This work by the Trianon Press is a facsimile of a unique copy made by Blake between 1797 and 1798. Its reproduction in three volumes was purchased for Union College by the Friends of the Library.
Although Samuel Palmer’s work had no formal relationship to Blake’s, the Trianon Press elected to publish Palmer’s early sketchbook as a representation of the kinds of artists with whom Blake regularly came into contact. Unlike its Blake facsimiles, for which it tried to make exact copies of original works, Trianon called this a “reproduction” rather than a “facsimile,” because a uniform ink color was used to make the presentation of Palmer’s sketches more readable. Union College holds two copies of this work in different bindings, which were purchased separately by the Friends of the Library and through the library’s annual funds. Not available at the William Blake Archive. Consult the book in Schaffer Library for more information.
This 1874 publication was printed after Blake’s death but from his original copper plates – the last time they were used. They are easily mistaken for an original print from 1825, the date on the title page. The 1874 plates were originally bound together in a single volume, but when the Union College copy was recently conserved, the plates were separated and the glue once used for binding the images together was stabilized on the page.
The 1987 facsimile of Blake’s illustrations of the Book of Job followed the Trianon Press facsimiles that had also been done for the William Blake Trust. This two volume edition not only reproduced the 21 plates and title page that Blake had designed for this work between 1823 and 1826 (with a confusing date of 1825 on the title page), but included related material such as essays, a catalog of states and printings, and commentary on the plates and documentary record by David Bindman. The limited edition of this facsimile was purchased for Union College by the Friends of the Library.
The Trianon Press reproduced the seven engravings that Blake completed for Dante’s Divine Comedy, along with preliminary sketches and other background material, as special project in 1978. The library’s acquisition of this copy in 2016 completed its set of all of the Blake facsimiles produced by the Trianon Press between 1951 and 1987. It was gifted to the library anonymously in honor of James McCord, Union College Professor of English Emeritus.
Blake worked on his designs for this book (composed by Young in the 1740s) between 1795 and 1797. This facsimile edition by the Folio Society, based on the unique copy in the British Museum, was produced in 2005 using digital photography. It was issued with a commentary volume by Robin Hamlyn. This work was purchased for Union College by the Friends of the Library.
This compilation of portraits was a departure for the Trianon Press, which had previously focused on facsimiles of Blake’s illuminated books and designs. But with a text by Blake scholar Geoffrey Keynes, who contributed commentary to the other facsimiles, it continued Trianon’s incomparable record of bringing all aspects of Blake’s work and life to light. This book was purchased for the Union College library by the Friends of the Library. Not available at the William Blake Archive. Consult the book in Schaffer Library for more information.
The title page for The Triumphs of Temper names the artist behind the “new original designs” for the illustrations, Maria Flaxman, as prominently as the poem’s author, William Hayley. Blake’s engravings for these designs caused friction within his circle of friends, but they remain one of the chief interests of this edition. The copy in the Union College library was donated by Hans Rozendaal.
Unlike many of Blake’s other early commissions, for the second edition of this work (which was first published in 1788), he was contracted to submit the designs as well as engrave those selected for the final publication. The six images in the 1791 edition are thus entirely Blake’s. Comparing them to commercial engravings that Blake based on designs by others, it is possible to see very clearly how Blake’s personal style and outlook differed, even when he was doing commercial work. Some of Blake’s designs for Original Stories from Real Life also relate to imagery in his illuminated works, which suggests that he detected rigidity even in the thinking of fellow radicals such as Mary Wollstonecraft. The copy in the Union College library was donated by Hans Rozendaal.
Ritson’s Select Collection of English Songs is divided into three volumes including an introduction, thematic sections, and “airs” or music for the songs. Blake’s engravings for this work were done on commission after designs by Thomas Stothard. The book was published by Joseph Johnson, who was part of a radical circle to which Blake also belonged. Johnson is believed to have published Blake’s first book of poetry, and it was probably he who was responsible for the commission, as he was for many of Blake’s other commissioned work. This book was donated to the library in 1951 by Water C. Baker, Union College Class of 1915. Not available at the William Blake Archive. Consult the book in Schaffer Library for more information.
