The Collected Letters of William Morris, Volume IV: 1893-1896 [Course Book ed.] 9781400864249

Table of contents :
Contents
List of Illustrations
Editorial Practices
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Morris Chronology
Abbreviations of Manuscript Locations
Abbreviations of Works Frequently Cited
The Letters
1893
1894
1895
1896
APPENDIX Α . The Present Outlook of Socialism in England
APPENDIX Β. Valuation of the Library of William Morris 1896
Appendix C.
Index of Correspondents
SUBJECT INDEX

Citation preview

THE COLLECTED LETTERS OF

WILLIAM MORRIS VOLUME IV

EDITED BY NORMAN KELVIN ASSISTANT EDITOR: HOLLY HARRISON

THE COLLECTED LETTERS OF

tamtam Htorris VOLUME IV 1893-1896

PRINCETON

UNIVERSITY

PRESS

COPYRIGHT © 1996 BY PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS PUBLISHED BY PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS, 41 WILLIAM STREET, PRINCETON, NEW JERSEY 08540 IN THE UNITED KINGDOM: PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS, CHICHESTER, WEST SUSSEX ALL RIGHTS RESERVED PUBLICATION OF THIS BOOK HAS BEEN AIDED BY A GRANT FROM THE ANDREW W. MELLON FUND OF PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS PREPARATION OF THIS VOLUME WAS MADE POSSIBLE (IN PART) BY A GRANT FROM THE PROGRAM FOR EDITIONS OF THE NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE HUMANITIES, AN INDEPENDENT FEDERAL AGENCY

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA MORRIS, WILLIAM, 1834-1896. THE COLLECTED LETTERS OF WILLIAM MORRIS INCLUDES BIBLIOGRAPHICAL REFERENCES AND INDEXES. C O N T E N T S : V. 1. 1848-1880.—V. 2. 1881-1884; 1 8 8 5 - 1 8 8 8 ( 2 V . ) — ' V . 3 . 18 8 9 - 1 8 9 2 . — V . 4 . 1 8 9 3 - 1 8 9 6 . 1 . M O R R I S , W I L L I A M , 18 3 4 - 18 9 6 — C O R R E S P O N D E N C E . 2. AUTHORS, ENGLISH—19TH CENTURY—CORRESPONDENCE. 3. SOCIALISTS—GREAT BRITAIN—CORRESPONDENCE. 4. DESIGNERS—GREAT BRITAIN—CORRESPONDENCE. I. KELVIN, NORMAN. PR5083.A4

1984

II. TITLE.

82Γ.8

82-47604

ISBN 0-691-044225-8 (V. IV : ALK. PAPER)

PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 1 3 5 7 9 1 0 8 6 4 2

TO ALL WHO HAVE PARTICIPATED IN THE MAKING OF THIS EDITION

CONTENTS

IX

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

xv

EDITORIAL PRACTICES

XVll

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

XIX

INTRODUCTION

XXXIX

MORRIS CHRONOLOGY ABBREVIATIONS OF MANUSCRIPT LOCATIONS

xlv

ABBREVIA TIONS OF WORKS FREQUENTL Y CITED

Ii

THE LETTERS· 1893-1896

3

The Present Outlook of Socialism in England by William Morris

APPENDIX A.

APPENDIX B. Valuation of Library by Frederick Startridge Ellis A P PEN D I X C.

if William

393

Morris 401

Froissart's Chronicles, Selected Items

435

INDEX OF CORRESPONDENTS

439

SUBJECT INDEX

441

Vll

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Title page of the Kelmscott Press edition of Godefrey of Boloyne, 1893 (The Pierpont Morgan Library).

14

Denis and Angela Mackail with Edward Burne-Jones, c. 1894 (Hammersmith and Fulham Archives).

18

William Blake Richmond's mosaics for St. Paul's Cathedral (photography by Norman Kelvin, 1992).

21

The Ardabil Carpet (Victoria and Albert Museum).

25

The Greenery tapestry, designed by John Henry Dearie (The Metropolitan Museum of Art).

28

The Forest tapestry, designed by Morris (Victoria and Albert

Museum).

29

Flora tapestry, designed by Morris (The Whitworth Art Gal­ lery, Manchester).

