由于对伦敦的生活感到失望，再加上谋生艰难，布莱克和妻子凯瑟琳于1800年前往沿海村庄费尔法姆定居，不久后，这位艺术家将那里描述为 "地球上最可爱的地方"。除了与Felpham有关的作品外，本书还考虑了附近的佩特沃斯宅第（Petworth House）的藏品，其中包括布莱克的三幅主要画作以及相关的印刷品、书籍和档案资料。几位作者将探讨布莱克在苏塞克斯郡建立的关系，特别是与诗人威廉•海利、雕塑家约翰•弗莱克斯曼、埃格雷蒙特第三伯爵（19世纪初伟大的当代艺术收藏家之一）和与他分居的妻子伊丽莎白•伊里夫（Elizabeth Ilive）的关系，后者委托布莱克创作了这三幅画作中的两幅，现存于佩特沃斯。布莱克为Hayley创作的作品（常常被认为是插图和装饰性的）会被重新评价，他在苏塞克斯创作的其他项目（包括为他在伦敦的伟大赞助人Thomas Butts创作的杰出的圣经水彩画）将被介绍。布莱克因煽动叛乱而被捕和受审（这是对他在苏塞克斯郡产生深远影响的主要事件之一）将被讨论。鲜为人知的是，布莱克首先在佩特沃斯受审，在那里他得到了第三伯爵的担保。

Disillusioned with London life and struggling to make a living, Blake and his wife Catherine went in 1800 to live at the coastal village of Felpham, which the artist soon described as “the sweetest spot on earth”. In addition to the work associated with Felpham, this publication considers the collections of nearby Petworth House, which include three major paintings by Blake – otherwise unrepresented in other grand houses of Britain – along with related prints, books and archival material. The authors will examine the relationships formed by Blake in Sussex, particularly with the poet William Hayley, the sculptor John Flaxman, the 3rd Earl of Egremont (one of the great collectors of contemporary art in the early 19th century) and his estranged wife Elizabeth Ilive, who commissioned two of the three paintings now in Petworth. Blake’s work for Hayley, often dismissed as illustrative and decorative, will be reappraised, and other projects he worked on in Sussex – including remarkable biblical watercolours produced for his great London patron, Thomas Butts – will be celebrated. Blake’s infamous arrest and trial for sedition – chief among the events profoundly aff ecting him in Sussex – will be discussed. It is not widely known that Blake was tried first in Petworth, where he was vouched for by the 3rd Earl.