The Kelmscott Press: A History of William Morris's Typographical AdventureFrom a quantitative point of view the achievement of the Kelmscott Press may not seem impressive: between 1891 and 1898 it produced fifty-two books and a set of specimen pages for another book. Yet each was remarkably beautiful. Designed by William Morris, printed on hand-presses, ornamented with initials and borders by Morris, and illustrated often by Edward Burne-Jones, these few Kelmscott Press books are famous everywhere today. Why they have so profoundly affected twentieth-century theories of book design and what cultural significance the founding of the Kelmscott Press played are some of the questions the author considers. |
Contents
William Morris and the Book Arts | 41 |
Founding the Press | 73 |
Morris as Bookdesigner | 105 |
The Decorated Book | 133 |
The Business of the Press | 165 |
The Story of Three Books | 203 |
The Kelmscott Chaucer | 228 |
Closing the Press | 259 |
The Legacy of Morris and his Press | 275 |
Appendices | 315 |
Kelmscott Press Expenses | 332 |
| 355 | |
Common terms and phrases
appeared artistic Ashbee beautiful Bibliography binding with silk BL Add Black and red Blunt book-design borders Bowden Burne-Jones's C. R. Ashbee Caslon Catterson-Smith Caxton century Chaucer type Chiswick Chiswick Press Cobden-Sanderson Colophon dated decade Decorated designed diary Doves Press early Earthly Paradise edition Edward Burne-Jones Emery Walker English engraved F. S. Ellis Figure fount Glittering Plain Golden Legend Golden type Gothic guineas paper guineas vellum Hallblithe Hammersmith Ideal Book illustrations initials Kelmscott books Kelmscott Chaucer Kelmscott House Kelmscott Manor Kelmscott Press Kelmscott Press books later lecture Legacy of Morris letter Library Limp vellum binding Mackail Maiftreffe manuscripts medieval modern Morris as Book Morris's Morrisian ornaments Poems printed books printers private presses produced proofs published red ink Reeves and Turner reprint Roman Ruskin Sparling Story style Sydney Cockerell trial pages Troy type typefaces vellum copies Walter Crane Wilfrid Scawen Blunt William Morris wood-engravings woodcut wrote