William Blake and the Art of Engraving

Sung closely examines William Blake’s extant engraved copper plates and arrives at a new interpretation of his working process. Sung suggests that Blake revised and corrected his work more than was previously thought. This belies the Romantic ideal that the acts of conception and execution are simultaneous in the creative process. Chapter 1 Introduction: The Technical Argument; Chapter 1a The History of the theory of Conception and Execution; Chapter 2 The Evidence of Copper Plates; Chapter 3 Blake's Engraved Copper Plates; Chapter 4 Copper Plate Makers in Blake's Time; Chapter 5 Blake's Virgil Woodcuts and the Earliest Re-engravers; conclusion Conclusion;