[Publications and exhibitions]

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Professor Michael Tolley of The University of Adelaide is the author of a note on “The Auckland Blakes” (“an interesting copy of America bound with Europe held in the Auckland Public Library”) in the January issue of Biblionews (Australia).

Mr. Martin Butlin, Assistant Keeper of The Tate Gallery (London, S.W. 1), writes on the progress of his catalogue raisonné: “It is to include all Blake’s paintings, watercolours, drawings and hand coloured engravings. The format and treatment are to be on the lines of my 1957 catalogue of the Tate’s Blakes. It is difficult to say how many totally new discoveries it will include as, though no complete catalogue has been published before, a very full skeleton of one was prepared by Sir Geoffrey Keynes and Ruthven Todd. This has proved invaluable to me and although I have found a few extra items most of my work has been concerned with completing the history of each item, which has in fact often reduced two or more entries to a single one. As for a completion date, this always seems, like a mirage, to be about two years ahead. It would be a great help to me if any readers who come across Blakes with whose owners I have not been in touch could let me know.”

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The Blake Trust facsimile of Milton has been published by The Trianon Press. The Rosenwald copy was used for the facsimile, with the “Jerusalem” page added from the British Museum copy. Pure rag paper was specially manufactured to match that of Blake, with his monogram added as a watermark in each leaf. Reproduction is by the collotype and hand-stencil process, in up to twenty colors. There is a description and bibliographical statement by Sir Geoffrey Keynes. The edition is limited to 400 numbered copies for sale. Price 48 gns.

Mr. Arnold Fawcus, publisher of the Trianon facsimiles, writes that “since our Blake Trust facsimile of the Songs of Innocence and of Experience is out of print, The Trianon Press is preparing a new edition in high quality 6-8 colour offset which should be within the means of all Blake lovers — about $16.50 until December 25 and $20 after that. It will contain reproductions of the illuminated poems, with their text in letter-press on the opposite page, a commentary on each poem and a splendid introduction by Sir Geoffrey Keynes. It will be published in the States by the Orion Press, distributors Grossman Publishers, and in England by McGibbon & Kee.”

There was an exhibition of Blake’s illuminated books at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, from April 5 until May 30. The Mellon copy of Jerusalem was among the works displayed. The exhibition, “William Blake: Poet, Printer, and Prophet,” also[e] included some original sketches, biographical memorabilia, and the only surviving fragment of a copper plate made by Blake in the relief-etched process. It was organized by Mr. Arnold Fawcus for the Blake Trust; it was previously shown at the Tate Gallery and at the National Gallery in Washington. A commemorative handbook with 26 colored plates, a study of Blake’s life and work by Sir Geoffrey Keynes, and a foreword by Mr. Lessing J. Rosenwald, is available from the Metropolitan Museum for $3.00.

Professor Hazard Adams (University of California, Irvine) is going to edit the Rinehart paperback edition of Blake. He invited suggestions from Blake scholars as to what should be included in it. Professor Adams is also going to do a commentary on Jerusalem as an appendix to the book.

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Mr. William Wells, Keeper of the Burrell Collection (Glasgow Art Gallery and Museum), has written a monograph on Blake’s “Heads of the Poets.” “It will comprise an introductory essay, followed by a catalogue of the Heads, discussing them in relation to the contents of Hayley’s library and the very different artistic and literary view points of the patron and artist involved in their production. In addition to the Heads themselves, the reproductions will include their engraved sources and other comparative material.” The monograph will be published by the Manchester City Art Gallery, the present owner of the eighteen canvasses. Mr. Wells is a former member of the Gallery’s staff.

Mr. Kerrison Preston writes that his Blake Library is now open to the public at Westminster Public Library, 35 St. Martin’s Street, London W.C.2. “It is just off Leicester Square, and not very far from the site of Blake’s birthplace in Soho, where the Westminster City Council has recently erected a lofty building with a sculptured memorial to Blake in the entrance. The new building is called William Blake House.

Mr. Michael Curtis Phillips (71 Fore Street, Topsham, Devon) is working on a fully annotated text of Poetical Sketches, together with a detailed critical exposition and photographic reproduction in facsimile of a copy of the poems corrected in Blake’s hand. He welcomes suggestions.

A New edition of Tracks in the Snow by Ruthven Todd will appear shortly. It will include a chapter on Blake’s techniques of etching which did not appear in the first edition.

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