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THE ART AND CRAFT OF PRINTING, BY WILLIAM MORRIS.
A NOTE BY WILLIAM MORRIS ON HIS AIMS IN FOUNDING THE KELMSCOTT PRESS,
TOGETHER WITH A SHORT DESCRIPTION OF THE PRESS BY S. C. COCKERELL, AND
AN ANNOTATED LIST OF THE BOOKS PRINTED THEREAT.
Copyright, 1902 By H. M. O'Kane
[Illustration: PSYCHE BORNE OFF BY ZEPHYRUS, DRAWN BY EDWARD BURNE-JONES
& ENGRAVED BY WILLIAM MORRIS]
[Illustration: NOTE BY WILLIAM MORRIS ON HIS AIMS IN FOUNDING THE
KELMSCOTT PRESS]
I began printing books with the hope of producing some which would have
a definite claim to beauty, while at the same time they should be easy
to read and should not dazzle the eye, or trouble the intellect of the
reader by eccentricity of form in the letters. I have always been a
great admirer of the calligraphy of the Middle Ages, & of the earlier
printing which took its place. As to the fifteenth-century books, I had
noticed that they were always beautiful by force of the mere typography,
even without the added ornament, with which many of them are so lavishly
supplied. And it was the essence of my undertaking to produce books
which it would be a pleasure to look upon as pieces of printing and
arrangement of type. Looking at my adventure from this point of view
then, I found I had to consider chiefly the following things: the paper,
the form of the type, the relative spacing of the letters, the words,
and the lines; and lastly the position of the printed matter on the
page. It was a matter of course that I should consider it necessary that
the paper should be hand-made, both for the sake of durability and
appearance. It would be a very false economy to stint in the quality of
the paper as to price: so I had only to think about the kind of
hand-made paper. On this head I came to two conclusions: 1st, that the
paper must be wholly of linen (most hand-made papers are of cotton
today), and must be quite 'hard,' i. e., thoroughly well sized; and 2nd,
that, though it must be 'laid' and not 'wove' (i. e., made on a mould
made of obvious wires), the lines caused by the wires of the mould must
not be too strong, so as to give a ribbed appearance. I found that on
these points I was at one with the practice of the paper-makers of the
fifteenth century; so I took as my model a Bolognese paper of about
1473. My friend Mr. Batchelor, of Little Chart, Kent, carried out my
views very satisfactorily, and produced from the first the excellent
paper, which I still use.
Next as to type. By instinct rather than by conscious thinking it over,
I began by getting myself a fount of Roman type. And here what I wanted
was letter pure in form; severe, without needless excrescences; solid,
without the thickening and thinning of the line, which is the essential
fault of the ordinary modern type, and which makes it difficult to read;
and not compressed laterally, as all later type has grown to be owing to
commercial exigencies. There was only one source from which to take
examples of this perfected Roman type, to wit, the works of the great
Venetian printers of the fifteenth century, of whom Nicholas Jenson
produced the completest and most Roman characters from 1470 to 1476.
This type I studied with much care, getting it photographed to a big
scale, and drawing it over many times before I began designing my own
letter; so that though I think I mastered the essence of it, I did not
copy it servilely; in fact, my Roman type, especially in the lower case,
tends rather more to the Gothic than does Jenson's.
After a while I felt that I must have a Gothic as well as a Roman fount;
and herein the task I set myself was to redeem the Gothic character from
the charge of unreadableness which is commonly brought against it. And I
felt that this charge could not be reasonably brought against the types
of the first two decades of printing: that Schoeffer at Mainz, Mentelin
at Strasburg, and Gunther Zainer at Augsburg, avoided the spiky ends and
undue compression which lay some of the later type open to the above
charge. Only the earlier printers (naturally following therein the
practice of their predecessors the scribes) were very liberal of
contractions, and used an excess of 'tied' letters, which, by the way,
are very useful to the compositor. So I entirely eschewed contractions,
except for the '&,' and had very few tied letters, in fact none but the
absolutely necessary ones. Keeping my end steadily in view, I designed a
black-letter type which I think I may claim to be as readable as a Roman
one, and to say the truth I prefer it to the Roman. This type is of the
size called Great Primer (the Roman type is of 'English' size); but
later on I was driven by the necessities of the Chaucer (a
double-columned book) to get a smaller Gothic type of Pica size.
The punches for all these types, I may mention, were cut for me with
great intelligence and skill by Mr. E. P. Prince, and render my designs
most satisfactorily.
Now as to the spacing: First, the 'face' of the letter should be as
nearly conterminous with the 'body' as possible, so as to avoid undue
whites between the letters. Next, the lateral spaces between the words
should be (a) no more than is necessary to distinguish clearly the
division into words, and (b) should be as nearly equal as possible.
Modern printers, even the best, pay very little heed to these two
essentials of seemly composition, and the inferior ones run riot in
licentious spacing, thereby producing, inter alia, those ugly rivers of
lines running about the page which are such a blemish to decent
printing. Third, the whites between the lines should not be excessive;
the modern practice of 'leading' should be used as little as possible,
and never without some definite reason, such as marking some special
piece of printing. The only leading I have allowed myself is in some
cases a 'thin' lead between the lines of my Gothic pica type: in the
Chaucer and the double-columned books I have used a 'hair' lead, and not
even this in the 16mo books. Lastly, but by no means least, comes the
position of the printed matter on the page. This should always leave the
inner margin the narrowest, the top somewhat wider, the outside
(fore-edge) wider still, and the bottom widest of all. This rule is
never departed from in mediaeval books, written or printed. Modern
printers systematically transgress against it; thus apparently
contradicting the fact that the unit of a book is not one page, but a
pair of pages. A friend, the librarian of one of our most important
private libraries, tells me that after careful testing he has come to
the conclusion that the mediaeval rule was to make a difference of 20 per
cent. from margin to margin. Now these matters of spacing and position
are of the greatest importance in the production of beautiful books; if
they are properly considered they will make a book printed in quite
ordinary type at least decent and pleasant to the eye. The disregard of
them will spoil the effect of the best designed type.
