William Butler Yeats: Works (3) - Yeats’s Editions of William Blake


File 1: Listings by title File 2: Bibliographical details
File 3: Editions & Studies of William Blake

File 3

W. B. Yeats’s Editions and Studies of William Blake
  • The Poems of William Blake, ed. William Butler Yeats (Bullen 1893; rep. Routledge 1905, &c.).
  • The Works of William Blake, [...] Poetic, Symbolic, and Critical Edition, ed. Edwin John Ellis & William Butler Yeats, 3 vols. (London: Bernard Quaritch 1893).
Go to Works of W. B. Yeats: File 3 - here.

 

Tips:
See a simple bibliography of all the works of W. B. Yeats in Wikipedia - with titles, dates, and
some links to other entries on individual works and their subjects - online; accessed 23.10.2024.
See also Index to digital editions of the Works of W. B. Yeats in RICORSO Library -as attached.

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Yeat’s Editions and Studies of the Works of William Blake

The Poems of William Blake, ed. William Butler Yeats (Bullen 1893; rep. Routledge 1905, &c.)
[ Not to be confused with The Works of William Blake, ed. Edwin Ellis & Yeats, 3 vols. (London: Bernard Quaritch 1893). ]
  • The Poems of William Blake [The Muses’ Library] (London: Lawrence & Bullen; New York: Scribner 1893), liv., 252pp., 27cm. [Contents: Poetical sketches; Songs of innocence; Songs of experience; Ideas of good and evil; The prophetic books; Prose fragments; Wade 219; O’Shea 208 - NLI copy from WBY’s library has his errata and a long note in ink - see note].
  • Do. [rep. as] Mr William Butler Yeats introduces the Poetical Works of William Blake (London: George Routledge & Sons. Ltd. 1905), xlix, 277pp., ill. [port.], 8°.
  • Do. [rep.] [Books That Marked Epochs, No. 2] (London: George Routledge; New York: E. P. Dutton & Co 1910), xlix, 277pp..
  • Do. [Modern Library] (NY: Boni & Liveright [1920]), xli, 278pp. [17 cm].
  • Do. [rep. of 1920 Edn.] (NY: The Modern Library 192[?]),xli, [1], 278pp., 17cm.
  • Do. [Muses’ Library] (Harvard UP 1969).
  • Do. [Muses’ Library] ([London: 1972).
  • Do., as Collected Poems [rep. edn.], with a new introduction by Tom Paulin (London: Routledge 2002), xliii, 256pp. [21 cm].
See citation in A Blake Bibliography by G. E. Bentley & Martin K. Nurmi (Minnesota 1964) - as infra.

 

Bibliographical details

The Works of William Blake, [...] Poetic, Symbolic, and Critical Edition / Ed. with lithographs of the illustrated “Prophetic books”, and a memoir and interpretation by Edwin John Ellis and William Butler Yeats, 3 vols. (London: Bernard Quaritch 1893) [ltd. edn. 500; Wade 218], and Do. [rep. edn.] (NY: AMS Press 1973).

Viz. —

The Works of William Blake (London: Bernard Quaritch 1893): annotations in Yeats’s hand dated 1900 in the flyleaf give information about the preparation of the book and the parts played by Yeats and Ellis (“The writing of this book ...”). A PS to this reads: ‘The Works is full of misprints. There is a good deal here & there in the biography etc with which I am not in agreement. I think that some of my own constructive symbolism is put with too much confidence. It is mainly right [this] part[s] should be used rather as an interpretative hypothesis than as a certainty. The circulation of the Zoas, which seems to me unlike anything in traditional symbolism, is the chief cause of uncertainty, but most that I have written on the subject is at least part of Blake’s plan. There is also uncertainty about the personages who are mentioned by him too seldom to make one know them perfectly; [v] him [v.] their characters. / WBY May. 1900 [n.d.]

Note: Yeats wrote a marginal note in his own library copy of The Works of William Blake, 3 vols. (Bernard Quaritch 1893), which he edited with Ellis: ‘my authority for Blake’s Irish extraction was R. Carter Blake who claims to be descended from a branch of that family that settled in Malaga and entered the arms [?] trade there. WBY’. The note has been transcribed by Edward O’Shea in his Descriptive Catalogue of W. B. Yeats’s Library (Garland 1985). The library is held in the National Library of Ireland. (See Edward O’Shea, A Descriptive Catalog of the Library of W. B. Yeats, Garland 1985, p.34; item 220 [Wade 218].)

But see ...

