BLAKE TRUST 3

Geoffrey Keynes in 1949 got the idea of making facsimiles of Blake's water colored books after observing the work of Arnold Fawcus' workshop in Paris. The process of using mechanical photographic techniques to produce an accurate print of an original, which could be hand colored using stencils cut from the print, had been perfected in Fawcus' studio. 

Keynes convinced the owner (William Stirling) of the only complete color copy of Jerusalem to allow it to be reproduced for the Blake Trust by Fawcus' Trianon Press.
The two major processes through which the Blake facsimiles were produced were collotype, a complex process through which the image was directly transferred to the plate to be printed, and pochoir which reproduced the coloring of the original. The fine detail of the print was produced by microscopical reticulations on the prepared surface of the plate which were sensitive to light which passed through the negative.

In order to color the prints so that they matched those colored by Blake a demanding process named pochoir was used. The printer used by Fawcus' Trianon Press was Daniel Jacomet who was a master of pochoir. He employed a contingent of artisans who skillfully cut the extremely fine metal stencils, and applied the multiple layers of color to simulate Blake's water color. Infinite care was required every step along the way from disassembling the pages of the original book, through discerning and replicating the colors used by Blake, to applying the correct pressure for the print. 

Blake, the craftsman, would have appreciated the skills used in making the Blake Trust facsimiles. To Blake the imaginative work of the artist and the craft of making it visible in poems and pictures were activities which complemented and enhanced each the other.

Public Address, (E 574)

"PAGE 57
I do not pretend to Paint better than Rafael or Mch Anglo
or Julio Romano or Alb Durer but I do Pretend to Paint finer

than Rubens or Rembt or Correggio or Titian.  I do not Pretend to
Engrave finer than Alb Durer Goltzius Sadeler or Edelinck but I
do pretend to Engrave finer than Strange Woolett Hall or
Bartolozzi because I understand Drawing which they
understand not

PAGE 58
     In this manner the English Public have been imposed upon for
many Years under the impression that Engraving & Painting are
somewhat Else besides Drawing. Painting is Drawing on Canvas &
Engraving is Drawing on Copper & Nothing Else & he who pretends
to be either Painter or Engraver without being a Master of
Drawing is an Impostor." 

Vision of Last Judgment, (E 560)

"General
Knowledge is Remote Knowledge it is in Particulars that Wisdom
consists & Happiness too.  Both in Art & in Life General Masses
are as Much Art as a Pasteboard Man is Human Every Man has Eyes
Nose & Mouth this Every Idiot knows but he who enters into &
discriminates most minutely the Manners & Intentions  the
Characters in all their branches is the
alone Wise or Sensible Man & on this discrimination All Art is
founded.  I intreat then that the Spectator will attend to the
Hands & Feet to the Lineaments of the Countenances they are all
descriptive of Character & not a line is drawn without intention
& that most discriminate & particular as Poetry admits not a
Letter that is Insignificant so Painting admits not a Grain of
Sand or a Blade of Grass Insignificant much less an
Insignificant Blur or Mark"  

William Blake Poet . Printer . Prophet 
from facsimile by Trianon Press 
Jerusalem, Plate 99

Jerusalem, Plate 99, (E 258)          
"All Human Forms identified even Tree Metal Earth & Stone. all
Human Forms identified, living going forth & returning wearied
Into the Planetary lives of Years Months Days & Hours reposing
And then Awaking into his Bosom in the Life of Immortality.

And I heard the Name of their Emanations they are named Jerusalem

                  The End of The Song
                     of Jerusalem"

.