It was only natural that I, a decorator by profession, should attempt to
ornament my books suitably: about this matter, I will only say that I
have always tried to keep in mind the necessity for making my decoration
a part of the page of type. I may add that in designing the magnificent
and inimitable woodcuts which have adorned several of my books, and will
above all adorn the Chaucer which is now drawing near completion, my
friend Sir Edward Burne-Jones has never lost sight of this important
point, so that his work will not only give us a series of most beautiful
and imaginative pictures, but form the most harmonious decoration
possible to the printed book.
Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith. Nov. 11, 1895
A SHORT HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION OF THE KELMSCOTT PRESS.
The foregoing article was written at the request of a London bookseller
for an American client who was about to read a paper on the Kelmscott
Press. As the Press is now closing, and its seven years' existence will
soon be a matter of history, it seems fitting to set down some other
facts concerning it while they can still be verified; the more so as
statements founded on imperfect information have appeared from time to
time in newspapers and reviews.
As early as 1866 an edition of The Earthly Paradise was projected, which
was to have been a folio in double columns, profusely illustrated by Sir
Edward Burne-Jones, and typographically superior to the books of that
time. The designs for the stories of Cupid and Psyche, Pygmalion and the
Image, The Ring given to Venus, and the Hill of Venus, were finished,
and forty-four of those for Cupid and Psyche were engraved on wood in
line, somewhat in the manner of the early German masters. About
thirty-five of the blocks were executed by William Morris himself, and
the remainder by George Y. Wardle, G. F. Campfield, C. J. Faulkner, and
Miss Elizabeth Burden. Specimen pages were set up in Caslon type, and in
the Chiswick Press type afterwards used in The House of the Wolfings,
but for various reasons the project went no further. Four or five years
later there was a plan for an illustrated edition of Love is Enough, for
which two initial L's and seven side ornaments were drawn and engraved
by William Morris. Another marginal ornament was engraved by him from a
design by Sir E. Burne-Jones, who also drew a picture for the
frontispiece, which has now been engraved by W. H. Hooper for the final
page of the Kelmscott Press edition of the work. These side ornaments,
three of which appear on the opposite page, are more delicate than any
that were designed for the Kelmscott Press, but they show that when the
Press was started the idea of reviving some of the decorative features
of the earliest printed books had been long in its founder's mind. At
this same period, in the early seventies, he was much absorbed in the
study of ancient manuscripts, and in writing out and illuminating
various books, including a Horace and an Omar Khayyam, which may have
led his thoughts away from printing. In any case, the plan of an
illustrated Love is Enough, like that of the folio Earthly Paradise, was
abandoned.
Although the books written by William Morris continued to be reasonably
printed, it was not until about 1888 that he again paid much attention
to typography. He was then, and for the rest of his life, when not away
from Hammersmith, in daily communication with his friend and neighbour
Emery Walker, whose views on the subject coincided with his own, and who
had besides a practical knowledge of the technique of printing. These
views were first expressed in an article by Mr. Walker in the catalogue
of the exhibition of the Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society, held at the
New Gallery in the autumn of 1888. As a result of many conversations,
The House of the Wolfings was printed at the Chiswick Press at this
time, with a special type modelled on an old Basel fount, unleaded, and
with due regard to proportion in the margins. The title-page was also
carefully arranged. In the following year The Roots of the Mountains was
printed with the same type (except the lower case e), but with a
differently proportioned page, and with shoulder-notes instead of
head-lines. This book was published in November, 1889, and its author
declared it to be the best-looking book issued since the seventeenth
century. Instead of large paper copies, which had been found
unsatisfactory in the case of The House of the Wolfings, two hundred and
fifty copies were printed on Whatman paper of about the same size as the
paper of the ordinary copies. A small stock of this paper remained over,
and in order to dispose of it seventy-five copies of the translation of
the Gunnlaug Saga, which first appeared in the Fortnightly Review of
January, 1869, and afterwards in Three Northern Love Stories, were
printed at the Chiswick Press. The type used was a black-letter copied
from one of Caxton's founts, and the initials were left blank to be
rubricated by hand. Three copies were printed on vellum. This little
book was not however finished until November, 1890.
[Illustration: Ornaments designed and engraved for Love is Enough.]
Meanwhile William Morris had resolved to design a type of his own.
Immediately after The Roots of the Mountains appeared, he set to work
upon it, and in December, 1889, he asked Mr. Walker to go into
partnership with him as a printer. This offer was declined by Mr.
Walker; but, though not concerned with the financial side of the
enterprise, he was virtually a partner in the Kelmscott Press from its
first beginnings to its end, and no important step was taken without his
advice and approval. Indeed, the original intention was to have the
books set up in Hammersmith and printed at his office in Clifford's Inn.
