1911 Rare Book - SONGS OF INNOCENCE & Songs of Experience by William Blake.

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(Description)

Author: William Blake
Title: Songs of Innocence & Songs of Experience.
Language: Text in English.
Publisher: London, Arthur L. Humphreys, 1911. First thus.
Size: 5.5 "X 4.5 ".
Pages: viii-63 pages. 
Binding: Attractive and very good full green morocco leather binding (hinges fine, spine sunned - as shown, overall slightly scuffed - as shown) under a removable protective mylar cover. All edges gilt.
Content: Very good content (bright, tight, and clean, name of a previous owner on the first endpaper - as shown). 
Illustrations: Complete with all the nice miniature sepia pastedown illustrations.

The book: A beautifully illustrated edition bound in morocco of Songs of Innocence and of Experience -- a collection of illustrated poems by William Blake. It appeared in two phases: a few first copies were printed and illuminated by Blake himself in 1789; five years later, he bound these poems with a set of new poems in a volume titled Songs of Innocence and of Experience Shewing the Two Contrary States of the Human Soul. 

The author: William Blake (28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827) was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognized during his lifetime, Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of the poetry and visual art of the Romantic Age. What he called his "prophetic works" were said by 20th-century critic Northrop Frye to form "what is in proportion to its merits the least read body of poetry in the English language". His visual artistry led 21st-century critic Jonathan Jones to proclaim him "far and away the greatest artist Britain has ever produced". In 2002, Blake was placed at number 38 in the BBC's poll of the 100 Greatest Britons. While he lived in London his entire life, except for three years spent in Felpham, he produced a diverse and symbolically rich collection of works, which embraced the imagination as "the body of God" or "human existence itself".