Publisher's Synopsis
Excerpt from William Blake, 1757-1827: A Descriptive Catalogue of an Exhibition of the Works of William Blake, Selected From Collections in the United States
At twenty-hye, Blake married a Catherine Boucher, a woman who could neither read nor write. He - they lived happily ever after: to her he was always Mr. Blake, and we are told that his last words were (although I am always rather sceptical of last You have always been an angel to me. To support himself and his wife Blake had to engrave, taking such work as came his way. Had he chosen he might easily have continued to be an excellent conventional engraver. His little known plates, after Morland, The Industrious Cottager and The Idle Laundress, both dated 1788, and a large plate of The Beggar's Opera after Hogarth, prove this, but Blake preferred to develop his own imagination. Engraving called for the use of his hands; to some extent it left his mind free and he continued to write verses and make little sketches. There is in existence a small note-book known as the Rossetti Manuscript; it was given by Mrs. Blake after her husband's death to the brother of Blake's pupil, Samuel Palmer, who sold it for ten shillings to Rossetti - hence the name. It contained sketches and bits of verse some of which subsequently appeared in Songs of Innocence and Sang: of Experience. It is a lovely little item, and was for many years the property of the late W. A. White of Brooklyn. How frequently have we turned its pages together!
About the Publisher
Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com
This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