It was at this time that William Morris began to collect the mediaeval
books of which he formed so fine a library in the next six years. He had
made a small collection of such books years before, but had parted with
most of them, to his great regret. He now bought with the definite
purpose of studying the type and methods of the early printers. Among
the first books so acquired was a copy of Leonard of Arezzo's History of
Florence, printed at Venice by Jacobus Rubeus in 1476, in a Roman type
very similar to that of Nicholas Jenson. Parts of this book and of
Jenson's Pliny of 1476 were enlarged by photography in order to bring
out more clearly the characteristics of the various letters; and having
mastered both their virtues and defects, William Morris proceeded to
design the fount of type which, in the list of December, 1892, he named
the Golden type, from The Golden Legend, which was to have been the
first book printed with it. This fount consists of eighty-one designs,
including stops, figures, and tied letters. The lower case alphabet was
finished in a few months. The first letter having been cut in Great
Primer size by Mr. Prince, was thought too large, and 'English' was the
size resolved upon. By the middle of August, 1890, eleven punches had
been cut. At the end of the year the fount was all but complete.
On Jan. 12th, 1891, a cottage, No. 16, Upper Mall, was taken. Mr.
William Bowden, a retired master-printer, had already been engaged to
act as compositor and pressman. Enough type was then cast for a trial
page, which was set up and printed on Saturday, Jan. 31st, on a sample
of the paper that was being made for the Press by J. Batchelor and Son.
About a fortnight later ten reams of paper were delivered. On Feb. 18th
a good supply of type followed. Mr. W. H. Bowden, who subsequently
became overseer, then joined his father as compositor, and the first
chapters of The Glittering Plain were set up. The first sheet appears to
have been printed on March 2nd, when the staff was increased to three by
the addition of a pressman named Giles, who left as soon as the book was
finished. A friend who saw William Morris on the day after the printing
of the page above mentioned recalls his elation at the success of his
new type. The first volume of the Saga Library, a creditable piece of
printing, was brought out and put beside this trial page, which much
more than held its own. The poet then declared his intention to set to
work immediately on a black-letter fount; illness, however, intervened
and it was not begun until June. The lower case alphabet was finished by
the beginning of August, with the exception of the tied letters, the
designs for which, with those for the capitals, were sent to Mr. Prince
on September 11th. Early in November enough type was cast for two trial
pages, the one consisting of twenty-six lines of Chaucer's Franklin's
Tale and the other of sixteen lines of Sigurd the Volsung. In each of
these a capital I is used that was immediately discarded. On the last
day of 1891 the full stock of Troy type was despatched from the foundry.
Its first appearance was in a paragraph, announcing the book from which
it took its name, in the list dated May, 1892.
This Troy type, which its designer preferred to either of the others,
shows the influence of the beautiful early types of Peter Schoeffer of
Mainz, Gunther Zainer of Augsburg, and Anthony Koburger of Nuremberg;
but, even more than the Golden type, it has a strong character of its
own, which differs largely from that of any mediaeval fount. It has
recently been pirated abroad, and is advertised by an enterprising
German firm as 'Die amerikanische Triumph-Gothisch.' The Golden type has
perhaps fared worse in being remodelled in the United States, whence,
with much of its character lost, it has found its way back to England
under the names 'Venetian,' 'Italian,' and 'Jenson.' It is strange that
no one has yet had the good sense to have the actual type of Nicholas
Jenson reproduced.
The third type used at the Kelmscott Press, called the 'Chaucer,'
differs from the Troy type only in size, being Pica instead of Great
Primer. It was cut by Mr. Prince between February and May, 1892, and was
ready in June. Its first appearance is in the list of chapters and
glossary of The Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye, which was issued on
November 24th, 1892.
On June 2nd of that year, William Morris wrote to Mr. Prince: 'I believe
in about three months' time I shall be ready with a new set of sketches
for a fount of type on English body.' These sketches were not
forthcoming; but on Nov. 5th, 1892, he bought a copy of Augustinus De
Civitate Dei, printed at the Monastery of Subiaco near Rome by Sweynheym
and Pannartz, with a rather compressed type, which appears in only three
known books. He at once designed a lower case alphabet on this model,
but was not satisfied with it and did not have it cut. This was his last
actual experiment in the designing of type, though he sometimes talked
of designing a new fount, and of having the Golden type cut in a larger
size.
Next in importance to the type are the initials, borders, and ornaments
designed by William Morris. The first book contains a single recto
border and twenty different initials. In the next book, Poems by the
Way, the number of different initials is fifty-nine. These early
initials, many of which were soon discarded, are for the most part
suggestive, like the first border, of the ornament in Italian
manuscripts of the fifteenth century. In Blunt's Love Lyrics there are
seven letters of a new alphabet, with backgrounds of naturalesque
grapes and vine leaves, the result of a visit to Beauvais, where the
great porches are carved with vines, in August, 1891. From that time
onwards fresh designs were constantly added, the tendency being always
towards larger foliage and lighter backgrounds, as the early initials
were found to be sometimes too dark for the type. The total number of
initials of various sizes designed for the Kelmscott Press, including a
few that were engraved but never used, is three hundred and eighty-four.
Of the letter T alone there are no less than thirty-four varieties.
The total number of different borders engraved for the Press, including
one that was not used, but excluding the three borders designed for The
Earthly Paradise by R. Catterson-Smith, is fifty-seven. The first book
to contain a marginal ornament, other than these full borders, was The
Defence of Guenevere, which has a half-border on p. 74. There are two
others in the preface to The Golden Legend. The Recuyell of the
Historyes of Troye is the first book in which there is a profusion of
such ornament. One hundred and eight different designs for marginal
ornaments were engraved. Besides the above-named designs, there are
seven frames for the pictures in The Glittering Plain, one frame for
those in a projected edition of The House of the Wolfings, nineteen
frames for the pictures in the Chaucer (one of which was not used in the
book), twenty-eight title-pages and inscriptions, twenty-six large
initial words for the Chaucer, seven initial words for The Well at the
World's End and The Water of the Wondrous Isles, four line-endings, and
three printer's marks, making a total of six hundred and forty-four
designs by William Morris, drawn and engraved within seven years. All
the initials and ornaments that recur were printed from electrotypes,
while most of the title-pages and initial words were printed direct from
the wood. The illustrations by Sir Edward Burne-Jones, Walter Crane, and
C. M. Gere were also, with one or two exceptions, printed from the wood.
The original designs by Sir E. Burne-Jones were nearly all in pencil,
and were redrawn in ink by R. Catterson-Smith, and in a few cases by C.
