William Blake, one of the greatest British artists, is to be celebrated at Tate Britain this November in the largest ever exhibition devoted to his work.

Among the treasures to go on display will be all 100 plates of perhaps Blake's greatest work, Jerusalem, from the Yale Centre for British Art, New Haven, on show for the first time in Britain since its completion in 1820.

Also being displayed is an extremely rare late copy of the illuminated Songs of Innocence and Experience loaned by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which contains Blake's enduringly popular work The Tyger (Tyger, Tyger, Burning Bright).

Drawing on the latest research, Blake's extraordinary technique will be explained to a contemporary audience through special displays including a fascinating examination of his studio and a contemporary printing press.

William Blake (1757-1827) equally gifted as a poet and painter, lived almost his entire life in London and produced some of the most arresting and original images in British art.

He remains, more than a century and a half after this death, a controversial figure, whose work continues to provoke and fascinate a modern audience.

Artists and writers as diverse as Maurice Sendack, creator of Where the Wild Things Are, Thomas Harris, author of The Silence of the Lambs, Blur's Alex James and the legendary American singer/songwriter Patti Smith have been inspired by Blake.

Assembled by a team of curators and leading Blake scholars, over 400 works from private and public collections all over the world will go on show. The exhibition will also draw on Tate's own holdings, one of the richest Blake collections in the world, including works rarely seen by the public.

A lavishly illustrated book will accompany the exhibition with an introduction by Peter Ackroyd, Blake's biographer, and essays by the exhibition's Curator, Robin Hamlyn, senior curator of Tate Collections Division, Professor Marilyn Butler, rector of Exeter College Oxford, and Michael Phillips, a leading Blake scholar.

To coincide with the exhibition, Tate Britain will present a special William Blake season including an appearance by Patti Smith and a concert featuring the work of Sir John Tavener, readings, film screenings and lectures.

William Blake, supported by Glaxo Wellcome plc is at the Tate Britain, Millbank from November 9. Tickets £8, concs £5, children free. To book call 0870 842 2233.