William Blake’s two prophetic poems America and Europe were composed and printed by him as individual illuminated books in 1793 and 1794. Blake had already produced some of his poems by a unique method that he had developed of printing books by relief etching. This enabled him to avoid conventional publishers and control the whole work himself.
Because Blake produced these works in very limited editions, few copies of any of them have survived. In 1953 Geoffrey Keynes and Edwin Wolf compiled a world-wide census of the remaining copies and assigned the alphabetic codes by which they are still identified. America survives in 17 copies and Europe in 12 copies. Auckland City Libraries has copy N of America and copy I of Europe.
These poems are bound together in one volume as companion pieces. Blake did compose them as complementary. The American War of Independence forms the basis for Blake’s mythical version of the revolution in America, while Europe concerns the tyranny of the Old World. Both works are subtitled “a prophecy”. Many of the other surviving copies were also bound together in one volume, or sold together to the same buyer. Indeed, so closely are they related, that recent research has confirmed that most of the designs for Europe were actually etched on the back of the copper plates used for America.
Blake's method of printing
Blake’s method of printing has been described and reconstructed in detail by Joseph Viscomi in his Blake and the idea of the book (1993) (see also his essay on illuminated printing on the William Blake Archive). This process was more spontaneous than his other work as a commercial engraver, where he translated illustrations, either his own or another artist's, onto the copper plate with an engraving tool. Here Blake composed the design directly onto the copper plates. He wrote the text backwards in mirror image, and drew the designs, using an acid-resistant ink. The plates were then etched with acid, leaving the design to be printed in relief. Blake and his wife Catherine printed the plates using a conventional intaglio rolling press, but with the pressure decreased. Often Blake varied the colour, or colours he used in the printing, and sometimes he added watercolour washes and additional colour by hand.
Dating the copies
Using clues from the printing, Viscomi has been able to identify the order in which the various copies of America and Europe were printed. Although they have the dates 1793 for America and 1794 for Europe on the etched titlepage, not all the copies were actually printed then.
Most of the copies of America were printed in a small edition of ten in 1793, but two more were printed in 1795, one some time after 1800, and one for the artist John Linnell in 1821. The copies vary, particularly in the colouring of the four coloured copies. Auckland City Libraries’ copy belongs to the three more copies (America copies N, P and Q) which have generally been considered to have been printed after Blake’s death in 1827, although from his original plates.
A similar pattern applies to the printing of Europe. A small initial edition of six printed in 1794 was followed by two more printed in 1795 to match the copies produced of America, another in the early 1800s and a companion Europe for the America printed for John Linnell in 1821. The variations in colouring are greater for Europe than America, as most of the copies were printed in colours and have colour added by hand. Again, Auckland City Libraries copy belongs to the other three that are presumed to have been printed posthumously (Europe copies I, L and M).
Characteristics of posthumous copies
The dating of the three so-called posthumously printed copies of America and Europe relies on comparisons of printing technique as well as watermark evidence. Viscomi identifies the characteristics of posthumous copies as being printed in black, grey or reddish brown inks, having plate borders (Blake wiped the edge of his plates clean), and being slightly larger than Blake’s impressions because they were printed on dry paper, as opposed to the damp paper used by Blake.
The other evidence comes from the watermarks on the paper. America copy P and Europe copy M were printed on paper with the watermark J Whatman 1832, and are presumed to have been printed by the artist Frederick Tatham, who assisted Catherine Blake in selling Blake's work after his death. He also inherited all Blake's works after Catherine's death in 1831 and is known to have reprinted a number of copies of the Songs of Innocence and of Experience in the 1830s. These copies are printed in reddish brown inks.
The other posthumous copies share the same printing characteristics, but are printed on paper with earlier watermarks, which still leaves the possibility open that they may have been printed before Blake's death, if not by him directly. America copy Q and Europe copy L are printed on paper with the watermark T Stains 1813. Auckland City Libraries' copies, America copy N and Europe copy I, are printed on paper with the watermark Ruse and Turners 1812. These copies are printed in black inks.
The particular characteristic of the Auckland Blakes which has caused most research interest has focussed on Europe, and the way the monochrome printing (most copies of Europe are coloured, unlike America) and lack of finishing have revealed the maker's mark on the copper plate. This mark is normally obscured in the other copies, but is partially legible in this copy of Europe. It reads “Jones and Pontifex No 47 Shoe Lane London”.
Sir George Grey's donation
It was Sir George Grey, former Governor of New Zealand, who donated the copies of America and Europe to the Library in 1887 as part of his founding collection of rare books and manuscripts. A rather mysterious note in Grey's handwriting on the fly leaf records all that is known about the book's provenance. "I purchased this book at the sale of the effects of a deceased artist, (I now forget his name), who had obtained it direct from Blake". The vagueness of the note has frustrated subsequent researchers, although there are several possible candidates for the anonymous "deceased artist". One possibility is Frederick Tatham himself, if indeed he did print the copies. He died in 1878. G. E. Bentley in his Blake Records (2nd ed. 2004) suggests an artist called James Ferguson. Alexander Gilchrist in his Life of William Blake (1863) reported that Ferguson bought copies of a number of engraved books after Blake's death. Ferguson died in 1871, which perhaps makes Grey's memory lapse more understandable.
Where are the other copies?
Most other copies of America and Europe are held by libraries in the United States and Great Britain. The William Blake Archive currently makes available digital versions of four copies of America and four copies of Europe. The archive also lists the current locations of all the copies printed in Blake’s lifetime, but does not indicate where the posthumous copies are held. America copy P is held by the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, and copy Q is held by Princeton University Library. Europe copy L is held by the Huntington Library, and copy M is held by the Fitzwilliam Museum.
This digital version of the Auckland Blakes, America copy N and Europe copy I, contributes to the Blake resources which are increasingly being made available internationally.
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