themselves about such things; it strove little to impress people
either by pomp or ingenuity: not unseldom it fell into commonplace,
rarely it rose into majesty; yet was it never oppressive, never a
slave's nightmare or an insolent boast: & at its best it had an
inventiveness, an individuality, that grander styles have never
overpassed: its best too, and that was in its very heart, was given
as freely to the yeoman's house, and the humble village church, as
to the lord's palace or the mighty cathedral: never coarse, though
often rude enough, sweet, natural & unaffected, an art of peasants
rather than of merchant princes or courtiers, it must be a hard
heart, I think, that does not love it: whether a man has been born
among it like ourselves, or has come wonderingly on its simplicity
from all the grandeur over-seas.
* * * * *
And Science, we have loved her well, and followed her diligently,
what will she do? I fear she is so much in the pay of the
counting-house, the counting-house and the drill-sergeant, that she
is too busy, and will for the present do nothing.
Yet there are matters which I should have thought easy for her, say
for example teaching Manchester how to consume its own smoke, or
Leeds how to get rid of its superfluous black dye without turning it
into the river, which would be as much worth her attention as the
production of the heaviest of heavy black silks, or the biggest of
useless guns. Anyhow, however it be done, unless people care about
carrying on their business without making the world hideous, how can
they care about art? I know it will cost much both of time and money
to better these things even a little; but I do not see how these
can be better spent than in making life cheerful & honourable for
others and for ourselves; and the gain of good life to the country
at large that would result from men seriously setting about the
bettering of the decency of our big towns would be priceless, even
if nothing specially good befell the arts in consequence: I do not
know that it would; but I should begin to think matters hopeful if
men turned their attention to such things, and I repeat that, unless
they do so, we can scarcely even begin with any hope our endeavours
for the bettering of the Arts. (From the lecture called The Lesser
Arts, in Hopes and Fears for Art, by William Morris, pages 22 and
33.)
[Illustration: Kelmscott
William Morris]
The "Note by William Morris on his Aims in Founding the Kelmscott
Press," the last book printed at the Kelmscott Press, contains a few
errors in the "Bibliography." These errors have been allowed to stand in
reprinting the "Note" here, in order that the reprint shall be a literal
one.
Mr. S. C. Cockerell, the former Secretary of the Kelmscott Press, has
kindly sent a list of these corrections, which appear below:
Page 19, line 21--"Golden type" should be inserted after "8vo."
Page 30, line 16--"June 26, 1893," should be "June 26, 1896."
Page 39, line 17--after "guineas" insert "ten on vellum at ten guineas."
Page 40, line 31--for "eight leaflets" read, "nine or ten leaflets."
Page 44, line 12--omit "Lady."
HERE ENDS THE ART AND CRAFT OF PRINTING; COLLECTED ESSAYS BY WILLIAM
MORRIS. OF THIS BOOK THERE HAVE BEEN PRINTED TWO HUNDRED AND TEN COPIES
BY CLARKE CONWELL AT THE ELSTON PRESS: FINISHED THIS THIRTIETH DAY OF
JANUARY MDCCCCII. SOLD BY CLARKE CONWELL AT THE ELSTON PRESS, PELHAM
ROAD, NEW ROCHELLE, NEW YORK.
* * * * *
Transcriber's Notes:
For "A Note on Founding the Kelmscott Press"
Page 4: "trangress" changed to "transgress": "Modern printers
systematically transgress against it"
Page 5: "artitcle" changed to "article": "the foregoing article was
written"
Page 5: "Pysche" changed to "Psyche": "Cupid and Psyche"
Page 7: "rubicated" changed to "rubricated": "left blank to be
rubricated by hand"
Page 12: "handmade" changed to "hand-made": "English hand-made paper"
Page 12: "Calendar" changed to "Calender": "Spenser's Shepheardes
Calender"
Page 26: "H. W. Hooper" changed to "W. H. Hooper" in item 31.
Page 32: "water-mark" changed to "watermark": "with the apple
watermark"
Page 40: The reference in item 52 to page 8 for "Love is Enough" was
corrected to page 5.
Page 40: The reference in item 53 to page 7 for "The Earthly Paradise"
was corrected to page 5. The reference to the ornaments on page 9
was corrected to page 7. The reference to page 17 was corrected to
page 12.
Page 40: The reference in "Various Lists" to page 10 was corrected
to page 6.
Page 43: "Milliam" changed to "William" in item 53
Page 44: The reference in "Various Lists" to page 57 was corrected
to page 38.
For "The Ideal Book"
Page 1: "determation" changed to "determination": "a determination to
put our eyes"
For "An Essay on Printing"
Page 12: "Maintz" changed to "Mainz": "printed at Mainz by"
Page 15: "Calson" changed to "Caslon": "Even the Caslon type when"
Page 16: "witout" changed to "without": "without enhancing the price"
Page 23: Period added after "over-seas": "all the grandeur over-seas."
General notes:
1. Paragraph breaks have been assumed in some places based on usage
elsewhere in the text.
2. Both "caligraphy" and "calligraphy" are used in different parts
of this book, and both forms were retained. This is also true for
"d'Arthur" and "Darthur", "head-line" and "headline", "Sweynheim"
and "Sweynheym", and "Zainer" and "Zeiner".
End of Project Gutenberg's The Art and Craft of Printing, by William Morris