Jerusalem (The Illuminated Books of William Blake, Volume 1)
The publisher and the Blake Trust deserve thanks for making Blake's illuminated books of poetry widely available as they were originally published. These two volumes, to be joined by three others, will reproduce all the illustrated poems. Jerusalem is especially welcome, since no reasonably priced color version has ever been issued previously. Songs of Innocence and Experience has been reprinted inexpensively by others, but the Princeton edition offers an especially fine copy and includes 12 additional plates to show how Blake colored individual volumes differently. Even seasoned Blake scholars will benefit from the introduction and notes, which constantly draw the reader back to the poems for a closer reading. Editor Lincoln's annotations are especially full, explicating text, illustrations, and coloring and showing how much one misses when one encounters Blake in an unilluminated edition. Essential.- Joseph Rosenblum, Univ. of North Carolina at GreensboroCopyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.