Fairfax Murray; they were then revised by the artist and transferred to
the wood by means of photography. The twelve designs by A. J. Gaskin for
Spenser's Shepheardes Calender, the map in The Sundering Flood, and the
thirty-five reproductions in Some German Woodcuts of the Fifteenth
Century, were printed from process blocks.
All the wood blocks for initials, ornaments, and illustrations, were
engraved by W. H. Hooper, C. E. Keates, and W. Spielmeyer, except the
twenty-three blocks for The Glittering Plain, which were engraved by A.
Leverett, and a few of the earliest initials, engraved by G. F.
Campfield. The whole of these wood blocks have been sent to the British
Museum, and have been accepted with a condition that they shall not be
reproduced or printed from for the space of a hundred years. The
electrotypes have been destroyed. In taking this course, which was
sanctioned by William Morris when the matter was talked of shortly
before his death, the aim of the trustees has been to keep the series of
Kelmscott Press books as a thing apart, and to prevent the designs
becoming stale by constant repetition. Many of them have been stolen and
parodied in America, but in this country they are fortunately copyright.
The type remains in the hands of the trustees, and will be used for the
printing of its designer's works, should special editions be called for.
Other books of which he would have approved may also be printed with it;
the absence of initials and ornament will always distinguish them
sufficiently from the books printed at the Kelmscott Press.
The nature of the English hand-made paper used at the Press has been
described by William Morris in the foregoing article. It was at first
supplied in sheets of which the dimensions were sixteen inches by
eleven. Each sheet had as a watermark a conventional primrose between
the initials W. M. As stated above, The Golden Legend was to have been
the first book put in hand, but as only two pages could have been
printed at a time, and this would have made it very costly, paper of
double the size was ordered for this work, and The Story of the
Glittering Plain was begun instead. This book is a small quarto, as are
its five immediate successors, each sheet being folded twice. The last
ream of the smaller size of paper was used on The Order of Chivalry. All
the other volumes of that series are printed in octavo, on paper of the
double size. For the Chaucer a stouter and slightly larger paper was
needed. This has for its watermark a Perch with a spray in its mouth.
Many of the large quarto books were printed on this paper, of which the
first two reams were delivered in February, 1893. Only one other size of
paper was used at the Kelmscott Press. The watermark of this is an
Apple, with the initials W. M., as in the other two watermarks. The
books printed on this paper are The Earthly Paradise, The Floure and the
Leafe, The Shepheardes Calender, and Sigurd the Volsung. The last-named
is a folio, and the open book shows the size of the sheet, which is
about eighteen inches by thirteen. The first supply of this Apple paper
was delivered on March 15, 1895.
Except in the case of Blunt's Love Lyrics, The Nature of Gothic, Biblia
Innocentium, The Golden Legend, and The Book of Wisdom and Lies, a few
copies of all the books were printed on vellum. The six copies of The
Glittering Plain were printed on very fine vellum obtained from Rome, of
which it was impossible to get a second supply as it was all required by
the Vatican. The vellum for the other books, except for two or three
copies of Poems by the Way, which were on the Roman vellum, was supplied
by H. Band of Brentford, and by W. J. Turney & Co. of Stourbridge. There
are three complete vellum sets in existence, and the extreme difficulty
of completing a set after the copies are scattered, makes it unlikely
that there will ever be a fourth.
The black ink which proved most satisfactory, after that of more than
one English firm had been tried, was obtained from Hanover. William
Morris often spoke of making his own ink, in order to be certain of the
ingredients, but his intention was never carried out.
The binding of the books in vellum and in half-holland was from the
first done by J. & J. Leighton. Most of the vellum used was white, or
nearly so, but William Morris himself preferred it dark, and the skins
showing brown hair-marks were reserved for the binding of his own copies
of the books. The silk ties of four colours, red, blue, yellow, and
green, were specially woven and dyed.
In the following section fifty-two works, in sixty-six volumes, are
described as having been printed at the Kelmscott Press, besides the two
pages of Froissart's Chronicles. It is scarcely necessary to add that
only hand presses have been used, of the type known as 'Albion.' In the
early days there was only one press on which the books were printed,
besides a small press for taking proofs. At the end of May, 1891, larger
premises were taken at 14, Upper Mall, next door to the cottage already
referred to, which was given up in June. In November, 1891, a second
press was bought, as The Golden Legend was not yet half finished, and it
seemed as though the last of its 1286 pages would never be reached.
Three years later another small house was taken, No. 14 being still
retained. This was No. 21, Upper Mall, overlooking the river, which
acted as a reflector, so that there was an excellent light for printing.
In January, 1895, a third press, specially made for the work, was set up
here in order that two presses might be employed on the Chaucer. This
press has already passed into other hands, and the little house, with
its many associations, and its pleasant outlook towards Chiswick and
Mortlake, is now being transformed into a granary. The last sheet
printed there was that on which are the frontispiece and title of this
book.
14, Upper Mall, Hammersmith, January 4, 1898.
AN ANNOTATED LIST OF ALL THE BOOKS PRINTED AT THE KELMSCOTT PRESS IN THE
ORDER IN WHICH THEY WERE ISSUED.
Note: The borders are numbered as far as possible in the order of their
first appearance, those which appear on a verso or left hand page being
distinguished by the addition of the letter 'a' to the numbers of the
recto borders of similar design.
