Accession number
PML 954, 955
Creator
Blake, William, 1757-1827.
Published
[London : W. Blake, ca. 1795]
Credit line
Purchased with the Toovey collection, 1899.
Notes
This is a mixed set of plates, comprising Copy K, printed by Blake ca. 1795, and Copy "e", chiefly printed posthumously ca. 1832.
Copy K (PML 954) contains 11 leaves of uncolored plates, printed in dark brown, from the Experience section: Keynes numbers K.28-29, 34-36, 38, 40, 42-43, 48-49. They are not proofs but finished plates, bearing numbers in brown ink in Blake's hand. They presumably make up one of the uncolored sets of Songs of Innocence and Experience printed about 1795, from which the Innocence section, now identified as copy O (at Harvard University), was separated as early as 1814, when that portion was acquired by Flaxman.
Copy "e" (PML 955) comprises 53 leaves of hand-colored plates numbered 1-52, 54 from the Innocence and Experience sections. Thirteen of these plates, though part of Copy "e," are identified as being printed by Blake because they bear the same pattern of numbers in Blake's hand: Keynes numbers K30-33, 37, 41, 44-47, 50-52. Apparently they were once pulled out of copy K, perhaps to complete another set. They have been colored by an unknown hand. [Previously, pl. 34 was included in the list of plates printed by Blake, and pl. 52 was not]. The remaining 40 leaves of Copy "e" were printed posthumously, ca. 1832. They are printed in shades of brown or pinkish/red ink with color added in imitation of Songs copy Y (Metropolitan Museum). See Viscomi.
Library's copy "e" (PML 955) wanting plate no. 53 as early as 1921 (Keynes).
All plates disbound sometime between 1921 (Keynes publication) and 1953 (Keynes & Wolf publication).
Copy K (PML 954) contains 11 leaves of uncolored plates, printed in dark brown, from the Experience section: Keynes numbers K.28-29, 34-36, 38, 40, 42-43, 48-49. They are not proofs but finished plates, bearing numbers in brown ink in Blake's hand. They presumably make up one of the uncolored sets of Songs of Innocence and Experience printed about 1795, from which the Innocence section, now identified as copy O (at Harvard University), was separated as early as 1814, when that portion was acquired by Flaxman.
Copy "e" (PML 955) comprises 53 leaves of hand-colored plates numbered 1-52, 54 from the Innocence and Experience sections. Thirteen of these plates, though part of Copy "e," are identified as being printed by Blake because they bear the same pattern of numbers in Blake's hand: Keynes numbers K30-33, 37, 41, 44-47, 50-52. Apparently they were once pulled out of copy K, perhaps to complete another set. They have been colored by an unknown hand. [Previously, pl. 34 was included in the list of plates printed by Blake, and pl. 52 was not]. The remaining 40 leaves of Copy "e" were printed posthumously, ca. 1832. They are printed in shades of brown or pinkish/red ink with color added in imitation of Songs copy Y (Metropolitan Museum). See Viscomi.
Library's copy "e" (PML 955) wanting plate no. 53 as early as 1921 (Keynes).
All plates disbound sometime between 1921 (Keynes publication) and 1953 (Keynes & Wolf publication).
Description
[65] leaves of plates ; (some col.) ; 19 cm
Provenance
Toovey collection; Pierpont Morgan.
Classification
Catalog link
Department