The Wine Presses of Love

The Wine Presses of Love
A conversation between Michael Phillips and Tim Heath
(8 pm Tuesday 16 September ... glass of wine ... etc)

William Blake was married for 45 years to Catherine, yet there was a relationship in his life that was arguably more important, one that pre-dated his wedding, accompanied him to his death, and gave quotidian expression to his genius – a Printing Press.

The conversation will explore how Blake’s skill as a printer informed his life and gave direction to his extraordinary imagination. His faithfulness to a wooden rolling printing press is one of the great love stories of all time, or to explain it in Blake’s own words, Execution is the Chariot of Genius.

Michael Phillips is Emeritus Fellow of the interdisciplinary Centre for Eighteenth Century Studies at the University of York. He has been guest curator of major exhibitions of Blake, in London, New York and Paris, and
is currently preparing ‘William Blake Apprentice & Master’, that opens at the Ashmolean Museum on 4 December 2014.

His most recent publication on Blake is an edition in facsimile with introduction and commentary of the Bodleian Library copy of The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, published by Bodleian Library Publications and the University of Chicago Press in 2011. Michael’s training and research as a printmaker has enabled him to re-create how Blake produced his illuminated  books. www.williamblakeprints.co.uk

Tim Heath is Chair of the Blake Society and is leading the campaign to purchase Blake’s Cottage and put it into trust as a celebration of the prophetic imagination. www.blakecottage.org