Gerald Eades Bentley & Martin K. Nurmi, A Blake Bibliography: Annotated List of Works, Studies, and Blakeana (Minnesota UP 1964) - citing items by Yeats:
294. The Works of William Blake, Poetic, Symbolic, and Critical. Ed. with Lithographs of the Illustrated “Prophetic Books,” and a Memoir and Interpretation by Edwin John Ellis and William Butler Yeats. In Three Vols. London, 1892. “The Memoir” is Vol. I, pp.1-72. “The Literary Period” is Vol. I, pp.175-232. “The Symbolic System” is Vol. I, pp.235-420. “Interpretation and Paraphrased Commentary” is Vol. II, pp.3-301. “Blake the Artist” is Vol. II, pp.405-435. All of Blakes works are in Vol. III. There are 296 plates. / The lithographs include complete facsimiles of Thel, Vision of the Daughters of Albion, The Song of Los, America, Europe, Milton (45 plates), and Jerusalem, in all of which the quality is poor. With comments:
‘On May 3rd 1900 Yeats wrote: “The writing of this book is mainly Ellis’s. The thinking is as much mine as his. The biography is by him. He wrote and trebled in size a biography of mine. The greater part of the ‘symbolic system’ is my writing; the rest of the book was written by Ellis working over short accounts of the books by me, except in the case of the ‘literary period’, the account of the minor poems, and the account of Blake’s art theories which are all his own except in so far as we disucssed everything together.” (Hazard Adams, Blake and Yeats: The Contrary Vision, Ithaca NY: Cornell UP 1955, No. 610, p.47.)
 The enthusiasm and comprehensiveness of this work are of considerable historical importance, but the reproductions are unreliable, the transcriptions inaccurate, the biography surprisingly fictional, and the criticism and interpretation throughout colored by the editor’s peculiar preconceptions. The work is likely to prove useful only to adepts in both Blake and Yeats. (p.74.)

[ See also notes from The Works ... &c. and other editions of Blake made by Yeats, in RICORSO Library> “Authors” > Yeats - as attached. ]
Also lists -

240A. The Poems of William Blake. Ed. W. B. Yeats. London, 1893. B. London & NY. [1905] The Muses Library. C. Mr William Butler Yeats introduces the Poetical Works of William Blake. London. 1910. Books that Marked Epochs. D. Poems of William Blake. NY. [1920] Modern Library. [See 294.] The introductions are pp.xv-liii in A; pp.xi-lxix in B; pp.xi-xlix in C; pp.xi-xli in D. Yeats’s introduction is incorporated int no.f208, in Japanese. (p.69.)
[...]

Note: NLI Catalogue listing Yeats’s vellum bound copy of his edition of Blake is described in Wade as item 218: with manuscript note in ink on front flyleaf of volume 1, in W. B. Yeats’s own hand. [I.e.,] ‘The writing of this book ... [etc.]’, signed ‘WBY, May 1900’; also manuscript annotations and revisions in Yeats’s own hand throughout all three volumes; binder’s ink stamp to verso of [front?] free end-paper in all three volumes: ‘Bound by Mudie’; 3 volumes: illustrations, portraits, facsimiles; 27 cm. Bibl.: A descriptive catalog of W. B. Yeats’s library, Edward O’Shea. - New York; London: Garland, 1985. page 34. Provenance: YL 220 - From the Library of W. B. Yeats.

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Works on Blake relating to Yeats held in the National Library of Ireland- Catalogue
  • The Works of William Blake: Poetic, Symbolic, and Critical, ed. with lithographs of the illustrated “Prophetic books”, and a memoir and interpretation by Edwin John Ellis and William Butler Yeats; in three volumes (London: Bernard Quaritch 1893) [Yeats’s vellum bound copy; Wade, 218; manuscript note in ink on front flyleaf of Vol. 1, in W. B. Yeats’s hand [‘The writing of this book [... &c.]’], signed ‘WBY, May 1900’; MS annotations and revisions in Yeats’s own hand throughout all three volumes [YL 220].
  • S. Foster Damon, William Blake: His Philosophy and Symbols (London: Constable & Co. 1924), xv, 487pp., ill.; 27 cm. [YL 463; see note].
  • Poems of William Blake [Modern Library] (NY: Boni and Liveright 19[--]), xli, 278pp. 17cm.; Wade 222] Another copy from Padraig O Broin Collection [LO 8290].
  • Poems of William Blake (London & New York: G. Routledge [1905]), xlix, 277pp.
  • Poetical Works of William Blake, [ed and intro. by] Wiliam Butler Yeats [Books that Marked Epochs ser., Vol. 2.] (London: George Routledge 1910), xlix, [2], 277pp.; 16.1 cm.
  • Poems of William Blake [Muses’ Library] (London & New York: George Routledge & Sons; E.P. Dutton & Co. [q.d.]).
  • Frederick Tatham, ed., The Letters of William Blake: Together with a Life,edited from the original manuscripts with an introduction and notes by Archibald G. B. Russell; with 12 illustrations (London: Methuen [1905]), xlvii, 237, 40pp., ill. [ills., ports., folded facs.; 23 cm.; with author’s inscription on front flyleaf: ‘W.B. Yeats / gratefully / from Archie Russell / 24 October 1906’ [YL 203].
  • Ideas of Good and Evil, by W. B. Yeats. (London: A. H. Bullen 1903), vii, 341pp., 20cm. [Wade No. 44; LO 9427 from the Joseph Campbell Collection; also a signed presentation copy from the author to Annie Horniman as LO 9372; another inscribed to ‘George Pollexfen from his nephew, W. B. Yeats, 1903’ as LO 9643, with a bookplate of J. O. Edwards.]
  • A Lexical Concordance to the Poetical Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley: An attempt to classify every word found therein according to its signification compiled and arranged by F.S. Ellis (London: Bernard Quaritch, 1892),  xi, 818pp.; 28cm. [YL 628]

