The upcoming volume year is our fiftieth, an anniversary that seems perversely inevitable given Morton Paley’s words in the first issue of 15 June 1967: “I think the Newsletter should be just that—not an incipient journal.” That issue included a report on the rediscovery of the Small Blake-Varley Sketchbook and solicited opinions on the dating of the two Nights the Seventh in The Four Zoas.
Morton has been the editor since the beginning, and Morris Eaves for almost that long. Thanks to them and to all those who have contributed and given support, we have reached a milestone that we intend to celebrate in our usual small but mighty fashion.
Over the course of the year there will be subscription giveaways and possibly a contest or two. We’ll publish a history/timeline of the journal based on the updates that Morris wrote when editorial staff changed or new technology transformed the publishing process. There may even be cake. We will publicize our celebrations on this blog and on our Twitter account (@blakequarterly).
In conjunction with this post the Blake Archive, as part of their project to publish the digitized back issues of the journal, are releasing Newsletter no. 1, along with the others from the 1960s. Thanks to all at the archive for incorporating these issues into their publication schedule.
We’ll try not to get so carried away with cake consumption and nostalgia that we forget to publish any new issues. Vol. 50, no. 1 (summer 2016) will appear in late July. Here’s a preview of the cover:
By the time Blake was fifty he had, among other things, lived in two places, London and Felpham, and been tried for sedition; we have managed to steer clear of the courts so far (to the best of my knowledge), but have moved around the country (California to New Mexico to New York) and forged our own path as an independent journal. We’re proud to have reached 50!