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Items Milton, a poem in 2 books

Milton, a poem in 2 books: The author & printer W. Blake. To justify the ways of God to men

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Title
Milton, a poem in 2 books: The author & printer W. Blake. To justify the ways of God to men
Names
Blake, William, 1757-1827 (Author)
Blake, William, 1757-1827 (Artist)
Dates / Origin
Date Issued: 1804 - 1808 (Approximate)
Place: London
Publisher: Keynes: Blake
Library locations
Rare Book Division
Shelf locator: *KL (Blake, W. Milton, a poem in 2 books)
Topics
Milton, John, 1608-1674
Genres
Prints
Illustrations
Books
Poetry
Literature
Notes
Content: Comprises 49 hand colored and illusminated relief etchings by Blake; without the preface (Keynes pl. 2) found in copies A and B; with the additional plates a-e.
Content: With bookplate of the Hamilton Palace Library Beckford Collection.
Numbering: Although the numeral in the title may also be read as 12 the work contains only two books.
Citation/reference: Keynes: Blake, 48, copy C
Citation/reference: Keyne and Wolf: Blake's illuminated books, p. 98-103
Content: Paper watermarked: J. Whatman 1808.
Content: Binding, by J. Mackenzie, of dark blue morocco, gilt.
Biographical/historical: William Blake (1757-1857) shared with other Romantic poets the belief that nature embodied truths more profound than the rational mind could apprehend, and that humanity's willful dissociation of itself from nature was the cause of most of the world's ills. But Blake embraced an exaltedly visionary view of the world and a mythic form of expression unique to himself. He also sought a means of rendering his works in a print form that might rival the dynamic, organic interplay of text, decoration, and illustration found in the best medieval illuminated manuscripts. The technique Blake discovered is usually called "relief etching" to distinguish it from intaglio etching, in which the lines to be printed are lightly incised into a copper plate with an etching needle and are deepened and thickened when the plate is dipped in acid. Blake created his plates by first painting his texts and the lineaments of his illustrations and decorations on copper sheets with a very fine brush dipped in a clear acid-resist liquid. After painting the text and decoration, he immersed the plates in acid, which ate away their unpainted (that is, unprotected) areas. To print, he then inked the resulting relief portions of the plate (i.e., the lines of text, illustrative figures, and decorative lines), placed a sheet of paper upon the plate, and pressed it firmly, thereby transferring the ink from the plate's text and decorative elements onto the paper. In most of his books, all of the pages in each of the copies printed would then be water colored, usually in the identical color schemes, but embodying significant tonal differences.
Content: Plate 1: Milton a Poem, To Justify the Ways of God to Men ; Plate 1 (3): Milton, Book the First, Daughters of Beulah ; Plate 2 (b): By Enitharmons Looms when Albion.... ; Plate 3 (a): Beneath the Plow of Rintrah.... ; Plate 4: From Golgonooza the spiritual.... ; Plate 5: The first.The Elect from before the foundation of the World ; Plate 6: Mean while wept Satan.... ; Plate 7: An all Eden descended.... ; Plate 8: Then Los & Enitharmon knew that Satan is Urizen ; Plate 8* (c): Then Los & Enitharmon knew.... ; Plate 9: He set his face against Jerusalem.... ; Plate 10: For her light is terrible to me.... ; Plate 11: Sick couch bears the dark shades.... ; Plate 12: According to the inspiration.... ; Plate 13: The robe of the promise.... ; Plate 14: As when a man dreams.... ; Plate 15: To annihilate the Self-hood of Deceit & false Forgiveness ; Plate 16: In those three females.... ; Plate 17 (d): And Tharmas Demon of the Waters &... ; Plate 18 (17): And he also darkened his brows.... ; Plate 19 (18): Two yet but one.... ; Plate 20 (19): And down descended.... ; Plate 21 (20): Tho driven away.... ; Plate 22: Can you have greater Miracles.... ; Plate 23: Of Palamabrons Harrow.... ; Plate 24 (25): Loud shout the Sons of Luvah.... ; Plate 25 (26): These are the Sons of Los.... ; Plate 26 (24): But the Wine-press of Los.... ; Plate 27: Some Sons of Los.... ; Plate 28: For in this Period....
Physical Description
Extent: 46 [i.e. 49] f. col. illus. 25 cm.
The Milton copperplates, at an average size of about 16 x 11.5 cm; binding, by J. Mackenzie, of dark blue morocco, gilt;
Etchings
Type of Resource
Text
Still image
Languages
English
Identifiers
RLIN/OCLC: 41439179
NYPL catalog ID (B-number): b14163872
NYPL Exhibition ID: TL 20.01.WW07
Photo Order: 68062
Universal Unique Identifier (UUID): 17623f80-0452-013f-0a92-0242ac110002
Rights Statement
The New York Public Library believes that this item is in the public domain under the laws of the United States, but did not make a determination as to its copyright status under the copyright laws of other countries. This item may not be in the public domain under the laws of other countries. Though not required, if you want to credit us as the source, please use the following statement, "From The New York Public Library," and provide a link back to the item on our Digital Collections site. Doing so helps us track how our collection is used and helps justify freely releasing even more content in the future.

Item timeline of events

  • 1757: Creator Born
  • 1804: Issued (Approximate)
  • 1827: Creator Died
  • 2026: Digitized
  • 2026: Found by you!
  • 2027

MLA Format

Rare Book Division, The New York Public Library. "Milton, a poem in 2 books" The New York Public Library Digital Collections. 1804 - 1808. https://old-digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/c807cd40-05d5-013f-5427-0242ac110003

Chicago/Turabian Format

Rare Book Division, The New York Public Library. "Milton, a poem in 2 books" New York Public Library Digital Collections. Accessed September 20, 2026. https://old-digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/c807cd40-05d5-013f-5427-0242ac110003

APA Format

Rare Book Division, The New York Public Library. (1804 - 1808). Milton, a poem in 2 books Retrieved from https://old-digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/c807cd40-05d5-013f-5427-0242ac110003

Wikipedia Citation

<ref name=NYPL>{{cite web | url=https://old-digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/c807cd40-05d5-013f-5427-0242ac110003 | title= (text) Milton, a poem in 2 books, (1804 - 1808) |author=Digital Collections, The New York Public Library |accessdate=September 20, 2026 |publisher=The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox, and Tilden Foundations}}</ref>

Milton, a poem in 2 books