Volume 1 of BLAST published by John Lane Publishing in 1914. It is a Fair condition, damaged on its cover and spine but completely legible. It was Published on June 20th, 1914 and edited by Wyndham Lewis, including his own works and the contributions of a variety of different authors and artists. This book is part of a literary journal which spanned over two volumes, the first printed in 1914 and the second in 1915. It was printed in England in English by Leveridge and Co., St. Thomas’ Road, Harlesden with a letter press. It is a presentation of the art movement of Vorticism through an editorial collection of Manifestos, Critiques, Articles, and Photographs composed by multiple different contributors. This one is a copy of volume one from within San Diego State University’s Special Collections Archive, which acquired the book in 2016.
The book is a soft cover journal featuring a faded magenta pink color on its mirrored with its title, BLAST, printed diagonally across both the front and back covers in large Grotesque No. 9 font. This book is in legible and clean condition, however the spine and the cover are both damaged. The cover is legible but torn at the edges and completely detached from the volume, its color is also faded at the center, turning slightly brown from pink. The spine is also damaged, a large portion is exposed while other pieces of the cover have stayed on. Because of this delicate spine the book may only be opened a quarter, not fully flat. Although the book does feature signs of its age through its deteriorated cover and spine, evidence of previous ownership is sparse. The pages in the interior of the book are made of wood pulp and are in a better condition than the cover, they are clean with no additional annotations. There are no additional plates, handwriting, or stamps within the copy to describe ownership.
BLAST features a variety of texts as well as whole pages dedicated to illustrations pressed on by woodcuts. There are also various photographs which are printed on a different type of paper, they are printed in black and white ink on a glossy sturdy stock of paper instead of the wood pulp paper used in the rest of the journal. The illustrations and the photographs are created in the Vortist style, blocky, with stark and defined lines and shapes.
Analysis:
Blast is composed of a multitude of texts. It includes a play, poems, art, photographs, letters, and critiques. It is mostly pressed in Grotesque no.9 font in a variety of different sizes and placements among the pages. It is a review of, “the Great English Vortex,” (Lewis 1), edited and written by Wyndham Lewis with contributions from writers and artists, Ezra Pound, Ford Maddow Huefffer, Rebecca West, Edward Wadsworth, Gaudier Brzeska, Frederick Etchells, W. Roberts, Jacob Epstein, Cuthbert Hamilton, and Spencer Gore. This first volume is not a stand alone edition, a second volume was published the year after the first in 1915. No other volumes were published after, many of those involved in writing pieces for BLAST joined the troops to fight in the first World War, and afterward “after the war…Blast out in 1915, the “War Number” would be the magazine’s last.” Therefore, efforts to publish a third edition failed. The journal was created to express Vorticism as an artistic movement. In the 1914 publication, BLAST vol 1, writer Wyndham Lewis diverged from the standard writing and printing styles of the time to introduce the vorticist style to London. The cover of his journal featured a bright pink color and large, bold, and slanted title, it is the pinnacle of his vorticist style through those features. The intention of this cover is to introduce that style, blast it in the reader’s eyes, and to encompass one of the messages within the journal, that writers and readers, should want to indulge in the “now” of literary art, which was bold, abstract, and new, not the past or future, but the present.
Published in London, England the journal immediately presents an abstract aesthetic when compared to other trends and formats in published work from the period and in the years before. It counters any sort of expected presentation, blasting it apart and presenting the vorticist style. Vortisim was an art movement created by Lewis, meant to, “create art that expressed the dynamism of the modern world,” The movement is introduced right from the cover, the bright vuschia color being an attention grabbing color on any shelf or surface, while the title makes a readers take a pause, wanting to know more about the publication based on what is left on and off the cover. The title, “BLAST” is printed diagonally, left to right across the cover in large, thick, black letters in Grotesque no.9 font on top of the hot pink soft cover. The cover is not delicate and finely printed, it does not feature the names of the authors or publishers upon it, it only relies on its new style, reminiscent of cubism and feeling abstract in its placement to attract readers and represent its text. The cover is a perfect representation of the entire rest of the journal as the text within will follow the message and structure that it presents and introduces.
