The Winter issue of Blake, An Illustrated Quarterly includes two articles on Blake's art and practice: Caroline Anjali Ritchie considers the contemporary reception of Blake's engravings for John Gabriel Stedman's Narrative, while Mark Crosby explores the copperplate engravings Blake made as an apprentice.
In addition, Luisa Calè reviews the catalogue to the recent Fitzwilliam Museum exhibition, and Annise Rogers reviews Brian Russell Graham's Speech Acts in Blake's "Milton".
A great deal of scholarly debate has centered on William Blake’s attitudes toward racial difference and racial oppression. Since the time of David Erdman, scholars have endeavored to characterize Blake’s views on the transatlantic slave trade—endeavors that often reveal their own attachments to and disavowals of what Morris Eaves once aptly termed “Blakes We Want and Blakes We Don’t.” Many claim that Blake’s stance was one of radical abolitionism, even if it was not always stated in the plainest terms (for example, Erdman, “Blake’s Vision of Slavery” and Prophet against Empire; Simon), while others argue that his abolitionism has been overstated and focus instead on the exoticizing, whitewashing, and otherwise racist leanings in his poetry and visual art (for example, Thiong’o; Mellor; Bindman).
In 1809 the antiquarian Richard Gough (1735–1809) bequeathed a substantial collection of preparatory drawings, copperplates, and proof impressions to the Bodleian Library. This material relates to his publications on British history and topography and medieval funerary monuments, as well as his work as the first director of the Society of Antiquaries, which included supervising the publication of both its journal and the occasional papers Vetusta Monumenta, along with other projects. During his time as director, Gough also worked on his self-published study Sepulchral Monuments, in Great Britain (1786–96). Illustrated with engravings by James Basire, engraver to the Society of Antiquaries and the Royal Society, Sepulchral Monuments was conceived as a comprehensive visual and textual account of British royal tombs “from the Norman Conquest to the Seventeenth Century.”
In 1809 the antiquarian Richard Gough (1735–1809) bequeathed a substantial collection of preparatory drawings, copperplates, and proof impressions to the Bodleian Library. This material relates to his publications on British history and topography and medieval funerary monuments, as well as his work as the first director of the Society of Antiquaries, which included supervising the publication of both its journal and the occasional papers Vetusta Monumenta, along with other projects. During his time as director, Gough also worked on his self-published study Sepulchral Monuments, in Great Britain (1786–96). Illustrated with engravings by James Basire, engraver to the Society of Antiquaries and the Royal Society, Sepulchral Monuments was conceived as a comprehensive visual and textual account of British royal tombs “from the Norman Conquest to the Seventeenth Century.”
The Winter issue of Blake, An Illustrated Quarterly is available at the Blake Quarterly web site.