A William Muir chronology II: 1884-1940

Former home of the Iona Press.

1884
Muir, now settled in London, began publishing as the Iona Press—Muir proprietor, manager, editor—John MacCormick set up type and worked the press, binder (John MacCormick—already a student at Glasgow University?). "The pictures in the 'Iona Press' (and also those of the Blake Press London) were painted by girls on the island, under the instruction of Mr Muir and the late Miss Flora Ritchie, whose father, the late Captain Ritchie, kindly gave the use of a room in his house, and in other ways materially assisted the workers financially."

A William Muir chronology I: 1817-1883

This chronology was prepared by Ted Ryan some twenty-five years ago.  His source was principally the Oban Times obituary of Muir published in 1939.

◊

1817
George Walker Muir (father), one of a "talented family of five" born in Kilmarnock.

1818
4 September. Birth of Christine Penman (mother) in Glasgow.

1837
Birth of Count Gleichen (patron).

Blake: reproducing the works in Illuminated Printing

Every literary work that descends to us operates through the deployment of a double helix of perceptual codes: the linguistic codes, on one hand, and the bibliographical codes on the other. We recognize the latter simply by looking at a medieval literary manuscript—or at any of William Blake’s equivalent illuminated texts produced (in the teeth of) the age of mechanical reproduction.—MCGANN 

The challenge from the mid-nineteenth century onwards (up to and including the present day), has been to reproduce William Blake’s work in Illuminated Printing in a way that provides fidelity not just to the image but to the reading experience. To cite one of the founders of the Blake Archive, “what is selected for reproduction and how it is reproduced affects the Blake we know and how we know him” (Viscomi). For each attempt at reproduction we need to specify, rigorously and precisely, what these gains and losses entail and especially what they reveal about presuppositions underlying reading and writing.