What is the best browser/platform/system for accessing the Archive?

The Blake Archive will function well with all up-to-date versions of major computer operating systems and Web browsers. We recommend that you use the latest version of Java, which can be downloaded here.

I've encountered a technical problem (bug) that seems to be impeding my use of the Archive. Can you help?

We maintain a list of known bugs and hazards, available here, which you should consult to see if we have already documented the problem you are having, and perhaps offered a solution. If not, we welcome bug reports. Please mail them to blake@blakearchive.org and be sure to indicate the day and time you were accessing the Archive, as well as information about your browser (type and version) and operating system.

I'm stuck with a slow connection to the Internet; is there any way to improve download times?

Unfortunately, all we can recommend is that you opt for the non-Java version of the site; a link for the non-Java option is located on all "Index" and "Object View" pages in the Archive. We regret the large file sizes of our inline and enlarged images, but believe the large file sizes are justified by the need to capture enough high-resolution detail from the original artifact for the digital image to be a suitable basis for serious study and scholarship.

Aren't there already dozens of Blake sites out there? What's special about this one?

In brief, we believe the Archive is distinguished by the scholarly expertise of its editors, the breadth of its holdings (and the diversity of the libraries, museums, and private collectors generously contributing them), and the very carefully chosen technical standards and editorial principles with which its texts and images are being prepared. All of this—combined with structured data and sophisticated information-retrieval technologies—allows us to organize and assemble the Archive's materials in ways that would have been impossible prior to the advent of functional hypermedia systems. The Archive also functions as a testbed for a suite of advanced image-manipulation tools that may well prove instrumental in carrying out other large image-based electronic editing projects.

Is it OK to use the Archive's images on my own personal Web pages either for decoration or for educational or other non-commercial purposes? After all, that's not really the same as "republishing" them, is it?

On the contrary, it is the same as republishing them and you may not use the Archive's images on your own Web pages without first obtaining the necessary permissions. Making an image (or content of any kind) available on the Web (even for recreational, educational, or other non-profit use) has been legally interpreted as publication, and publication requires the express prior consent of the copyright owner.

The copying of materials from the Blake Archive is permitted only under the fair use provisions of U.S. copyright law.

But if your images are publicly accessible online in the first place, doesn't that place them in the public domain?

No. Publicly accessible is not the same thing as public domain. Public domain is a legal term, meaning that a given work does not qualify for protection under the conventions of copyright law. In fact, lots of material that is publicly accessible on the Web—or in print—is not in the public domain. That is why books that reproduce illustrations will often contain notices of permissions received from the copyright owner. Even though the reproduction of the image is being made publicly accessible in the book, the author or publisher still needed to secure permission to use it in the first place. Just so with the Blake Archive's images on the Web: we have sought and been granted permission to reproduce all of the images in the Archive and make them available to the general public as part of our online collections, but this does not mean that the images have been granted public domain status or that the owners of the originals have relinquished their claims to copyright.

You've got some nerve trying to dictate what I can and can't put on my own pages. Do you think Blake would have wanted to see his work smothered by copyright laws? Why can't you just look the other way?

Because the continued growth and development of the Archive depends on the goodwill of the museums and libraries that own the originals of Blake's work. If unauthorized use of our images becomes a chronic problem, there is the real possibility that one or more of these institutions will refuse to work with us in the future, thus undermining the usefulness of our collections to everyone. Moreover, we update and emend our texts and images on a continual basis, and we want the most recent versions of the Archive's materials to be the ones generally available; it is not in our interest or the interest of our users to have isolated fragments of the Archive in circulation elsewhere on the Web.

The Blake Archive is a free site, open to all; we impose no subscription fees or access restrictions. We are endeavoring to create a resource of the highest standards and integrity for use by scholars, students, and the general public. If you care about a legacy for Blake in cyberspace, please respect our wishes in this matter.

How do I know who owns the copyright on a given image? How do I go about contacting the owner? And what about permissions to reuse the Archive's texts?

Click on the © symbol at the bottom left under each image in the Archive to find out which institution or individual owns its copyright. Contact information for institutions and individuals is available from our Contributing Collections page. In most cases, permission must be obtained from the owning institution. We can only grant permission to reproduce Archive materials; please do not contact us regarding materials not present in the Archive.

To obtain the right to reuse an image or text (transcription) in the Archive (except for Erdman's Complete Poetry and Prose of William Blake), please follow these instructions.

Why are some of the images copyrighted to the William Blake Archive? I thought you said the owner of the original always retains the copyright. And doesn't the Library of Congress have a special copyright policy?