1. THE STORY OF THE GLITTERING PLAIN. WHICH HAS BEEN ALSO CALLED THE
LAND OF LIVING MEN OR THE ACRE OF THE UNDYING. WRITTEN BY WILLIAM
MORRIS. Small 4to. Golden type. Border 1. 200 paper copies at two
guineas, and 6 on vellum. Dated April 4, issued May 8, 1891. Sold by
Reeves & Turner. Bound in stiff vellum with washleather ties.
This book was set up from Nos. 81-4 of the English Illustrated Magazine,
in which it first appeared; some of the chapter headings were
re-arranged, and a few small corrections were made in the text. A trial
page, the first printed at the Press, was struck off on January 31,
1891, but the first sheet was not printed until about a month later. The
border was designed in January of the same year, and engraved by W. H.
Hooper. Mr. Morris had four of the vellum copies bound in green vellum,
three of which he gave to friends. Only two copies on vellum were sold,
at twelve and fifteen guineas. This was the only book with washleather
ties. All the other vellum-bound books have silk ties, except Shelley's
Poems and Hand and Soul, which have no ties.
2. POEMS BY THE WAY. WRITTEN BY WILLIAM MORRIS. Small 4to. Golden type.
In black and red. Border 1. 300 paper copies at two guineas, 13 on
vellum at about twelve guineas. Dated Sept. 24, issued Oct. 20, 1891.
Sold by Reeves & Turner. Bound in stiff vellum.
This was the first book printed at the Kelmscott Press in two colours,
and the first book in which the smaller printer's mark appeared. After
The Glittering Plain was finished, at the beginning of April, no
printing was done until May 11. In the meanwhile the compositors were
busy setting up the early sheets of The Golden Legend. The printing of
Poems by the Way, which its author first thought of calling Flores
Atramenti, was not begun until July. The poems in it were written at
various times. In the manuscript, Hafbur and Signy is dated February 4,
1870; Hildebrand and Hillilel, March 1, 1871; and Love's Reward,
Kelmscott, April 21, 1871. Meeting in Winter is a song from The Story of
Orpheus, an unpublished poem intended for The Earthly Paradise. The last
poem in the book, Goldilocks and Goldilocks, was written on May 20,
1891, for the purpose of adding to the bulk of the volume, which was
then being prepared. A few of the vellum covers were stained at Merton
red, yellow, indigo, and dark green, but the experiment was not
successful.
3. THE LOVE-LYRICS AND SONGS OF PROTEUS BY WILFRID SCAWEN BLUNT WITH THE
LOVE-SONNETS OF PROTEUS BY THE SAME AUTHOR NOW REPRINTED IN THEIR FULL
TEXT WITH MANY SONNETS OMITTED FROM THE EARLIER EDITIONS. LONDON
MDCCCXCII. Small 4to. Golden type. In black and red. Border 1. 300 paper
copies at two guineas, none on vellum. Dated Jan. 26, issued Feb. 27,
1892. Sold by Reeves & Turner. Bound in stiff vellum.
This is the only book in which the initials are printed in red. This was
done by the author's wish.
4. THE NATURE OF GOTHIC A CHAPTER OF THE STONES OF VENICE. BY JOHN
RUSKIN. With a preface by William Morris. Small 4to. Golden type. Border
1. Diagrams in text. 500 paper copies at thirty shillings, none on
vellum. Dated in preface February 15, issued March 22, 1892. Published
by George Allen. Bound in stiff vellum.
This chapter of the Stones of Venice, which Ruskin always considered the
most important in the book, was first printed separately in 1854 as a
sixpenny pamphlet. Mr. Morris paid more than one tribute to it in Hopes
and Fears for Art. Of him Ruskin said in 1887, 'Morris is beaten gold.'
5. THE DEFENCE OF GUENEVERE, AND OTHER POEMS. BY WILLIAM MORRIS. Small
4to. Golden type. In black and red. Borders 2 and 1. 300 paper copies
at two guineas, ten on vellum at about twelve guineas. Dated April 2,
issued May 19, 1892. Sold by Reeves & Turner. Bound in limp vellum.
This book was set up from a copy of the edition published by Reeves &
Turner in 1889, the only alteration, except a few corrections, being in
the 11th line of Summer Dawn. It is divided into three parts, the poems
suggested by Malory's Morte d'Arthur, the poems inspired by Froissart's
Chronicles, and poems on various subjects. The two first sections have
borders, and the last has a half-border. The first sheet was printed on
February 17, 1892. It was the first book bound in limp vellum, and the
only one of which the title was inscribed by hand on the back.
6. A DREAM OF JOHN BALL AND A KING'S LESSON. BY WILLIAM MORRIS. Small
4to. Golden type. In black and red. Borders 3a, 4, and 2. With a woodcut
designed by Sir E. Burne-Jones. 300 paper copies at thirty shillings,
eleven on vellum at ten guineas. Dated May 13, issued Sept. 24, 1892.
Sold by Reeves & Turner. Bound in limp vellum.
This was set up with a few alterations from a copy of Reeves & Turner's
third edition, and the printing was begun on April 4, 1892. The
frontispiece was redrawn from that to the first edition, and engraved on
wood by W. H. Hooper, who engraved all Sir E. Burne-Jones' designs for
the Kelmscott Press, except those for The Wood beyond the World and The
Life and Death of Jason. The inscription below the figures, and the
narrow border, were designed by Mr. Morris, and engraved with the
picture on one block, which was afterwards used on a leaflet printed for
the Ancoats Brotherhood in February, 1894.
