CHECKLISTS
SOME MINOR ADDITIONS TO BENTLEY’S “BLAKE AMONG THE SLAVS”
Due to the generous help offered to us by the staff at the National Library of Czechoslovakia (Praha) and at the Státní Vědecká Knihovna (Olomouc) we have been able to trace a number of translations of Blake’s works into Czech and Slovakian, as well as several Slavic “Critical Studies” of the poet-painter’s work. This material is listed here in alphabetical, respectively chronological order, a few explanatory notes being supplied in square brackets. We feel obliged, however, to warn our readers as regards the accuracy of the bibliographical data. Not only did we have to face the difficulties with the Slavic library and cataloging conventions described by Prof. Bentley (see Blake 41, 11 [1977], 50), but also time prevented proper examination of some of the volumes. In these cases then, we had to rely entirely on the information provided by the general catalogs at Praha and Olomouc.
On the whole, however, this short list seems to corroborate G. E. Bentley, Jr.’s surmise that “especially [for the] Czech, Polish, and Rumanian [languages], the Saltykov-Shchedrin [State Public Library, Leningrad] is likely to be less comprehensive,” and that more material may well turn up on further investigation.
Anon. “William Blake” in Kulturní výročí Světové rady míru v r. 1957: Bibliografické letáky. Brno: Universitní knihovna, 1957 [“Na pomoc knihovníkům a čtenářům,” vol. 12], n. p. [A bibliographical guidesheet for librarians.]
Anon. “Czy wiesz kto to jest J. A. Komenski, Karol Linneusz, Carlo Goldini, W. Blake, Auguste Comte etc.” in Przyjaciele ludskosti. Warsaw: Ludowa Spóldzielnia,[e] 1957. [Probably the Polish edition of the preceding entry.]
Blake, William. Výbor básní. [Selected Poems]. tr. Jar. Skalicky. Praha: J. Otto, 1929 [“Sborník světové poesie,” vol. 159]. [Pp. 114.]
Blake, William. Kniha Thel (1789). [The Book of Thel]. tr. Otto F. Babler. Přerov: [printed for Otto F. Babler by] Fr. Bartoš, 1935. [Pp. 16; see Bentley, Blake Books, no. 29.]
Blake, William. Tři prózy. [Three Prose Works]. tr. Arnošt Vaněček. Praha: Edice MDN (t. Dymkova tiskárna), 1935 [Edice MDN = “Mys dobré naděje,” vol. 7].
Blake, William. Básně: Vidění dcer Albionových—Orkovo narození—Konec tajemství—Stvoření—Pláč Eniony—Losův vinný lis—Hrobová jeskyně. [Poems: Visions of the Daughters of Albion, and portions from several others of the Prophetic Books]. tr. Arnošt Vaněček. Praha: t. J. Picka, 1939. [A limited edition of only 38 copies was printed; there are 40 pages and several illustrations by Mirro Pegrassi; the books were obviously not circulated until after the war. Copy no. 18 is to be seen at the Olomouc State Library.]
Blake, William. Svět v zrnku písku. [To See a World in a Grain of Sand]. tr. and ed. Jiří Valja. Praha: Mladá Fronta (t. Mír 3), 1964 [“Kvety poesie,” vol. 51] [Pp. ii + 153; also contains a short essay on Blake by Jiří Levý.]
Blake, William. Záhrada lásky. [The Garden of Love]. tr. and ed. Jana Kantorová. Bratislava: Tatran, 1976 [“Poezia,” vol. 39]. [Contains 121 pages of translations from Keynes’s edition of the Complete Writings, including selections from “Poetical Sketches,” “Songs of Innocence and of Experience,” “The French Revolution,” “Poems from the Notebook” and “The Pickering Manuscript.”]
Cannon-Brookes, Peter. Dvě století britského malířství: od Hogartha k Turnerovi. [Two Centuries of British Painting; exhb. cat.]. tr. Jana Solperová. Praha: Národní Galerie, and Bratislava: Slovenská Národná Galéria, 1969. [Included in this survey of painting in Britain between c. 1650 and 1850 were pictures by Romney, Fuseli, Blake, and Palmer.]
Chudoba, František. Pod listnatým stromem. [Under a Deciduous Tree]. 2nd rev. ed. Praha: Jan Laichter, 1947 [“Vybor Laichterův,” vol. 73], Pp. 95-104. [A chapter on Blake in a book on aspects of British cultural life.]
Hawcroft, Francis. Anglijskie risunki i akvareli XVIII-XIX vekov: Katalog vystavki. [English Drawings and Watercolors of the 18th and 19th Centuries: Exhibition Catalog]. tr. and ed. A. S. Kantor-Gukovskaja. Leningrad: The Hermitage, and Moscow: The Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, 1974. [Among the 100 works on show, all lent by the Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester, there were several by Romney, Fuseli, Blake, and Palmer.]