William Blake 's Illuminated Manuscripts

William Blake was born in London on November 28, 1757 to James and Catherine Blake. His father, James was a hosier (seller of legwear) in London. Blake had four brothers, James, John, Richard and Robert; and a sister named Catherine (Harris 5). Blake got along best with his younger brother, Robert as they shared an interest in art (Clarke 1). As a young boy, Blake claimed to have had visions of God, spirits, prophets and angels. When he was four he is claimed to have seen God’s head in his window

William Blake had a strict standard on how his poems should appear. In his poems, he was not very concerned with grammar or spelling, even though he was writing in a time much after the official English language had been created. Much of his spellings are very old-fashioned to us and at times can sound very awkward. Even his readers in his time found that the wording and spelling of phrases and words was quaint. William Blake also used forms of punctuation that were not considered to be standard

written in the English language. The earliest surviving poetry was likely transmitted orally and then written down in versions that do not now survive; thus, dating the earliest poetry remains difficult and often controversial. The earliest surviving manuscripts date from the 10th century. Poetry written in Latin, Brythonic (a predecessor language of Welsh) and Old Irish survives

printed manuscript is the Diamond Sutra. - Around 1000AD, paper money was printed. - An early form of Chinese graphic design was playing cards. - In 1045 AD, Chinese alchemist Pi Sheng developed movable type, using clay and glue. - Because types are not moveable, characters were organized by rhyme. - Moveable type never replaced the handcut woodblock of the orient. - The invention of paper and printing arrived in Europe just as the Renaissance began. Chapter 4: Illuminated Manuscripts - Hand-written