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 B, 1794
  Glasgow University Library
  Glasgow, Scotland

• 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 G, 1794
  Morgan Library and Museum
  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 K, 1821
  Fitzwilliam Museum
  Cambridge, England

• 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