New Exhibit, Event in Mullins Library Highlight Artistic Work of William Blake

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A fragment of an etching from Blake's "Jerusalem"

A new exhibit is now on display in the Special Collections department of the University Libraries. 'Celebrating the Illuminated Works of William Blake' was curated by graduate student Amanda White, who will give a presentation on the materials used in the exhibit at 3 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 7, in the Special Collections Reading Room. The exhibit will be available for viewing through March 31.

While many are familiar with William Blake's poetry, knowledge of his artistic work is not as prominent. Blake spent nearly 40 years creating "illuminated books" that feature relief etching — an artistic medium Blake developed, himself — which allows for the reuse of engraved plates. The current exhibit features facsimiles of many of Blake's most popular illuminated books, including The Songs of Innocence, Jerusalem, The Book of Urizen and The Book of Ahania.

White is in her third semester of the U of A English Department's master's degree program with a concentration on Medieval literature and culture. After taking the History of the Book course with assistant professor Joshua Smith, White took an interest in facsimiles, which provide a glimpse into the production of an original text, and she pursued an academic internship within the Special Collections department.

"My experience has been primarily with medieval manuscripts and facsimiles, but I became interested in Blake's facsimiles as a different, 18th-century version of my usual Medieval field," said White.