Blake Scholars and Critics: The Texts

REVIEWS BLAKE SCHOLARS AND CRITICS THE TEXTS' The number and general excellence of recent works on William Blake indicate a kind of coming of age of knowledge and criticism of the poet. These works assume that he is a great poet, painter, and prophet without querulous cavilling at the oddness of his designs or the obscurity of his prophecies. The greatness of his words and visual fonus is taken as something to be understood rather than estimated. The printed aids to understanding Blake have increased remarkably in the last few years, and there now exists a clear body of knowledge which makes explicit the nature and extent of his genius. Of greatest importance are the new works dealing with what Blake said, with the establishment and history of his texts, with their designs in the form in which he presented them to the world. Here we have not only excellent facsimiles of For Children: The Gates of Paradise (1793), For the Sexes: The Gates of Paradise (?1818), and Europe (1794), a masterly edition of Blake's Letters, and a popular edition of Blake, but an extraordinarily amhitious attempt to correct the entire text of Blake - masquerading in the guise of a first-class concordance. These works will be the foundation stones of Blake scholarship in the future. For the last sixty years, Sir Geoffrey Keynes has been the fOlls et origo ". The Letters of William Blake. Ed. Geoffrey Keynes. London: Rur.rt Hart-Davis, 1968; William Blake: The Gates of Paradise: For Children, For t e Sexes. Introductory volume by Geoffrey Keynes with Blake's preliminary sketches. 3 vols. London: The Trianon Press for The William Blale at Mr Lahee's tomorrow Morning"; since Blake and Linnell began taking proofs of Job at Mr. Lahee's on 5 March 1825,2 the letter should f,robably be dated March 1825. (3) A third letter, which Sir Geoffrey dates' 1827," says that ''M' Butts is to have a Proof Copy [of JOB] for Three Guineas; this is his own decision, quite in Character." The Job engravings had been copied from designs which Blake had made for Butts, and, in return for Butts's courtesy in allowing them to be copied, Blake and Linnell probably would have given him a "prooF' copy as a gift; his decision to pay for it, but to pay the price of an ordinary copy (£3 3s.) rather than that of a "proof" copy (f,5 5s.), was, as Blake said, "quite in Character." Butts paid his f,3 3s. about 29 April 1826,' so the date of this letter may be about April IB26. (4) A fourth letter, which Blake dates only "Friday," Sir Geoffrey assigns to [Thursday] 25 April 1805, presumably on the basis of the "postmark: 25 April IB05." However, the postmark as I read it is "A'MR' / 25 / 80S," indicating that it was sorted in the London Post Office at outgoing Inland Mail table A on Monday 25 March 1805. The date, therefore, should probably be Friday 22 March 1805. Similarly, a number of locations of works might be given with greater precision. (I) Blake's drawing called "Malevolence," described as "now in the United States" (pp. 20, 28), is owned by Mrs. William F. Tonner? (2) The "Genesis Manuscript" translated from Tasso is not "now in private hands in America" (p. 60, n. I) but in Princeton University Library.' (3) The untraced letter of IS August 1827 from George Richmond to Samuel Palmer about Blake's death is now owned by Mr. Joseph Holland? (4) Blake's letter of I April 1800, which is not traced after 1934, is now on deposit in The British Museum. The extensive provenances given in the "Register of Documents" can be usefully amplified in several areas. (I) Sir Geoffrey does not record that the letters of 12 and 14 September IBOO, 19 October 1801, and 18 [Le., ?14] March 1827 appeared in the Flaxman-Denman sale at Christie's, 25-7 February 1883, lots 287, 290, 28B, 289. (2) Similarly, the letters of 26 November 1800, 26 October 1B03, 4 and 2B May, 9 August, 23 October, 18 December 1804, 22 January, 17 May and...