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What is now proved was once only imagined.

William Blake, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (c. 1790–93)

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The story behind the card

The line is one of the 'Proverbs of Hell', a page of sharp sayings in The Marriage of Heaven and Hell. Like most of his books, Blake made it by hand: he etched words and pictures on copper plates, printed them himself and coloured the pages with his wife Catherine, as no ordinary publisher could reproduce them. He earned his living as an engraver and was largely ignored as a poet and painter in his lifetime; only later was he recognised as one of the great figures of English Romanticism.

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William Blake, Cennet ile Cehennemin Evliliği (1790-1793)

Bu söz, Cennet ile Cehennemin Evliliği'ndeki keskin özdeyişlerden oluşan “Cehennemin Atasözleri” bölümünden. Blake kitaplarının çoğunu kendi eliyle yapardı: Yazıyla resmi bakır levhalara birlikte kazır, sayfaları kendisi basar, eşi Catherine'le birlikte elle boyardı; çünkü sıradan bir yayıncı böyle sayfaları basamazdı. Geçimini gravürcülükle sağladı; yaşarken şair ve ressam olarak pek tanınmadı. İngiliz Romantizminin büyük adlarından biri sayılması ancak ölümünden sonra oldu.

Sources and further reading

Background reading: The Marriage of Heaven and Hell
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