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Notes
In 1822, Blake used the term "stereotype" in reference to his first relief etchings; see The Complete Poetry and Prose of William Blake, ed. David V. Erdman, Newly Revised Edition (1982), p. 272. For the fullest descriptions of Blake's relief and white-line etching techniques, see Robert N. Essick, William Blake Printmaker (1980), pp. 85-164; and Joseph Viscomi, The Art of William Blake's Illuminated Prints (1983).
Unless noted otherwise, plate numbers, copy designations, and bibliographic information on these copies of Urizen are based on G. E. Bentley, Jr., Blake Books (1977), pp. 166-185. Copy E, in 24 plates, has not been traced since its description in Geoffrey Keynes and Edwin Wolf 2nd, William Blake's Illuminated Books: A Census (1953), p. 75. Keynes and Wolf state unequivocally that copy E lacks plates 4, 9, 16, and 24. In what follows I have assumed the accuracy of their description, as does Bentley.
As Bentley points out in Blake Books, p. 167, plates 7 and 8 "differ from all other plates with text at the top of the page in having no running heads" and thus may have been "etched after the others." But if plate 8 was meant as a replacement for plate 10, also with six numbered verses, it seems very odd indeed for Blake to include both plates in all but one copy of the complete book.
With plate 4 in place, the sentence beginning at the end of plate 3 reads "Shrill the trumpet: & myriads of Eternity, | Muster around the bleak desarts. . . ." Moving directly from plate 3 to plate 5, the sentence becomes "Shrill the trumpet: & myriads of Eternity, | In living creations appear'd | In the flames of eternal fury" (Complete Poetry and Prose, pp. 71-72).
This copy is well known from the excellent facsimile published by the Trianon Press for The William Blake Trust in 1958.
Bentley, Blake Books, p. 953, states that the ink is "a slightly different shade" of "Orange" from that in copy G. In many of Blake's illuminated books, the ink color varies slightly, and in some cases considerably, from one plate to another. The ink color in copy G is very consistent, and to my eyes the orange of this separate impression of plate 4 has the same shade and texture.
Blake owned such a press during most of his working life—see Essick, Printmaker, p. 58, and Bentley, Blake Records (1969), pp. 29, 114, 272 n. 1, 350-351. It is possible to print relief etchings in a typographic press or a screw press, but it is reasonable to assume that Blake used his engraver's press for the high-quality printing of his illuminated books. I know of no evidence that Blake or the journeymen plate-printers of his day used pins to insure correct alignment.
Blake Books, chart on pp. 168-169. Bentley records width followed by height; all dimensions given here record height followed by width, as in most print catalogues. I herein correct Bentley's sheet size of "22.4 x 28.9 cm." for the separate impression of plate 4 (Blake Books, p. 953). The present binding of copy G is dated 1908.
There are a few examples of Blake's relief prints on conjugate leaves, including a copy of "The Song of Liberty" in the collection of Mrs. Ramsey Harvey and perhaps copy B of The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (Bodleian Library, Oxford). However, Blake seems to have printed most of his relief plates on individual sheets.
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