03273cam a2200553 a 4500 8827598 20250608033047.8 cr ||||||||||| 810709r18151794enkaf 000 0 eng 8827598 7 cbc premver u ncip 19 y-gencatlg 49034226 (DLC) 49034226 DLC eng CarP DLC PR4144 .F5 1815 Blake, William, 1757-1827. First book of Urizen The book of Urizen. Lambeth : Printed by W. Blake, 1794 [i.e. 1815?] [28] leaves of plates : col. ill. ; 29 cm. Originally published under title: The first book of Urizen. Printed in yellow-brown on 27 plates containing both text and hand-colored illustrations. Watermarks on paper dated 1815. LC copy has plates numbered in manuscript. DLC Library of Congress. Lessing J. Rosenwald collection, 1807 Keynes, G.L. Bibliography of W. Blake (New York, 1921), 42F Keynes & Wolf, William Blake's illuminated books, copy G The poet and artist William Blake was born in London in 1757. He was apprenticed to an engraver and studied drawing at the Royal Academy. In 1783 he published his first book of poetry, Poetical Sketches. Blake was a religious mystic who eschewed the traditional teaching of the Christian churches to invent his own doctrines and symbols, which he drew from classical and Celtic mythology and many other sources. This printing of The Book of Urizen from the Rosenwald Collection at the Library of Congress introduces a figure, Urizen, whom for Blake represented morality and legality. Most of Blake's books were not published in the traditional sense but printed for special commissions by private collectors or London booksellers. As a consequence, they are extremely rare. Blake died in 1827, in poverty and relative obscurity, but by the mid-20th century he had become, in the words of the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, "one of the cultural icons of the English-speaking world." World Digital Library. Also available in digital form on the Library of Congress Web site. LC copy from the libraries of the Earl of Crewe (sold 1903) and W.A. White. DLC Blake, William, 1757-1827, printer. Crewe, Robert Offley Ashburton Crewe-Milnes, Marquis of, 1858-1945, former owner. DLC White, William Augustus, 1843-1927, former owner. DLC Lessing J. Rosenwald Collection (Library of Congress) DLC Great Britain England London Lambeth. Page view rbc0001 2023rosen1807 http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.rbc/rosenwald.1807 LAC knj 2019-12-17 update (1 card) LAC ddw 2022-04-11 update (1 card) rsl 2019-12-17 pmpull scd rarebk/rosen rbc rbc wdl rbc/digital/rosen rbc/rosen rbc/rosendgt rbc/scd rblacfederal 20191217 wdl c-GenColl PR4144 .F5 1815 (Rosenwald Coll.) Copy 1 PREM