PRINTING HOUSE I

First published June 2011.

Blake described the Printing house in Hell on Plate 15 of Marriage of Heaven and Hell. Going through the five chambers we arrive at the sixth where books are arranged in libraries. This is all for the purpose of transmitting knowledge from generation to generation.

Marriage of Heaven and Hell, Plate 15, (E 39)
"I was in a Printing house in Hell & saw the method in which
knowledge is transmitted from generation to generation.
In the first chamber was a Dragon-Man, clearing away the
rubbish from a caves mouth; within, a number of Dragons were
hollowing the cave,
In the second chamber was a Viper folding round the rock & the
cave, and others adorning it with gold silver and precious stones.
In the third chamber was an Eagle with wings and feathers of air,
he caused the inside of the cave to be infinite, around were
numbers of Eagle like men, who built palaces in the immense cliffs.
In the fourth chamber were Lions of flaming fire raging around
& melting the metals into living fluids.
In the fifth chamber were Unnam'd forms, which cast the metals
into the expanse.
There they were reciev'd by Men who occupied the sixth
chamber, and took the forms of books & were the arranged in libraries."

Marriage of Heaven and Hell

Plate 15

Joseph Viscomi takes us thought the process in which the Blakes engaged while making the illuminated books using the chambers of the Printing House of Hell.


Chamber 1: preparing the plate 

Chamber 2: executing the design 

Chamber 3: etching with acid 

Chamber 4: inking the plate

Chamber 5: printing and coloring 

Chamber 6: prints into books


Viscomi's article is available in the Blake Archive. Enjoy the detailed run through of producing Illuminated Books. (Click on Engraving or any chapter heading.)

Read more in Inquiry into Blake's Method of Color Printing by Robert N. Essick and Joseph Viscomi.

See Blake's methods demonstrated by Michael Phillips. Blake described the Printing House in Hell on Plate 15 of Marriage of Heaven and Hell. 

Read PRINTING HOUSE II for the psychological process.

.