7. THE GOLDEN LEGEND. By Jacobus de Voragine. Translated by William
Caxton. Edited by F. S. Ellis. 3 vols. Large 4to. Golden type. Borders
5a, 5, 6a, and 7. Woodcut title and two woodcuts designed by Sir E.
Burne-Jones. 500 paper copies at five guineas, none on vellum. Dated
Sept. 12, issued Nov. 3, 1892. Published by Bernard Quaritch. Bound in
half-holland, with paper labels printed in the Troy type.
In July, 1890, when only a few letters of the Golden type had been cut,
Mr. Morris bought a copy of this book, printed by Wynkyn de Worde in
1527. He soon afterwards determined to print it, and on Sept. 11 entered
into a formal agreement with Mr. Quaritch for its publication. It was
only an unforeseen difficulty about the size of the first stock of paper
that led to The Golden Legend not being the first book put in hand. It
was set up from a transcript of Caxton's first edition, lent by the
Syndics of the Cambridge University Library for the purpose. A trial
page was got out in March, 1891, and 50 pages were in type by May 11,
the day on which the first sheet was printed. The first volume was
finished, with the exception of the illustrations and the preliminary
matter, in Oct., 1891. The two illustrations and the title (which was
the first woodcut title designed by Mr. Morris) were not engraved until
June and August, 1892, when the third volume was approaching completion.
About half a dozen impressions of the illustrations were pulled on
vellum. A slip asking owners of the book not to have it bound with
pressure, nor to have the edges cut instead of merely trimmed, was
inserted in each copy.
8. THE RECUYELL OF THE HISTORYES OF TROYE. By Raoul Lefevre. Translated
by William Caxton. Edited by H. Halliday Sparling. 2 vols. Large 4to.
Troy type, with table of chapters and glossary in Chaucer type. In black
and red. Borders 5a, 5, and 8. Woodcut title. 300 paper copies at nine
guineas, five on vellum at eighty pounds. Dated Oct. 14, issued Nov. 24,
1892. Published by Bernard Quaritch. Bound in limp vellum.
This book, begun in February, 1892, is the first book printed in Troy
type, and the first in which Chaucer type appears. It is a reprint of
the first book printed in English. It had long been a favourite with
William Morris, who designed a great quantity of initials and ornaments
for it, and wrote the following note for Mr. Quaritch's catalogue: 'As
to the matter of the book, it makes a thoroughly amusing story,
instinct with mediaeval thought and manners. For though written at the
end of the Middle Ages and dealing with classical mythology, it has in
it no token of the coming Renaissance, but is merely mediaeval. It is the
last issue of that story of Troy which through the whole of the Middle
Ages had such a hold on men's imaginations; the story built up from a
rumour of the Cyclic Poets, of the heroic City of Troy, defended by
Priam and his gallant sons, led by Hector the Preux Chevalier, and beset
by the violent and brutal Greeks, who were looked on as the necessary
machinery for bringing about the undeniable tragedy of the fall of the
city. Surely this is well worth reading, if only as a piece of undiluted
mediaevalism.' 2000 copies of a 4to announcement, with specimen pages,
were printed at the Kelmscott Press in December, 1892, for distribution
by the publisher.
9. BIBLIA INNOCENTIUM: BEING THE STORY OF GOD'S CHOSEN PEOPLE BEFORE THE
COMING OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST UPON EARTH, WRITTEN ANEW FOR CHILDREN BY
J. W. MACKAIL, SOMETIME FELLOW OF BALLIOL COLLEGE, OXFORD. 8vo. Border
2. 200 on paper at a guinea, none on vellum. Dated Oct. 22, issued Dec.
9, 1892. Sold by Reeves & Turner. Bound in stiff vellum.
This was the last book issued in stiff vellum except Hand and Soul, and
the last with untrimmed edges. It was the first book printed in 8vo.
10. THE HISTORY OF REYNARD THE FOXE BY WILLIAM CAXTON. Reprinted from
his edition of 1481. Edited by H. Halliday Sparling. Large 4to. Troy
type, with glossary in Chaucer type. In black and red. Borders 5a and 7.
Woodcut title. 300 on paper at three guineas, 10 on vellum at fifteen
guineas. Dated Dec. 15, 1892, issued Jan. 25, 1893. Published by Bernard
Quaritch. Bound in limp vellum.
About this book, which was first announced as in the press in the list
dated July, 1892, William Morris wrote the following note for Mr.
Quaritch's catalogue: 'This translation of Caxton's is one of the very
best of his works as to style; and being translated from a kindred
tongue is delightful as mere language. In its rude joviality, and simple
and direct delineation of character, it is a thoroughly good
representative of the famous ancient Beast Epic.' The edges of this
book, and of all subsequent books, were trimmed in accordance with the
invariable practice of the early printers. Mr. Morris much preferred the
trimmed edges.
11. THE POEMS OF WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, PRINTED AFTER THE ORIGINAL COPIES
OF VENUS AND ADONIS, 1593. THE RAPE OF LUCRECE, 1594. SONNETS, 1609. THE
LOVER'S COMPLAINT. Edited by F. S. Ellis. 8vo. Golden type. In black and
red. Borders 1 and 2. 500 paper copies at 25 shillings, 10 on vellum at
ten guineas. Dated Jan. 17, issued Feb. 13, 1893. Sold by Reeves &
Turner. Bound in limp vellum.
A trial page of this book was set up on Nov. 1, 1892. Though the number
was large, this has become one of the rarest books issued from the
Press.
12. NEWS FROM NOWHERE: OR, AN EPOCH OF REST, BEING SOME CHAPTERS FROM A
UTOPIAN ROMANCE, BY WILLIAM MORRIS. 8vo. Golden type. In black and red.