30

Two drawings of "Friends in need meet in the wild wood," one by Arthur Joseph Gaskin and the other by Edward BurneJones (both at the Pierpont Morgan Library).

38

"Wood-Sun is shown at the cave of the Dwarf Lord," drawing by Charles March Gere (courtesy of John Gere).

44

St. Mary's, Oxford, the spire before the removal of the statues; and the statues after their removal (S.P.A.B. Archives).

48- -49

"The betrayal of Ralph," drawing by Arthur Joseph Gaskin (City of Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery, private collec­ tion).

61

Frontispiece and first page of the Kelmscott Press edition of News from Nowhere, 1892, illustration by Charles March Gere (William Morris Gallery).

63

"Hrosshild's tidings," drawing by Charles March Gere (cour­ tesy of John Gere).

66

Morris's design for layout of title page for Chiswick Press print­ ing of The Well at the World's End, 1894 (Bodleian Library).

75

Jane Morris, 1890s, chalk drawing by Evelyn De Morgan (The De Morgan Foundation).

79

ILLUSTRATIONS

"Asmund the Old Carl greets Thiodolf' and "Ali leads Arinborn and Thiodolf to Hall-Sun," drawings by Charles March Gere (courtesy of John Gere).

81

"Ralph is brought before the Lord of Utterbol," drawing by ArthurJoseph Gaskin (City of Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery, private collection).

85

San Graal tapestries being woven at Merton Abbey (William Morris Gallery).

90

Morris's four-poster bed at Kelmscott Manor (photography by Dennis Anthony; courtesy of the Society of Antiquaries of London).

93

"Thiodolf's storm," drawing by Charles March Gere (courtesy of John Redmond).

101

Peace with Honor, Souvenir of 1893 Miners' Settlement (R.

Page Arnot, The Miners: A History of the Miners' Federation of Great Britain; 1887—1910 [London: 1949], p. 257).

103

William Morris, c. 1894 (Cheltenham Museums and Art Gal­ lery).

117

"The old carline brings the hauberk to Thorkettle," drawing by Charles March Gere (courtesy of John Redmond).

120

"Storing vessels of water above the women's chamber," draw­ ing by Charles March Gere (courtesy of John Redmond).

124

"Thiodolf swoons," a preliminary sketch, and final drawing, by Charles March Gere (courtesy of John Gere).

128

Walter Crane, c. 1895 (National Portrait Gallery, London).

131

Algernon Charles Swinburne and Theodore Watts-Dunton at the Pines, c. 1882 (Ann Thwaite, Edmund Gosse: a Literary Landscape 1849—1928 [London: Martin Seeker and Warburg, 1984], pi. 33).

133

Leaf of a thirteenth-century French manuscript Bible at one time owned by Morris (courtesy of John Paul Getty, K.B.E.).

136

Greek lettering for the Kelmscott Press edition of Atalanta in Calydon, 1894 (The Pierpont Morgan Library).

138

Title page of the Kelmscott Press edition of The Book of Wisdom and Lies, 1894 (The Pierpont Morgan Library).

141

Georgie Gaskin, c. 1900 (The City of Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery, private collection).

148

ILLUSTRATIONS

"The reading" and "Ralph and Ursula saying goodbye to the Sage," drawings by Arthur Joseph Gaskin (The City of Bir­ mingham Museums and Art Gallery, private collection).

149

"Hall-Sun is seated on the Hill of Speech," drawing by Charles March Gere (courtesy ofjohn Gere).

158

"Women leave to warn the House of the Bearings, carrying arms," drawing by Charles March Gere (courtesy ofjohn Red­ mond)

158

"Thiodolf slays the three Hun kings," drawing by Charles March Gere (courtesy ofjohn Redmond).

159

The Pnmavera as woven by Morris and Co. for Wilfrid Scawen Blunt (courtesy of the Earl of Lytton). (Inset) Judith Blunt, c. 1904, portrait by Neville Lytton (courtesy of the Earl of Lytton).

165

"Messengers come to Thiodolf," drawing by Charles March Gere (courtesy ofjohn Gere).

169

ThomasJames Wise, 1900s (British Library).

172

H Buxton Forman, from his bookplate (Nicolas Barker and John Collins, A Sequel to An Enquiry into the Nature of Certain Nineteenth Century Pamphlets by John Carter and Graham Pollard

[London and Berkeley: Scolar Press, 1983], p. 31).

