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Title
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Jerusalem (1974)
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Original Date:
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1804-1820
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Facsimile Date:
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1974
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Publisher:
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Trianon Press
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Physical Description:
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25 leaves ; 38 cm.
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Background Information:
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The Trianon Press produced four different versions of Jerusalem. Blake only completed one full colored copy of the work, which never sold. A few uncolored versions, or tinted only in black and gray, also exist. This facsimile is of an incomplete set of colored prints for the poem (copy B) and includes four watercolor proofs for images that Blake printed on the verso of waste proofs from his Europe, a Prophecy. These trial proofs for Jerusalem show Blake’s re-use of precious paper. The facsimile at Union College was purchased by the Friends of the Library in 1974. Union also holds two copies of an introduction to and commentary on Jerusalem, written by Joseph Wicksteed, and published by the Trianon Press in 1953. These copies were donated to the library by Hans Rozendaal and Walter Tower.
Note: As of early 2018, none of the material used for this facsimile had been digitized at the William Blake Archive. Consult the book in Schaffer Library for more information.
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Student Commentary:
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Overview: This poem, subtitled “The Emanation of the Giant Albion,” was Blake’s final, most complex, and most challenging illuminated book. It summarizes many aspects of his mythological universe and philosophical views. A host of characters from history and from other books by Blake figure strongly. These characters include Los (broadly representing creative energy) and “the Giant Albion” and Jerusalem (Albion’s female counterpart, or emanation, with whom Albion must be reunited after his "fall," merging male and female energies into one). Reiterating parts of Blake’s unfinished “Vala, or The Four Zoas,” the poem directly addresses different religious viewpoints in its various sections. It concludes with Albion’s overarching “awakening to Eternal Life” as time ends and all figures, spirits, and energies unite in an apocalyptic whole. - Jessica Rosenthal '18