Borders 9a and 4, and a woodcut engraved by W. H. Hooper from a design
by C. M. Gere. 300 on paper at two guineas, 10 on vellum at ten guineas.
Dated Nov. 22, 1892, issued March 24, 1893. Sold by Reeves & Turner.
Bound in limp vellum.
The text of this book was printed before Shakespeare's Poems and
Sonnets, but it was kept back for the frontispiece, which is a picture
of the old manor-house in the village of Kelmscott by the upper Thames,
from which the Press took its name. It was set up from a copy of one of
Reeves & Turner's editions, and in reading it for the press the author
made a few slight corrections. It was the last except the Savonarola
(No. 31) in which he used the old paragraph mark (para) which was
discarded in favour of the leaves, which had already been used in the
two large 4to books printed in the Troy type.
13. THE ORDER OF CHIVALRY. Translated from the French by William Caxton
and reprinted from his edition of 1484. Edited by F. S. Ellis. And
L'ORDENE DE CHEVALERIE, WITH TRANSLATION BY WILLIAM MORRIS. Small 4to.
Chaucer type, in black and red. Borders 9a and 4, and a woodcut designed
by Sir Edward Burne-Jones. 225 on paper at thirty shillings, 10 on
vellum at ten guineas. The Order of Chivalry dated Nov. 10, 1892,
L'Ordene de Chevalerie dated February 24, 1893, issued April 12, 1893.
Sold by Reeves & Turner. Bound in limp vellum.
This was the last book printed in small 4to. The last section is in 8vo.
It was the first book printed in Chaucer type. The reprint from Caxton
was finished while News from Nowhere was in the press, and before
Shakespeare's Poems and Sonnets was begun. The French poem and its
translation were added as an after-thought, and have a separate
colophon. Some of the three-line initials, which were designed for The
Well at the World's End, are used in the French poem, and this is their
first appearance. The translation was begun on Dec. 3, 1892, and the
border round the frontispiece was designed on Feb. 13, 1893.
14. THE LIFE OF THOMAS WOLSEY, CARDINAL ARCHBISHOP OF YORK, WRITTEN BY
GEORGE CAVENDISH. Edited by F. S. Ellis from the author's autograph MS.
8vo. Golden type. Border 1. 250 on paper at two guineas, 6 on vellum at
ten guineas. Dated March 30, issued May 3, 1893. Sold by Reeves &
Turner. Bound in limp vellum.
15. THE HISTORY OF GODEFREY OF BOLOYNE AND OF THE CONQUEST OF
IHERUSALEM. Reprinted from Caxton's edition of 1481. Edited by H.
Halliday Sparling. Large 4to. Troy type, with list of chapter headings
and glossary in Chaucer type. In black and red. Borders 5a and 5, and
woodcut title. 300 on paper at six guineas, 6 on vellum at 20 guineas.
Dated April 27, issued May 24, 1893. Published by William Morris at the
Kelmscott Press. Bound in limp vellum.
This was the fifth and last of the Caxton reprints, with many new
ornaments and initials, and a new printer's mark. It was first
announced as in the press in the list dated Dec., 1892. It was the first
book published and sold at the Kelmscott Press. An announcement and
order form, with two different specimen pages, was printed at the Press,
besides a special invoice. A few copies were bound in half holland, not
for sale.
16. UTOPIA, WRITTEN BY SIR THOMAS MORE. A reprint of the 2nd edition of
Ralph Robinson's translation, with a foreword by William Morris. Edited
by F. S. Ellis. 8vo. Chaucer type, with the reprinted title in Troy
type. In black and red. Borders 4 and 2. 300 on paper at thirty
shillings, 8 on vellum at ten guineas. Dated August 4, issued September
8, 1893. Sold by Reeves & Turner. Bound in limp vellum.
This book was first announced as in the press in the list dated May 20,
1893.
17. MAUD, A MONODRAMA. BY ALFRED LORD TENNYSON. 8vo. Golden type. In
black and red. Borders 10a and 10, and woodcut title. 500 on paper at
two guineas, 5 on vellum not for sale. Dated Aug. 11, issued Sept. 30,
1893. Published by Macmillan & Co. Bound in limp vellum.
The borders were specially designed for this book. They were both used
again in the Keats, and one of them appears in The Sundering Flood. It
is the first of the 8vo books with a woodcut title.
18. GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE: A LECTURE FOR THE ARTS AND CRAFTS EXHIBITION
SOCIETY, BY WILLIAM MORRIS. 16mo. Golden type. In black and red. 1500 on
paper at two shillings and sixpence, 45 on vellum at ten and fifteen
shillings. Bound in half holland.
This lecture was set up at Hammersmith and printed at the New Gallery
during the Arts and Crafts Exhibition in October and November, 1893. The
first copies were ready on October 21, and the book was twice reprinted
before the Exhibition closed. It was the first book printed in 16mo. The
four-line initials used in it appear here for the first time. The vellum
copies were sold during the Exhibition at ten shillings, and the price
was subsequently raised to fifteen shillings.
19. SIDONIA THE SORCERESS, BY WILLIAM MEINHOLD, TRANSLATED BY FRANCESCA
SPERANZA LADY WILDE. Large 4to. Golden type. In black and red. Border 8.
300 paper copies at four guineas, 10 on vellum at twenty guineas. Dated
Sept. 15, issued November 1, 1893. Published by William Morris. Bound in
limp vellum.
Before the publication of this book a large 4to announcement and order
form was issued, with a specimen page and an interesting description of
the book and its author, written and signed by William Morris. Some
copies were bound in half holland, not for sale.