173

Two leaves of the Clifford Grey Horae (The Fitzwilliam Museum).

176—77

Heraldic Ordinaries and Common Charges (illustration by Holly Harrison).

178

Page of the Kelmscott Press edition of Psalmi Penetentiales, 1894 (The Pierpont Morgan Library).

183

Draft of letter by Morris to the Secretary of the Clarendon Press, tipped in on the flyleaf to the Kelmscott Press edition of The Works of Geoffrey Chaucer, 1896 (The Pierpont Morgan Library)

189

Ornamental O designed by Morris for the Kelmscott Chaucer (The Pierpont Morgan Library).

191

Morris and Edward Bume-Jones, 1890 (Cheltenham Museums and Art Gallery).

202

Rose border designed by Morris for the Kelmscott Chaucer (The Pierpont Morgan Library).

205

Woodcut design by Morris for the first word of "The Prioress's Tale" (The Pierpont Morgan Library)

211

t χι ]

ILLUSTRATIONS

William Η. Bowden and W. Collins (St. Bride Printing Library)

213

May Morris, c. 1898 (William Morris Gallery)

220

A leaf of the Douce Apocalypse (Bodleian Library).

225

Title page and first page of the Kelmscott Chaucer (The Pierpont Morgan Library).

230—31

A hand-written note from Morris to Quaritch on an announce­ ment for the Kelmscott Chaucer (B. Quaritch)

234

Georgiana Burne-Jones and Angela Mackail, c. 1896 (National Portrait Gallery, London)

244

"The marriage of Ursula and Ralph," "Ursula and Ralph in the desert," "Ralph saving Ursula from a bear attack," and "The drinking," drawings by Arthur Joseph Gaskm (City of Birming­ ham Museums and Art Gallery, private collection)

248-49

The Lordship (William Morris Gallery, photography by Peter Cormack, 1992).

256

Henrietta Morris's cottage, designed for her by Philip Webb (William Morris Gallery, photography by Peter Cormack, 1992)

256

Henrietta Morris, c. 1895? (William Morris Gallery)

257

A leaf of the thirteenth-century Mentelin Bible (The Pierpoint Morgan Library).

260

West front of Peterborough Cathedral, c. 1895 (Royal Commis­ sion on the Historical Monuments of England).

263

Map of Epping Forest and environs (from Walks in Eppmg Forest, ed Percy Lindley [London: 1885], bet. pp. 28-29).

271

Draft of a letter by Morris to the Daily Chronicle, dated May 9, 1895 (Bryn Mawr College Libraries)

276-77

Illustrations by Arthur Joseph Gaskin used m the Kelmscott Press edition of The Shepheardes Calender, 1896 (The Pierpont Morgan Library).

287

Draft of letter by Morris to the editor of the Spectator, dated July 16, 1895 (The Beineke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale Univ.).

292

JonJonsson, c. 1904 (Cheltenham Museums and Art Gallery).

297

Drawings by Edward Burne-Jones for the Kelmscott Press edi­ tion of The Story of Sigurd the Volsung, 1898 (The Pierpont Mor­ gan Library).

309

Edward Burne-Jones, c. 1896 ( The Temple Magazine, II, 1897— 98, p. 523).

310

ILLUSTRATIONS

May, Jane, and Jenny Morris, and Jenny's companion [?] at Kelmscott Manor, 1900s (William Morris Gallery).

311

StafFand friends of the Kelmscott Press, 1895 (British Library).

313

Jane Morris, 1900s, portrait by Charles March Gere (National Portrait Gallery, London).

316

Eirikr Magnusson, c. 1885 (The National Libary of Iceland, copy of old photograph made by Ivar Brynjolfsson).

318

Draft of letter by Morris to the editor of the Daily Chronicle, dated October 12, 1895 (The Harry Ransom Humanities Re­ search Center, University of Texas at Austin).

325—27

Plan for floor repairs at Kelmscott Manor in 1895 (Bodleian Library).

334

Arthur Morris, 1860s (William Morris Gallery).

337

May Morris, c. 1900 (William Morris Gallery).

348

William Morris, 1896 (St. Bride Printing Library).

354

A decorated leaf of a thirteenth-century manuscript made at the Carthusian Monastery at Dijon (The Pierpont Morgan Libary).

