Saturday, October 5, 2013

Europe ii Title Page


Rosenwald LC
Title Page
Of these two images which do you find most clear?

Commons Wikipedia
Plate ii Title page

At the bottom of the picture Blake has put:
Lambeth
Printed by Will: Blake: 1794
There's no other text.

About the Image

The item of most interest of course is the snake
Erdman Illuminated p.157:
Note how the tail leaves the image and comes back below the signature.
Erdman refers us to his book, Blake Prophet Against Empire, Chapters 9 and 12.

The Blake Archive has 7 copies of this Plate:
Copy B in Glasgow University Library shows two mountains in the lower part of the Plate.
The higher one may be in the sun, the lower one in shade.
The serpent's tail comes back in below the inscription.

Copy D in the British Museum is much the same.

Notice the crest at the top of the serpent's head, the long, protruding tongue is forked.
The serpent is Orc  a positive figure, the embodiment of rebellion, and stands opposed to Urizen, the embodiment of tradition (from wikipedia).


Here are the known copies:
All Known Copies (from Blake Archive
  • opy a (proofs), 1794
    British Museum, Dept. of Prints and Drawings
    London
  • Copy C, 1794
    Houghton Library
    Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts
  • Copy D, 1794
    British Museum, Dept. of Prints and Drawings
    London
  • Copy E, 1794
    Rosenwald Collection, Library of Congress
    Washington D.C.
  • Copy F, 1794
    Berg Collection, New York Public Library
    New York City
  • Copy A, 1795
    Yale Center for British Art
    Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut
  • Copy H, 1795
    Houghton Library
    Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts
  • Copy I, c. 1832
    Auckland Public Library
    Auckland, New Zealand
  • Copy L, c. 1832
    Huntington Library and Art Gallery
    San Marino, California
  • Copy M, c. 1832
    Fitzwilliam Museum
    Cambridge, England

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