The core of William Blake's vision, his greatness as one of the British Romantics, is most fully expressed in
his Illuminated Books, masterworks of art and text intertwined and mutually enriching. In 1949 the William Blake
Trust was founded to bring these rare, in some cases unique, works to a wider general audience through the publication
of superbly produced facsimiles of each book. By the late 1980's these facsimiles had themselves become rare books.
The Trust accordingly resolved to initiate a collected edition that would publish accurate reproductions of all
the Illuminated Books to be accompanied by notes and commentaries by leading Blake scholars. Songs of Innocence
and of Experience, one of the best known of the books, is now reproduced in paperback for the first time from the
King's College, Cambridge copy -- sometimes known as "Blake's own copy." The poems have been edited with
introduction, notes, commentaries, and bibliography. The core of William Blake's vision, his greatness as one of
the British Romantics, is most fully expressed in his Illuminated Books, masterworks of art and text intertwined
and mutually enriching. In 1949 the William Blake Trust was founded to bring these rare, in some cases unique,
works to a wider general audience through the publication of superbly produced facsimiles of each book. By the
late 1980's these facsimiles had themselves become rare books. The Trust accordingly resolved to initiate a collected
edition that would publish accurate reproductions of all the Illuminated Books to be accompanied by notes and commentaries
by leading Blake scholars. Songs of Innocence and of Experience, one of the best known of the books, is now reproduced
in paperback for the first time from the King's College, Cambridge copy--sometimes known as "Blake's own copy."
The poems have been edited with introduction, notes, commentaries, and bibliography.
This is a facsimile edition of the English poet's collections Songs of Innocence (1789) and Songs of Experience
(1794).