358

Frederick Startndge Ellis, c. 1895, portrait by Lowes Cato Dickenson (National Portrait Gallery, London).

362

A leaf of the twelfth-century Bestiary purchased by Morris from Jacques Rosenthal in April 1896 (The Pierpont Morgan Library).

365

Beatus page of the Windmill Psalter (The Pierpont Morgan Li­ brary).

372

Pigskin binding designed by Morris for the Kelmscott Chaucer.

380

Last woodcut initials designed by Morris (Cheltenham Muse­ ums and Art Gallery).

381

Jane Morris, c. 1902 (Cheltenham Museums and Art Gallery).

384

Binding designed by Morris for Vol. 6 of the Saga Library (William Morris Gallery).

387

[

Xlll ]

EDITORIAL PRACTICES

Transcription

F O R M O S T of the letters, the text has been taken from the holograph original In cases where the only extant source is a printed text (notably Mackail's 1899 biography), the letter or whatever part of it was quoted is reprinted here In a very few instances the copytext used has not been Morris's own draft, even when this has been available This has been the case with letters to newspapers, when it is clear that the rough, heavily canceled surviving draft m Morris's hand was not the one sent, and on one other occasion, when Morris's draft included a note m his own hand ad­ dressed to Sydney Carlyle Cockerell, "Please fair copy", and Cockerell's draft was in fact located among the records of the recipient The decision in these instances has been, in the first case, to use as copytexts the letters as they appear in the newspapers to which they were sent, and, m the second, the draft in Cockerell's hand Inevitably, the translation of a holographic document to the printed page introduces some distortion of the original Certain visual cues are lost in particular, the end of a handwritten line may indicate the comple­ tion of a sentence even though a period is not used, space left between sentences may signify the sense of a new paragraph whether or not a new line is started or an indentation appears, a sentence may contain interpo­ lated or canceled material indicating the writer's second thoughts These features appear often in Morris's letters My idea has been to remain com­ pletely faithful to the text, but the realities of putting into print docu­ ments that were in no way intended for posterity have forced me to adopt certain conventions for the sake of readability with which the reader will want to be familiar Paragraphing, occasionally but not often, presents a problem In some letters Morris seems to intend the end of a paragraph by concluding a sentence well before the edge of the page and beginning the next sen­ tence on a new line without, however, any indentation On the few oc­ casions when this has in fact been the case, I have introduced an indenta­ tion to signify the new paragraph that Morris clearly seemed to intend Material canceled by Morris, but still readable and representing a varia­ tion from what he finally wrote, is given in angle brackets False starts in spelling, however, are not shown

EDITORIAL PRACTICES

On the very few occasions on which material has been added, it has been enclosed in square brackets. Question marks in square brackets indi­ cate uncertainty in reading the preceding word. Most of the time Morris's handwriting is perfectly legible. Dates and addresses have been placed in the upper right When a date, or any part of one, has been supplied by the editor, it is given m square brackets. A question mark indicates that the suggested date is a plausible one only. When there is no question mark, the bracketed date is offered with confidence, since it was arrived at through internal evidence, crossreference, or other compelling information, such as entries in Morris's diaries. Letters that could be assigned only approximate dates have been placed in best-guess chronological order Apart from these liberties, Morris's words stand as they were written. Misspellings, run-on sentences, abbreviated words or names, idiosyncratic punctuation and capitalization, occasional obscure passages or apparent slips of the pen are by and large not the subjects of editorial notation except as noted above, in the belief that the reader will prefer to work things out or ponder the ambiguities as Morris's actual correspondents may have had to do. In the publication of historical evidence there is no reason for the editor to come between the document and the reader ex­ cept insofar as the translation from the original medium to print poses problems that must be solved typographically. Annotation

A note giving the location of the holograph manuscript, or the published source if the original letter no longer survives, will be found following each letter. Previous—that is, first—publication m biographical or critical works, not including short excerpts, is also recorded. The other notes then follow. I try to give useful, and sometimes new information about Morris's correspondents, the people and things he mentions, his work, and his connections with the events of the time, without overwhelming the letters themselves. In the case of well-known figures, for whom full biographies and other studies are readily available, a brief identification is given on first appearance, and thereafter such details are added as throw light on the letter at hand. For lesser-known figures, about whom infor­ mation is harder to come by, a somewhat longer biographical account is provided at first mention. Cross-references from later references back to the first note are given when it has seemed useful to do so, but in general readers should use the indexes to locate information. I should also men­ tion that the notes occasionally provide comment on a peculiarity m the text. [ XVi ]

