BLAKE TRUST 2

The collaboration  between The Blake Trust and Trianon Press began with they undertook to produce a facsimile of the color copy of Jerusalem then owned by Col. William Stirling and now in the collection of the Yale center for British Art.  The project expanded to include creating facsimiles of each of the illuminated books which Blake had water colored by hand. Excluded were the color-printed books: The Song of Los, The Book of Ahania and The Book of Los. Before the project was complete additional facsimiles were made of other Blake works including uncolored images and water color images.

The following list was taken from the catalog of facsimiles of Blake works in the Special Collection of University of Kent library. Absent from the list is the Book of Urizen which was among the original ten books printed by Trianon for the Blake Trust using the method of collotype for printing and for coloring using hand-stenciling.

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There is no natural religion
 Reproductions of Series a (the small vol.) made from copies C and F in the Keynes-Wolf Census, now in the Rosenwald Collection, Library of Congress and from copy G in the Pierpont Morgan Library; reproductions of Series b (the larger vol.) taken from copy L in the Census, now in the Pierpont Morgan Library

Songs of innocence and of experience: shewing the two contrary states of the human soul / the author & printer W. Blake
Facsim. of copy Z, Rosenwald Collection, Library of Congress

The song of Los; Lambeth, printed by W. Blake, 1795
Facsimile of Blake's original, dated 1795, taken from copy B in the Keynes-Wolf Census and now in the Rosenwald Collection, Library of Congress

Jerusalem: the emanation of the giant Albion / printed by W. Blake
Facsimile reprint of the Cunliffe copy of the first 25 plates of Jerusalem and 4 colour proofs in the Kerrison Preston Collection Edition of 558 copies, of which this is no.300

Milton: a poem in 2 books / the author & printer W. Blake
Facsimile of Blake's original, thought to have been printed ca 1815 and now in the Rosenwald Collection of the Library of Congress

William Blake's Laocoon: a last testament: with related works: On Homer's poetry and On Virgil, the ghost of Abel / by Keynes, Geoffrey, 1887-1982

Jerusalem: a facsimile of the illuminated book
Facsimile of the Stirling copy, ca 1820
Preludium by Joseph Wicksteed; Bibliographical statement by Geoffrey Keynes

The gates of Paradise: for children, for the sexes [with] introductory volume by Geoffrey Keynes with Blake's preliminary sketches
Vols. 2-3 are facsims of copies printed ca 1818 & now in the Rosenwald Collection (vol.2) & the Huntington Library (vol.3)

Europe: a prophecy; Lambeth, printed by Will: Blake, 1794
Facsimile made by selecting plates from 2 copies of the original

The book of Los; printed by W. Blake, 1795
Facsimile of the unique copy in the British Museum

All religions are one
Facsimile of Blake's original prints ca 1794, from the Huntington Library

America: [a] prophecy; Lambeth, printed by William Blake in the year 1793
Facsimile of the copy in the collection of Paul Mellon

The book of Ahania; Lambeth, W. Blake, 1795
Facsimile, from the copy in the Rosenwald Collection

llustrations of the Book of Job, in twenty-one plates / invented and engraved by William Blake
Facsimile of plates originally published in 1826

Ilustrations of the Book of Job / invented & engraved by William Blake
A set of the Collins coloured plates acquired from the Trianon press prior to publication.

William Blake's water-colour designs for the Poems of Thomas Gray; introduction and commentary by Geoffrey Keynes
Facsimile of Blake's original designs, thought to have been completed in 1798 and now in the collection of Paul Mellon

The marriage of heaven and hell
Facsimile of a copy in the Rosenwald Collection, being one of 6 copies originally made ca 1794

Visions of the daughters of Albion / printed by Willm Blake, 179311] col. plates, [7]p, facsims. In slipcase
Facsimile of Blake's original, dated 1793, reproduced from copy C in Keynes-Wolf Census and now owned by Lord Cunliffe

The book of Thel; the author & printer Willm Blake, 1789
Facsimile of the copy in the Rosenwald Collection

William Blake's illustrations to the Bible: a catalogue; compiled by Geoffrey Keynes
Clairvaux, Jura, France: Trianon Press for William Blake Trust, 1957
xii, 53p, [8] leaves of col. plates: chiefly ill.; 57cm.

Blake's illustrations of Dante: seven plates, designed and engraved by W. Blake
Facsimile made from the proof set in the collection of Sir Geoffrey Keynes

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The complexity involved in creating books as near as possible to the originals made by Blake a century and a half previously made the task daunting. However, the time, effort and expense has made it possible for some institutions to provide individuals the opportunity to enjoy holding in their hands, feeling the texture, and seeing the color in books like those Blake made. On this website of the Schaffer Library of Union College in Schenectady, New York, we get an appreciation of the value of having access to facsimiles to books that are too rare to be made available to the public.

     

Schaffer Library Collection

The image here depicts a huddled figure next to a scroll which reads, in reverse, "Each Man is in / his Spectre's power / Untill the arrival / of that hour, / When his Humanity / awake / And cast his Spectre / into the Lake"

Original Date: 1804-1820

Facsimile Date: 1974

Publisher: Trianon Press 

 

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