The Fables were originally published in the 1720s, well before Blake’s lifetime, but they remained popular. Blake, on commission, contributed a number of engravings, based on designs by others, to this 1793 edition. It was donated to the library as part of the Cullen Bequest in 1974. Not available at the William Blake Archive. Consult the book in Schaffer Library for more information.
This study by Geoffrey Keynes, published by the Trianon Press, was intended as a showcase, catalog, and chronology of Blake’s work as well as of the Trianon Press reproductions. It provides commentary and sample plates from Songs of Innocence and of Experience; Visions of the Daughters of Albion; The Marriage of Heaven and Hell; Europe, a Prophecy; America, a Prophecy; The Book of Urizen; Milton; and Jerusalem. Commentary by Keynes, a Blake scholar, was also featured in many of Trianon’s reproductions of individual works by Blake. Union College has a limited edition of this work in the library’s Special Collections, donated by Hans Rozendaal. A commercial edition, published in cooperation with The Orion Press, is also in the library’s collections. Not available in this form at the William Blake Archive; consult the book in the library for more information.
This work has a complex publication history. Songs of Innocence was composed in 1789 and Songs of Experience in 1794, after which the two were often combined, sometimes with an additional, unified title page. The order of poems within the combined publication varies considerably, as does the number of poems selected for it (and for later reproductions). Thus not all of the poems in the series are included in all versions. The coloration also varies from copy to copy.
This particular facsimile of selected poems from Songs of Innocence and of Experience was printed in an edition of 16 copies by Michael Phillips, using a replica of Blake's rolling-press at Oxford University and paper hand-made by W.S. Hodgkinson and Co. around 1927 (the centennial of Blake’s death). The Phillips edition is not colored, but instead is focused on reproducing Blake’s inking and printmaking techniques. Included with the Union College copy are test proofs that Phillips made using various colored inks and strategies; a reproduction of a copper plate used for The Lamb; and other related items. Material like that included in this edition is not available at the William Blake Archive. Consult the book in Schaffer Library for more information. The Union College copy was purchased by the Friends of the Library.
This work has a complex publication history. Songs of Innocence was composed in 1789 and Songs of Experience in 1794, after which the two were often combined, sometimes with an additional, unified title page. The order of poems within the combined publication varies considerably, as does the number of poems selected for it (and for later reproductions). Thus not all of the poems in the series are included in all versions. The coloration also varies from copy to copy.
This particular facsimile of Songs of Innocence and of Experience was produced by Princeton University Press in a series of reproductions of Blake’s illuminated works. It includes transcriptions of the text. It used as its model copy X at King’s College, Cambridge, which, as of early 2018, had not yet been digitized at the William Blake Archive. Copy X is particularly interesting because it was made late in Blake’s career and was still in his possession when he died. Consult the book in Schaffer Library for a detailed view of the material it contains.
This work has a complex publication history. Songs of Innocence was composed in 1789 and Songs of Experience in 1794, after which the two were often combined, sometimes with an additional, unified title page. The order of poems within the combined publication varies considerably, as does the number of poems selected for it (and for later reproductions). Thus not all of the poems in the series are included in all versions. The coloration also varies from copy to copy.
This particular facsimile of Songs of Innocence and of Experience, produced by the Manchester Etching Workshop in an edition of 40 copies, was an attempt to reproduce Blake’s techniques as closely as possible. The Workshop used a more modern chemical method, electrotyping, to create its printing plates, but it employed techniques similar to Blake’s in mixing watercolors, and its staff colored each plate in a free-hand style in direct imitation of Blake’s copy B. Additional uncolored or even uninked pages were included in the Workshop edition to demonstrate the techniques they used. The pages are mounted in a leather-bound and stamped album, housed in a cloth-covered box. The Union College copy was purchased by the Friends of the Library.
Songs of Innocence, composed in 1789, has a complex publication history, especially after Blake began combining it with Songs of Experience five years later. The order of poems within it, and the number selected for publication or reproduction, varies considerably. Thus not all of the poems in the series are included in all versions. The ink used for printing and the watercolors (or lack thereof) also vary from copy to copy. The 1954 version by the Trianon Press was made from copy B. Union College holds two copies of this facsimile, each with a different binding. They were donated by Hans Rozendaal and Walter Tower.