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

M Y G R A T I T U D E to the many individuals to whom I am indebted for

help m completing Volume IV is expressed at the beginning of Volume III, since the two volumes were prepared together; and assistance for one was invariably assistance for the other. Therefore I record here only the institutions and individuals who own the originals of the letters appearing in Volume IV; and I do so with thanks for their providing me with copies and permission to publish the letters. I am indebted to George Abrams; W. P. Barlow, Jr.; Ben Bass; Sanford and Helen Berger; The City of Bir­ mingham Museums and Art Gallery, Birmingham; The British Library; The Bodleian Library, Oxford; The Brotherton Collection, Leeds Uni­ versity Library; Le Fonds Octave Maus, Archives de l'Art Contemporain, Musee royeaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique, Brussels; Le Fonds Henry Van de Velde, Bibiliotheque Royale, Brussels; Manuscripts Collection, Bryn Mawr College; Ellen Clarke Bertrand Library, Bucknell University; the Syndics of Cambridge University Library, Cambridge; Cheltenham Art Gallery and Museums, Cheltenham; William Andrews Clark Memo­ rial Library, Los Angeles; The Council for the Protection of Rural En­ gland, London; Dr. R. L. Coupe; Anthony Crane; Baker Memorial Li­ brary, Dartmouth College; Estelle Doheny Collection of the Edward Laurence Doheny Memorial Library; Special Collections Library, Duke University; the Provost and Fellows of Eton College, Windsor; the Syn­ dics of the Fitzwilham Museum, Cambridge; Collection of John S. and Edith S. Mayfield, Special Collections Division, Georgetown University Library; The Getty Center for the History of Art and the Humanities; the Houghton Library, Harvard University; Castle Howard Archives, Castle Howard, Yorkshire—by kind permission of the Howard family; The Huntington Library, San Marino, California; National Library of Iceland; Lily Library, Indiana University, Bloomington; International Institute for Social History, Amsterdam; University of Iowa Libraries, Iowa City; De­ partment of Special Collections, Spencer Library, University of Kansas; University of Liverpool; British Library of Political and Economic Sci­ ence, London School of Economics; Department of Special Collections, Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles; The William Morris Collection, Special Collections, University of Maryland at Col­ lege Park Libraries; The John M. Wing Foundation, The Newberry Li[

XVll

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

brary, Chicago; The Mitchell Library, New South Wales, Sydney; The Richard Watson Gilder Papers, Manuscript Division, New York Public Library; The Fales Library, Elmer Holmes Bobst Library, New York Uni­ versity; Department of Special Collections, Ohio State University Li­ brary, Columbus; Occidental College Library, Los Angeles; the Secretary to the Delegates of the Oxford University Press; J. Pierpont Morgan Li­ brary, New York; Kevin M. Phalen; The Rossetti Collection of Janet Camp Troxell, The Scheide Library, Princeton University; Bernard Quantch, Ltd., London; Hayes Collection, University of Queensland Li­ brary, St. Lucia, Australia; Department of Rare Books and Special Collec­ tions, University of Rochester Library; Julia V. Rosenthal; The Library, University of California at Santa Barbara; Trustees of the National Library of Scotland, Edinburgh; The City of Sheffield Library; S. B. Schimmel; McMmn Papers, Society of Antiquaries, London; The Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings, London; George Arendts Research Li­ brary for Special Collections, Syracuse University; The Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center, University of Texas at Austin; the late E. P. Thompson; Trinity College Library, Dublin; Joscelyn V. Charlewood Turner, Victoria and Albert Museum Library, London; Michael L. Walker; John J. Walsdorf; William Morris Gallery, Walthamstow, Lon­ don (The London Borough of Waltham Forest); Rollin/Wess Papers, Modern Records Center, University of Warwick Library, courtesy of Dr. Henry Rollin; Alfred Wess; The Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Collection, Yale University; and the late Arnold Yates. I would like fi­ nally to thank Maro Riofrancos for his essential work on the indexes for this edition.

