vast includes entries to the end of 1970, but that "most amounts of information in areas not even touched important works published by June 1974" have been upon in its prototype. Most significantly, Bentley either added to the main sequence of entries or has written a new census of the illuminated books. gathered in the fifty-page "Addenda." There may be some initial resistance to replacing the familiar and more elegantly printed pages of the The thirty-six page survey of Blake's Keynes & Wolf Census with this bulky new bibliography. reputation and interpreters takes the same broad, Some may grumble over the format, particularly the long-range perspective provided by the earlier use of densely packed charts, but the amount and version in Bentley & Nurmi. The emphasis is on diversity of material require complex packaging. objective summarizing and pointing out the In the long run, Blake Books will be accepted as the acknowledged high-points, but Bentley sometimes standard bibliography in its field and will remain reveals his own wry evaluations: "In Blake studies, so for many years. at least, there is an unfortunate connection between an inclination to make psychological interpretations When reviewing a work of this magnitude, one and scholarly incompetence" (p. 48). Two points serves little purpose by setting down general need correction. The monochrome facsimile of The evaluations based on a casual overview or the spot Marriage of Heaven and Hell edited by Clark Emery checking of a few entries. The slower and less (Miami, 1963) does not reproduce the Blake Trust showy work of correction and augmentation is far facsimile of copy D (as Bentley states, p. 38 n.3), more important. My intention is to deal with each but the Dent facsimile (1927) of copy I (I warned of the six sections of Blake Books in turn, plunging you I was going to get minute). As far as I as quickly and deeply as possible into those minute understand the genesis of the Blake Newsletter and particulars which form the heart of any bibliography. Blake Studies, it is not in fact true that the latter was established "in imitation" (p. 49) of the former. The founding editors of Blake Studies tell me that "INTRODUCTION" A "BLAKE'S they had already announced their first issue before REPUTATION A INTERPRETERS" they learned of the existence of the Newsletter. Bentley explains the organization and coverage of the volume in the eleven page Introduction. He has 1 Plate 13, "Psyche Repents," in George Cumberland, ''examined every original copy of Blake's works Thoughts On Outline, 1796. Blake after Cumberland. which could be located, in some ninety collections Plate-mark 12.4 X 16.1 cm. Author's Collection. I\OR *WO*6S M/cai FORGO BUT VOID OF CARE AND CRIME THE .SOFT C R t A r i 0 N 51F »T AW A > THEIR TIME Ovu) CtU-rfee ■ PART I 2 Plate 6 in Cumberland, Thoughts On Outline, 1796. Designed and engraved by Cumberland, inscriptions EDITIONS OF BLAKE'S WRITINGS probably engraved by Blake. Plate­mark 11.9 X 22.7 In the most important, and longest, section of his cm. Note the similarity of the letters of the imprint book, Bentley gives us complete bibliographic to those in 111 us. 1 and the left­pointing serif on descriptions of all of Blake's writings, including the g of Design'd. Author's Collection. the letters and those prints bearing inscriptions that are more than just titles. A considerable watermarks plate by plate, leaf sizes (width followed amount of information on the illuminated books, either by height—the reverse of the conventional order in ignored or treated summarily in Keynes & Wolf, is print catalogues), binding history, offsets, original now available, including individual plate sizes, numeration, and stab­hole measurements. Bentley has traced and described a good many copies and fragments of copies not in Keynes & Wolf, and eliminated a few conjectural copies by identifying them with known ones. This last improvement was made possible by more thorough recordings of provenances. Valuable information is also provided on pairs of designs with identical plate­mark dimensions, thus indicating that Blake used both sides of his copperplates in most cases. The printing dates of many copies have been revised in light of a more thorough consideration of the sequence of variants than that provided by Keynes & Wolf. Although this con­ siderably alters the printing sequence, for many titles, and some past assump­ tions about Blake's development as a colorist, the old, familiar letter designations are retained, for which we should all be thankful. Plate numbering is different for many titles since Bentley has numbered all copies continuously, whereas Keynes & Wolf sometimes use roman numerals for front­matter. In the plate numbering 180 of Milton, Bentley and Keynes & Wolf are the same, uncontrollable differences between all impressions, but Erdman's Illuminated Blake uses a different it is important to keep in mind the following five sequence, and Erdman's Poetry & Prose and Keynes' distinct types of variants, listed in descending Writings yet another. For Jerusalem, Bentley, Keynes, order of chalcographic significance: and Keynes & Wolf are all in accord, following copy 1. Changes made in the plate. These have great E; but Erdman follows copies A, C, and F. All this significance since they take conscious effort can cause a good deal of confusion, and we should to execute and have a high degree of permanence. take pains to make clear which System we are using Erasing black lines (i.e., increasing bitten in each case. The best long-term solution will be areas) is easy; adding black lines is difficult, to take Blake Books as the standard. although not impossible. Alterations of this type are the only ones which affect the "state" A similar set of problems confronts us in line of the plate. numbering. The usual practice has been to number 2. Conscious alterations in inking or color each plate individually, but for most illuminated printing the plate. These can take two basic books Bentley numbers the lines in one sequence for forms: (a) Deletion of words or design the whole work, excluding preludia. For "The Song elements by masking (as with the last four of Liberty," the "line" references (for example, in lines on America pi. 4 in copies B-F, H-M, R, Blake Books pp. 290, 297) are not to lines at all, a), by wiping the ink off (as with the plate but to Blake's numbered sentences, all but three of edges in almost all of Blake's eighteenth- which take up more than one line. Happily this century impressions), or by failure to ink clumsy method, requiring one to count through a certain areas. With simple failure to ink whole poem to find one of Bentley's references, is it is sometimes difficult to determine whether suspended for Milton and Jerusalem, and of course the change was purposeful or not. If the area each poem in Songs of Innooenoe and of Experience is completely uninked (not just smudged) and is separately numbered. I suspect that Bentley will is discrete—that is, limited to particular use the same, albeit inconsistent, system in his motifs and words surrounded by well inked forthcoming edition of Blake's writings, and this areas—then the failure to ink probably took should make it easier to look up a line reference in conscious effort, (b) Alterations in inking Blake Books. color, texture, or directional wiping (as in Jerusalem copy F). For each plate, Bentley gives a part-line 3. Conscious addition or elimination of design incipit followed by a brief description of the elements or text with ink or watercolors on design. These should be used only as identifying individual impressions after printing. notes on major design elements; Bentley makes no 4. Pen & ink work or coloring on individual attempt to number every streak on every tulip. impressions after printing which does not Comparisons between Erdman's descriptions in The add new lines not on the copperplate, or Illuminated Blake and Bentley's--a game I will not subtract them, but only underscores or tints play here at any length—show once again that there what is already there. is no such thing as a completely objective 5. Accidental variants in inking or coloring, description of a picture.
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