Burning Bright: William Blake and the Art of the Book, John Rylands Library, University of Manchester, February–June 2013

Abstract

The display contextualized the reception of Blake’s craftsmanship by juxtaposing designs with images by the Ancients, the Pre-Raphaelites, and the members of the Arts and Crafts movement, such as Samuel Palmer, William Holman Hunt, and Walter Crane, as well as a facsimile published by William Muir and an example of a newly illustrated edition—a Blake poem illustrated by Jacynth Parsons from the 1927 edition of Songs of Innocence published by the Medici Society. The mixture of books, sheets, designs, and images resonated with what this Blake exhibition was about: the art of the book.