The Continental Prophecies (The Illuminated Books of William Blake, Volume 4)
Category: Books,Literature & Fiction,History & Criticism
The Continental Prophecies (The Illuminated Books of William Blake, Volume 4) Details
About the Author D. W. Dörrbecker, who teaches art history at the University of Trier, Germany, compiled for many years the annual bibliography "Blake and His Circle" published in Blake Quarterly. Read more
Reviews
This wonderful volume contains what are referred to as Blake's Continental Prophecies. They are: "America", "Europe", and "The Song of Los". The last has two sections called "Africa" and "Asia" and is by far the shortest.They are all beautifully illustrated and the first plate in "Europe" is probably the most famous image from Blake's illuminated works - the bearded white man kneeling and reaching down out of the sun with the measuring compass. "The Song of Los" is also full of beautifully colored images. The "America" plates are monochrome although a couple of colored plates are shown in the supplementary plates.Since "America" has 18 plates and "Europe" 17 and "Los" 8, it follows that most of the volume's 367 pages are filled with commentary, notes, and supplementary material. This helps a lot because these prophecies are part of Blake's rather opaque personal mythology. Scholars have filled shelves with conjecture about what it all means and they do have some good notions, but it is tough sledding without the background material to ease the way. This is a great edition and will be a treasure on the bookshelf of all who love the works of William Blake.