20. BALLADS AND NARRATIVE POEMS BY DANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTI. 8vo. Golden
type. In black and red. Borders 4a and 4, and woodcut title. 310 on
paper at two guineas, 6 on vellum at ten guineas. Dated Oct. 14, issued
in November, 1893. Published by Ellis & Elvey. Bound in limp vellum.
This book was announced as in preparation in the list of August 1, 1893.
21. THE TALE OF KING FLORUS AND THE FAIR JEHANE. Translated by William
Morris from the French of the 13th century. 16mo. Chaucer type. In black
and red. Borders 11a and 11, and woodcut title. 350 on paper at seven
shillings and sixpence, 15 on vellum at thirty shillings. Dated Dec. 16,
issued Dec. 28, 1893. Published by William Morris. Bound in half
holland.
This story, like the three other translations with which it is uniform,
was taken from a little volume called Nouvelles Francoises en prose du
XIIIe siecle. Paris, Jannet, 1856. They were first announced as in
preparation under the heading 'French Tales' in the list dated May 20,
1893. Eighty-five copies of King Florus were bought by J. and M. L.
Tregaskis, who had them bound in all parts of the world. These are now
in the Rylands Library at Manchester.
22. THE STORY OF THE GLITTERING PLAIN WHICH HAS BEEN ALSO CALLED THE
LAND OF LIVING MEN OR THE ACRE OF THE UNDYING. WRITTEN BY WILLIAM
MORRIS. Large 4to. Troy type, with list of chapters in Chaucer type. In
black and red. Borders 12a and 12, 23 designs by Walter Crane, engraved
by A. Leverett, and a woodcut title. 250 on paper at five guineas, 7 on
vellum at twenty pounds. Dated Jan. 13, issued Feb. 17, 1894. Published
by William Morris. Bound in limp vellum.
Neither the borders in this book nor six out of the seven frames round
the illustrations appear in any other book. The seventh is used round
the second picture in Love is Enough. A few copies were bound in half
holland.
23. OF THE FRIENDSHIP OF AMIS AND AMILE. Done out of the ancient French
by William Morris. 16mo. Chaucer type. In black and red. Borders 11a and
11, and woodcut title. 500 on paper at seven shillings and sixpence, 15
on vellum at thirty shillings. Dated March 13, issued April 4, 1894.
Published by William Morris. Bound in half holland.
A poem entitled Amys and Amillion, founded on this story, was originally
to have appeared in the second volume of The Earthly Paradise, but, like
some other poems announced at the same time, it was not included in the
book.
20a. SONNETS AND LYRICAL POEMS BY DANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTI. 8vo. Golden
type. In black and red. Borders 1a and 1, and woodcut title. 310 on
paper at two guineas, 6 on vellum at ten guineas. Dated Feb. 20, issued
April 21, 1894. Published by Ellis & Elvey. Bound in limp vellum.
This book is uniform with No. 20, to which it forms a sequel. Both
volumes were read for the press by Mr. W. M. Rossetti.
24. THE POEMS OF JOHN KEATS. Edited by F. S. Ellis. 8vo. Golden type. In
black and red. Borders 10a and 10, and woodcut title. 300 on paper at
thirty shillings, 7 on vellum at nine guineas. Dated March 7, issued May
8, 1894. Published by William Morris. Bound in limp vellum.
This is now (Jan., 1898) the most sought after of all the smaller
Kelmscott Press books. It was announced as in preparation in the lists
of May 27 and August 1, 1893, and as in the press in that of March 31,
1894, when the woodcut title still remained to be printed.
25. ATALANTA IN CALYDON: A TRAGEDY. BY ALGERNON CHARLES SWINBURNE. Large
4to. Troy type, with argument and dramatis personae in Chaucer type; the
dedication and quotation from Euripides in Greek type designed by Selwyn
Image. In black and red. Borders 5a and 5, and woodcut title. 250 on
paper at two guineas, 8 on vellum at twelve guineas. Dated May 4, issued
July 24, 1894. Published by William Morris. Bound in limp vellum.
In the vellum copies of this book the colophon is not on the 82nd page
as in the paper copies, but on the following page.
26. THE TALE OF THE EMPEROR COUSTANS AND OF OVER SEA. Done out of
ancient French by William Morris. 16mo. Chaucer type. In black and red.
Borders 11a and 11, both twice, and two woodcut titles. 525 on paper at
seven shillings and sixpence, 20 on vellum at two guineas. Dated August
30, issued Sept. 26, 1894. Published by William Morris. Bound in half
holland.
The first of these stories, which was the source of The Man born to be
King, in The Earthly Paradise, was announced as in preparation in the
list of March 31, 1894.
27. THE WOOD BEYOND THE WORLD. BY WILLIAM MORRIS. 8vo. Chaucer type. In
black and red. Borders 13a and 13, and a frontispiece designed by Sir E.
Burne-Jones, and engraved on wood by W. Spielmeyer. 350 on paper at two
guineas, 8 on vellum at ten guineas. Dated May 30, issued Oct. 16, 1894.
Published by William Morris. Bound in limp vellum.
The borders in this book, as well as the ten half-borders, are here used
for the first time. It was first announced as in the press in the list
of March 31, 1894. Another edition was published by Lawrence & Bullen in
1895.
28. THE BOOK OF WISDOM AND LIES. A book of traditional stories from
Georgia in Asia. Translated by Oliver Wardrop from the original of
Sulkhan-Saba Orbeliani. 8vo. Golden type. In black and red. Borders 4a
and 4, and woodcut title. 250 on paper at two guineas, none on vellum.
Finished Sept. 29, issued Oct. 29, 1894. Published by Bernard Quaritch.
Bound in limp vellum.
The arms of Georgia, consisting of the Holy Coat, appear in the woodcut
title of this book.