[

XVlll

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INTRODUCTION

M A N Y L E T T E R S of 1893—1896, the last four years of Morris's life, are on the surface marked by a listless tone, a crabbed style, and disjointed devel­ opment—the result in part at least of the illness that also marked his last years: illness already a topic in his letters of December 1894 and, probably, beginning to shadow his life even earlier. Beneath the surface, however, and regularly rising to view, is matter that shapes itself with time into several narratives: continuations and sequels to the narratives of earlier years, but with inflections and conclusions of their own. At the center again are family and friends, the Kelmscott Press, the activities of the S.PA.B., book buying, and Morris's career as artist and author But the relationships shift, as the last year of his life is approached, among both people and activities. Values emerge and submerge, ties weaken and strengthen, the simplification of a multiactive life takes place. With respect to family, the first thing to note is that there are almost no surviving letters to Jane and none to May Morris. The letters to Jenny, however—as numerous as ever—are often a conduit for information to other family members or concerning them, and include messages to Jane. On October 21, 1895, Morris even sends a business document meant for Jane via this roundabout route. Finally—with respect to family—on De­ cember 8, 1894, Morris's mother died at the age of eighty-nine, and there is a letter to Georgiana Burne-Jones, dated December 14, that is impor­ tant because it begins as an expression of feelings about someone to whom Morris was close, and concludes—by turning to politics—in a way that makes the slight revelation of self in the earlier part problematic. As for the even greater than usual paucity of letters to Jane Morris, part of the explanation is that Morris was much less away from home during the final four years than ever before; and part that Jane almost certainly destroyed—or simply discarded—letters But unanswered is why he often wrote to Jenny with an included message for Jane. The question may have to remain unanswered, if answer means some­ thing firmer than conjecture All one can say is that there is no documen­ tary evidence of a fresh cause of tension between William and Jane Morris. However, to say there is no documentary evidence is not to say we know for a certainty no new troubles occurred. Moreover, any conjecture about the state of Morris's domestic mood and feelings has to be sharply qualified

INTRODUCTION

by Mackail's recording m his notebook that all of Morris's letters to Georgiana Burne-Jones for 1892 and 1893 are missing (and, he might have added, for the first nine months of 1894). There is at least a chance that Morris confessed to pain in these missing letters, and that he came sufficiently close to describing what was going on between Jane and W S. Blunt to prompt Georgiana to try to conceal the revelation for all time. There is also one surviving letter to Georgiana Burne-Jones of a some­ what later date—August 29, 1895—m which Morris writes. "I was think­ ing just now, how I have wasted the many times when I have been 'hurt' and (especially of late years) have made no sign, but swallowed down my sorrow and anger, and nothing done! Whereas if I had but gone to bed and stayed there for a month or two and declined taking part in life, as indeed on such occasions I have felt very much disinclined to do, I can't help thinking that it might have been effective. Perhaps you remember that this game was tried by some of my Icelandic heroes, and seemingly with great success. But I admit that it wants to be done well." However, given the date of the letter, whatever the "hurt," there was nothing new as of that moment, or in the immediate past so far as we can tell. The point again, in noting how few are the surviving letters to Jane Morris in the last four years, is that nothing was happening that was not already in tram m earlier years—by 1889 certainly. For whatever this adds, it seems likely Jane's affair with Blunt was over by the summer of 1894, so far as physical intimacy was concerned; or so Blunts Diary entry for August 15, 1894, suggests: "I found a pansy on the floor of my room when I went to bed," he wrote, recording a stay at Kelmscott with both Morrises present; "But it is too late alas, and I slept soundly." And indeed what becomes increasingly a theme in Jane's letters to Blunt, thereafter, is her concern for Morris's health. The conclusion seems to be that for both husband and wife their rela­ tionship in the last years, at least 1894 to the end, was made up as much out of memories as of deeds. We have a few references to what Jane recol­ lected. Two days after Morris's death, she allegedly told Blunt that she had never loved her husband; though later, m 1903, and also according to Blunt, she spoke of Morris's generosity in great things, calling him "the least selfish of men"; and concluding "I suppose if I was young again I should do the same again." And a few months after Morris's death, writ­ ing to Cormell Price from Cairo, where she had gone at Blunts invita­ tion, she spoke of thinking "incessantly" of Morris. As for Morris, we have no late retrospective view of his marriage at all, and must read what we can—which is very little—in the care he took in his will to secure Jane's comfort, ease, and security. With respect to May Morris, an effort to explain why there are no [