[Note that Bernard Quaritch was friendly with Edward Fitzgerald, author of The Rubai'yat of Omar Khayyam, and issued a collection of letters exchanged between them in 1924. Horace Quaritch was his successor in the firm.]
  •  MS letter from Yeats to Quaritch enquiring about a possible review by Richard Le Gallienne (publ. May 1893) and addressed Lonsdale House, St Lawrence Rd., Clontarf [MS 41,882 /1-2].
—Available at National Library Catalogue - online; accessed 21.04.2015.

Note - also by Damon:
  • S. Foster Damon, A Blake Dictionary: The Ideas and Symbols of William Blake (Brown UP 1965), xii, 460, ill. [NLI] - being a reformulation of William Blake: His Philosophy and Symbols (1924) [orig. written as an unaccepted Harvard thesis]. See also reprint of Blake Dictionary, ed. Morris Eaves (Brown UP 2013) - online.

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  Poems of William Blake, ed. & intro. by W. B. Yeats (editions of 1893, 1910, 1920, &c.)
1. First edition: [Yeats solo,] ed., The Poems of William Blake [The Muses’ Library] ((London: Lawrence & Bullen 1893), and Do. (NY: Scribner 1893), liv., 252pp., ill. [pl. port.] [Contents: Introduction; Poetical sketches; Songs of innocence; Songs of experience; Ideas of good and evil; The prophetic books; Prose fragments.]
2. Another edn. as The Poems of William Blake, edited by W. B. Yeats [The Muses’ Library] (London: G. Routledge & Sons [1905]), xlix, 277pp. [ill., port.], 8° [Query date]
3. Mr. William Butler Yeats introduces the Poetical Works of William Blake (London: George Routledge & Sons. Ltd. 1910), xlix, [1], 277, [7]pp., 15cm. [spine in calf; gold line; boards in cloth] Titlepage: Mr William Butler Yeats introduces the Poetical Works of William Blake, born in 1757, died in 1827 as the second volume in the series of “Books that marked Epochs”, published in the year 1910 by GEORGE ROUTLEDGE […, &c.] (reiss. of Muses' Library Edn. of 1905.)
CONTENTS: Introduction, xi-xlix; Poetical Sketches 3-44 [incls. King Edward the Third, pp.17-44]; Songs of Innocence [47-62]; Songs of Experience [65-85]; Ideas of Good and Evil [89-144]; The Prophetic Books [147-236]; Prose Fragments [239]; Notes [261]. Notes: Includes bibliographical references. See also Do. [another edn.]
4. Another edn. as The Poems of William Blake (NY: E. P. Dutton & Co [1910]), xlix, [1], 277, [7]pp., 15cm. [rep. of Routledge 1910 edn.]
5. Another edn., as Poems of William Blake, edited by William Butler Yeats [The Modern Library] (NY: Boni & Liveright 1920), xli, [1], 278pp., 17 cm. [rep. of 1920 edn.]
6. Another edn., as Poems of William Blake, edited by W. B. Yeats [The Muses' Library] (Harvard UP 1969).
7. Collected Poems / William Blake, edited by W.B. Yeats; with a new introduction by Tom Paulin (London & NY: Routledge 2002), xliii, 256pp. [21 cm]. (See extracts from Yeats’s Introduction in Ricorso Library, “Major Authors”, infra.)

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