When the owning institution opts not to claim copyright, the Archive's editors retain copyright instead. For example, the copyright declaration for the Library of Congress states: "The Library of Congress neither grants nor denies permission to reproduce materials from its collections. When material from our collections are reproduced in a book or other media, we ask, as a courtesy, that somewhere in the item there be a indication that the original is in the Rare Book and Special Collection Division, Library of Congress."

Note, however, that this policy does not extend to reproductions of Library of Congress materials created by a third party (such as the William Blake Archive). The Archive's editors therefore claim copyright over their digital images of Library of Congress materials, images that they have created from their own (considerable) expenditures of time and money. Users wishing to reproduce Library of Congress images may not do so without the express permission of the Archive's editors. Likewise, copyright on materials from the Essick Collection is also retained by the Archive's editors.

The editors may be contacted at blake@blakearchive.org.

I'd like to obtain a print of [a certain work] to hang on my wall. Do you know where can I find it?

If you are interested in a print (or a postcard or a T-shirt) with a particular Blake image, it would be best to contact the owner of the work and inquire about reproductions of the type you wish to acquire. Contact information for the institutions contributing works to the Archive can be found on our Contributing Collections page; many of these institutions also have gift shops which are linked from their home page.

Is [a certain work] in the Archive yet?

The best way to tell at the moment is simply to select Works in the Archive from our main table of contents page, and examine the materials you find linked there. If the item you want has text ("tyger," "tiger," "prisons") or image content ("queen," "nose," "mane") that you can specify, our text- and image-search tools may help narrow your search considerably. In the future we will be adding a search feature that will function as an index of titles in the Archive.

I have to write a paper about Blake [or a particular poem by Blake] for school. Will you help me?

Aside from the Works in the Archive, you may wish to consult our General and Specific Bibliographies, which you'll find linked from our main table of contents page. These contain a broad selection of books and articles about Blake and his work. Use them as starting points for your library research.

How do I cite material from the Archive?

To identify the Archive as the source of information that you are using in a paper, article, or book, we ask that you include the complete title of the Archive, its URL, and the date you accessed it, along with the other relevant documentation. Here is an example:

Blake, William. The Book of Thel, copy F, pl. 2. The William Blake Archive. Ed. Morris Eaves, Robert N. Essick, and Joseph Viscomi. 13 November 1997 <http://www.blakearchive.org/>.

The latest editions of standard reference works on scholarly style, such as The MLA Style Manual and The Chicago Manual of Style, offer useful advice on citing electronic sources.

May I link to the Archive?

Yes, of course. You do not need to request our permission to link to the Archive, or to individual items within the Archive. 

What's the best way to learn to use the Archive to its full potential?

By reading our help documentation, available here. We cannot recommend this strongly enough for any serious user of the Archive.

Is there a quicker way?

Even a close reading of the help documentation shouldn't take more than about thirty minutes, and we think most long-term users of the Archive will judge the time well spent. But if you're in a hurry you might either examine our graphical help screens, take the Tour of the Archive, or read the document entitled Archive at a Glance.

Are there ever public demonstrations of the Archive?

The editors usually demonstrate and discuss the Archive at several conferences a year; more detailed information about such events is available here.

What's the best way to keep track of new materials added to the Archive?

Either by periodically consulting the Archive's Update page, or else by subscribing to our blake-update mailing list (do so from the Update page), which distributes approximately six to ten messages a year about work completed at the Archive.

When will the Archive be complete?

In one important sense "never," given the openended nature of electronic publishing. The Archive is meant to be an organic resource, continually expanding and developing to support the needs of scholars studying Blake for a great many years to come. Having achieved the goal of incorporating copies of all of Blake's illuminated books, the archive has moved into a new phase, focused on the non-illuminated works, such as watercolor drawings, engravings, manuscripts, and printed books, though we regularly publish editions of additional copies of the illuminated books as well. A detailed timetable of our goals and accomplishments is available in the Plan of the Archive.

I sent email to you and never got a reply; how come you didn't answer?

We try to answer or acknowledge all of the email we receive. Sometimes this may take a week or even more if your note catches us at a particularly busy time or if it demands extra attention from the editors. If you believe that a reasonable amount of time has gone by without a response from us, feel free to send a reminder. It has also occasionally been the case, however, that our correspondents have failed to specify a valid return email address in their browser or mailer's preferences, and so our reply has bounced back to us undelivered. To prevent this from happening, please be certain to provide us with your correct return email address in the body as well as the header of your message.

Is there any other way to contact the Archive, aside from email?

You may write to the Blake Archive at:

	William Blake Archive
	University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
	Greenlaw Hall, CB 3520
	Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3520
	USA

If your request is particularly urgent or unusual, you may also telephone the project office at 919-962-8764 or send a fax to 919-962-3520 (please direct your fax to the attention of the Blake Archive).