The message of the cover is “BLAST.” Blast as a word means to destroy, to break something apart, as a title that word conveys that the writers aim to blast, break apart from the norm and create a style of literary art that is new and current, not a repetition of previous forms and works. Vorticisim is that style which the writers choose to employ to blast the previous. It is a, “combined cubist fragmentation of reality with hard-edged imagery derived from the machine and the urban environment, which relies on, “a bold blend with harsh lines and harsher colors. Instead of abstraction the Vorticists developed a vivid geometric style, which set apart their typography.” The art style of Vorticism is presented by the initial, “BLAST,” of the cover communicated through the rotation of the text to be diagonal and gigantic, bold and dark across the face of the journal contrasting against the equally bold magenta background. The style is laid throughout the rest of the journal, the manifestos within the first forty pages featuring the art style through the fragmented spacing of their text, the bolded type, and the abrupt, concise statements.
The text of the journal does not only follow the artistic style established by the cover, but its language and tone aswell. “BLAST,” printed in all capital letters, shouts at the readers, it is meant to trap the reader’s attention not only producing an image of destruction, but by presenting a statement and phrase that the text will expand upon. The body of the journal follows in the step of the title and continues to shout and exclaim toward the reader, the manifesto supplying many BLASTs and BLESSING toward the reader in the same tone conveyed by the cover.
By the vorticist art of the page the statements of the writer are efficiently communicated and ennunciated. Instead of a simple critique or insult toward England, for example, Lewis is able to practically yell his words toward the reader, not relying on extra characters, terms, or languange, but instead on the shape and space that the words take on the page, demanding more attention and feeling from the reader. The readers of BLAST would have been reading from such a format for the first time, the style, vorticisim being a new art by Lewis; the new artistic style was novel to readers, being introduced to it from the cover and exploring it throughout the entirety of the work. Because of the new literary art style that BLAST was presenting its intended audience for reading was those participating in the London art scene. The creators of the work signed their names in its manifesto; they were a group of, “young writers and artists,”who were part of that scene.
Intriguingly, Lewis speaks directly to the readers to explain where to procure more copies of the journal. Although BLAST was printed at Leveridge and Co. at, St. Thomas’ Road, Harlesden, on the flyleaf of the journal these readers are even invited to get more copies of BLAST from Lewis himself, “Copies may also be obtained from MR. WYNDHAM LEWIS, Rebel Art Centre 38, Great Ormond Street, Queen’s Square, W.C. (Hours, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.)”
However, even though BLAST is advertised by Lewis to be able to be received from the address he provides, the publishing company of the journal, John Lane Publishing also advertises their own publications at the end of BLAST. They include a list of the Memoirs, Biographies, Fiction, and Novels that they publish, however these are notably not printed in the Vorticist style.
The cover of BLAST introduces the written style of Vorticism to the reader, as well as the art style of Vorticism. In the journal is a woodcut image by Edward Wadsworth pressed directly on the page as well as a printed reproduction of his art.
The art by Wadsworth throughout the journal compliments the written works, being formed by their same structure and producing it in image instead of text. The cover of the journal echoes this, the cover is not just a piece of text, but art as well. It is a line formed by text striking through a pink canvas, all of BLAST is part of art, the cover remains an introduction to all of the art of the text, not just the style of the type, but the entire artistic Vorticist movement meant to be created. The styles of the cover, the text, and the art pieces all follow the Vorticist intention to “intended more to express a feeling and mood than tell a story or display a distinct picture,” the positions of the subject of the works, the size of “BLAST,” the placement of text, and the image of the art are express the feelings of the writers and artist first, and elaborate on their distinct message second
BLAST was used by Wyndham Lewis and his collaborators to present the art of Vorticism to London. Initiating their art from the cover, they introduce the reader immediately the art form, blasting them with “BLAST,” on a bright pink surface. Using this cover they are able to prepare the expectations of the reader for the art that they will ingest by reading the journal, allowing them to know that they will be seeing an art that is new that blasts the old away and that is not for, “the sentimental future.” but for the now, for the present. (Lewis 7).
Works Cited
“Blast: Review of the Great English Vortex (1914-15).” Omeka Library, omeka.library.uvic.ca/exhibits/show/movable-type/the-book/blastmagazine1.html#:~:text=The%20Magazine.%20Blast%20was%20printed%20in%20July,and%20to%20brand%20it%20as%20being%20English . Accessed 26 Oct. 2025.
“How Blast Magazine Changed Literature Forever.” Type Room, 30 July 2015, www.typeroom.eu/how-blast-magazine-changed-literature-forever .
Morrisson, Mark. “Blast: An Introduction.” Modernist Journals | BLAST: An Introduction, Modernist Journals Project, modjourn.org/blast-an-introduction/ . Accessed 26 Oct. 2025.
“Vorticism.” Tate, www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/v/vorticism . Accessed 26 Oct. 2025. “Wyndham Lewis – Blast, No. 1.”