The History and Future of the Book

There is no Natural Religion

William Blake

Copy G (Pierpont Morgan Library)
Medium: Relief etching with touches of white-line etching on some plates.
Printing Style: Relief, with rudimentary color printing on most plates.
Ink Color: burnt umber and olive brown

page 1 (Bentley a1, Erdman a1, Keynes a2) "There is No Natural Religion"
page 2 (Bentley a2, Erdman a2, Keynes a1)
page 3 (Bentley a3, Erdman a3, Keynes a3)
page 4 (Bentley a4, Erdman a4, Keynes a4)
page 5 (Bentley a5, Erdman a5, Keynes a5)
page 6 (Bentley a6, Erdman a6, Keynes a6)
page 7 (Bentley a7, Erdman a7, Keynes a7)
page 8 (Bentley a8, Erdman a8, Keynes a8)
page 9 from copy I (Bentley a9, Erdman a9, Keynes a9)
page 10 (Bentley b3, Erdman b3, Keynes b3)
page 11 (Bentley b4, Erdman b4, Keynes b4)
page 12 (Bentley b12, Erdman b12, Keynes b12)

 

You can compare copy G to copy B if you're interested.

Copy B (Yale Center for British Art)
Medium: Relief etching with touches of white-line etching on some plates.
Printing Style: Relief, with rudimentary color printing on most plates and touches of monochrome wash on a few plates, particularly plate 6.
Ink Color: burnt umber and olive brown

page 1 (Bentley a1, Erdman a1, Keynes a2) "There is No Natural Religion"
page 2 (Bentley a3, Erdman a3, Keynes a3)
page 3 (Bentley a4, Erdman a4, Keynes a4)
page 4 (Bentley a5, Erdman a5, Keynes a5)
page 5 (Bentley a6, Erdman a6, Keynes a6)
page 6 (Bentley a7, Erdman a7, Keynes a7)
page 7 (Bentley a8, Erdman a8, Keynes a8)
page 8 (Bentley a9, Erdman a9, Keynes a9)
page 9 (Bentley b3, Erdman b3, Keynes b3)
page 10 (Bentley b4, Erdman b4, Keynes b4)
page 11 (Bentley b12, Erdman b12, Keynes b12)

 

Description of the work, from the Blake Archive:

Blake divided this work into two groups of numbered propositions, designated by modern editors as "series a" and "series b." In the first, Blake states basic principles, derived from the philosophy of John Locke and his followers, about physical perception, reason, and the limits of knowledge. The second series redefines and confutes the first and argues for the infinitude of spiritual perceptions. Shared graphic styles, themes, and genre closely associate There is No Natural Religion with All Religions are One.

Blake etched the work in relief on twenty small plates c. 1788. A few designs show touches of white-line work. Impressions of only nineteen plates are now extant; no impression is known from the plate that presumably bore proposition "III" in series b. Only two printings are known. The first, c. 1794, is an abridgement consisting of twelve plates (a1-9; b3, 4, 12). These show rudimentary color printing and hand tinting on some plates. This printing is represented by copies A-D, G, and M, although later extractions and additions in some of these copies have obscured Blake's intentions for his abridgement, in which the Lockean principles of series a are directly refuted by the three plates from series b. The second printing (1795) contains ten plates from series b (b1, 3, 4, 6, 7-12) plus the title page from series a (a2). Only a single large-paper copy (L), printed as a companion to the large-paper copy (A) of All Religions are One, plus a few loose pulls, are known from this printing. It too shows rudimentary color printing. At a much later date, probably no earlier than 1818, Blake added pen and ink framing lines to copy L.