Songs of Innocence, composed in 1789, has a complex publication history, especially after Blake began combining it with Songs of Experience five years later. The order of poems within it, and the number selected for publication or reproduction, varies considerably. Thus not all of the poems in the series are included in all versions. The ink used for printing and the watercolors (or lack thereof) also vary from copy to copy. The 1927 facsimile, made by Joseph Patrick Trumble, Sophia Elizabeth Muir, and William Muir, was a further printing of reproductions that the Muir team had made in the late 19th century from a combination of copies in the British Museum. Its coloring is most similar to copy A of The Songs of Innocence and of Experience held by that institution. The Muirs also did a companion reproduction of Songs of Experience in 1927. That volume is also held by the Union College library.
Songs of Innocence, composed in 1789, has a complex publication history, especially after Blake began combining it with Songs of Experience five years later. The order of poems within it, and the number selected for publication or reproduction, varies considerably. Thus not all of the poems in the series are included in all versions. The ink used for printing and the watercolors (or lack thereof) also vary from copy to copy. The 1926 version by E. Benn was made from a copy in the British Museum. Its coloring is most similar to copy A of The Songs of Innocence and of Experience held by that institution.
Though Laocoon is not an illuminated book, the Trianon Press included its reproduction of this late engraving by Blake in a volume with other miscellaneous pieces in a belief that it was appropriate for them “to be placed in their proper relation to Blake's other works." The Laocoon is a single plate, with notes that are believed to have been added late in Blake’s life, but the Trianon edition includes related material of interest as well.
Union College holds two copies of this compilation from the Trianon Press of works from various stages of Blake’s life. One was purchased by the library on its Rice fund; the other was donated by Hans Rozendaal.
Not available in this form at the William Blake Archive. Consult the book in Schaffer Library for more information.
Blake’s works entered the library’s collections in 1795 at the founding of Union College. Among the first set of books acquired for the College that year was Lavater’s Essays on Physiognomy, which included four engravings by Blake. The five volume set in Special Collections, part of the First Purchase collection, is a replacement for the original copy. Not available at the William Blake Archive. Consult the book in Schaffer Library for more information.
The original work was composed in 1793; this facsimile was made from copy C, dating from the same year. The Union College facsimile from 1959 was donated by Walter Tower.
This work is one of Blake's earliest experiments with illuminated printing. It also presents early versions of some of his figures and ideas, such as the notion of scientific or rational thought as an enclosing, limiting force. Blake gathered this material into what is now considered two distinct series, A and B, begun in 1788 and amended in 1795. He also later (circa 1820) made minor changes to way this work was printed. The Trianon Press facsimile includes plates from both series held in various collections, including copy C (for series A) and copy L (for series B). Union College holds two copies of this work. The first, labeled 1971, was purchased by the Friends of the Library. The second, labeled 1971a, was donated by Hans Rozendaal and is a special edition demonstrating the methodology used by the Trianon Press in creating its facsimiles. It includes collotype states of all the plates with a hand-stencil plate inside the back cover.
This work by Blake was first produced in 1793 with the words “For Children” above the title. Around 1820, Blake revised it and replaced “For Children” with “For the Sexes.” Most of the images were repeated, with some revisions and added text in the later edition. For its facsimile in 1968, the Trianon Press chose to reproduce both versions. For Children was reproduced in volume 2, and For the Sexes was reproduced in volume 3. (Volume 1 contains introductory material by Geoffrey Keynes.) Samples from both volumes are included on this website. Union College holds two copies of this work from the Trianon Press. Copy 1, donated by Hans Rozendaal, is a special edition that includes various states of the facsimile work; a negative of the type used in producing it; and a copper plate that reproduces the style of the title page of Blake’s work but is not a replica of it, and which includes an inscription for the copy in hand (number 27). The library’s copy 2 is a regular edition from Trianon and was purchased with annual funds.