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Description
Blake originally produced this small, richly illustrated collection of short lyrics as two separate books: Songs of Innocence (1789) and Songs of Experience (1794). He combined them into a single volume in 1794. Although the Songs' compact, simple, and colorful format recalls a children's book, the themes within are sophisticated and complex. Innocence and Experience contrast opposite states of human existence, before and after the Fall. The pastoral poems in Innocence express religious faith and acceptance and exhibit fine, flowing lines; the bardic verses in Experience, by contrast, convey disillusionment and anger and employ bolder contours.
Blake produced only twenty-four copies of the combined volume; this is one of the last, prepared about 1825 for the painter and printmaker Edward Calvert. Its deep, saturated hues and distinctive ornamental borders (found on only one other copy) contrast with the lighter, paler colors of editions printed three decades earlier. The book remained in Calvert's family until the late 19th century and in 1917 became the first work purchased for the Metropolitan Museum's new Department of Prints by its distinguished first curator, William M. Ivins Jr.
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