An Island in the Moon

The manuscript of the dramatic satire known as An Island in the Moon sheds much light on William Blake at a formative stage in his artistic development. In the midst of this burlesque of his social and cultural mileu are the beginnings of the Songs of Innocence and of Experience (including three Songs in draft). There are references to 'Illuminating the Manuscript' and to having the 'writing Engraved instead of Printed'; examples of Blake practising copperplate script and mirror writing; and some sketches. A fresh transcript of the text is reproduced facing each corresponding page of the facsimile, and there is full annotation and an explanatory introduction. A second copy of the complete MS, sewn in a single section, is inserted at the back of the book.