XX

1

INTRODUCTION

letters at all to her in the final years runs into even more difficulties. In May 1894 she separated from her husband, Henry Halliday Sparling, we learn from Jane's letter to Blunt of May 26, 1894; the reason being that Sparling would no longer accept a place in the triangle into which he had been put by May Morris's continuing her relationship with George Ber­ nard Shaw. Surely, there must have been some comment by Morris to a friend, some expression of feeling. One assumes that he particularly felt free to confide in Georgiana Burne-Jones. But there are as indicated no surviving letters to her for the months approaching the separation; and the parallel absence of letters to May suggests she, too, perhaps, wanted no record of this period and destroyed letters from her father commenting on the breakup. However, though absence of letters is sometimes as eloquent as plenitude, it is impossible to conjecture what Morris's feelings were about the breakup (a divorce occurred in 1898). One cannot even know his thoughts about the role of his friend Bernard Shaw—for friend Shaw had become. For what it is worth, there are in these years two surviving letters from Morris to Shaw—both cordial and friendly—along with nu­ merous references to him in Morris's letters to others (including Jenny) written after the collapse of May's marriage. Jenny is the recipient of many letters in these last four years—indeed thirty-two have survived. They are, however, different from those of the years 1889 through 1892; for their tone and style are increasingly shaped by Morris's illness rather than hers. There seem in fact to have been fewer episodes of severe prostration for her between 1893 and 1896, the years that were the last of Morris's life; and perhaps that is why his letters to her are more buoyant, more genuinely chatty, more relaxed in tone than they were earlier. They are also responsive to her apparently becoming more able to get about (we know from Jane Morris's letter to Blunt on February 13, 1896, that at least one visit to Swinburne took place). Yet what Morris must finally do, starting particularly in late 1894, is shield Jenny as best he can from the fact that illness has settled on him, and shield her at all costs from having to think about what life without him would be like. Presum­ ably the best way to do this was to continue to report on his own activities (and thus continue as well to provide her with materials to add to her own life, still that of a semi-invalid). Not surprisingly the Kelmscott Press is a main theme and topic as he does this. News of his designing woodblock initials and decorative borders, par­ ticularly, gets recorded. (And it is in a letter to Jenny on August 22, 1894, that we learn the Chaucer was fully subscribed, though m the event two years from issue.) As for reasons why designing borders and decorative initials becomes a theme, perhaps Jenny had expressed pleasure in orna­ ments for earlier books; but certainly one reason is that Morris in these

INTRODUCTION

years gets much of his own pleasure from this activity (even as he also does from writing stories, his progress with them also regularly reported to her) He had practically ceased designing for Morris and Co (J H Dearie and May Morris produced most of the patterns m these years, as Lmda Parry has shown), and it is almost as if the Press had replaced the Firm as the enterprise fulfilling Morris's need for visual expression That design­ ing borders and floriated initials was his most singular visual pleasure makes it finally unsurprising that when telling Jenny about them he could write easily and with genuine enthusiasm As for his mothers death, the December 14, 1894, letter to Georgiana Burne-Jones, in which he discusses the burial of his mother, should be read also in the context of letters written to Emma Shelton Morris over the years The letter to Georgiana registers a quiet and sober sadness, and in it Morris speaks of his mother as one who was always kind to him It had been a mother-son relationship in which he had apparently always been attentive—remembering her birthdays regularly and visiting her often, but in which, perhaps characteristically for a Victorian man, he told his mother little about his life, sending her mainly reports on Jane and Jennys health and an occasional word about his business Certainly noth­ ing about his troubles with Jane was ever communicated, and during the socialist years hardly a word about his political activities appears What his letters to her do suggest is that he knew he was loved, he may well have thought himself Emma Shelton Morris's favorite son Yet the genial selflimiting to mild details of domestic life suggests communication had to be confined to a narrow range of topics, as in his December 23, 1893, letter, in which he notes Jenny reading beside him and his family's health, and intersperses repeated references to the weather, as well as advising her he has sent her pocket handkerchiefs Finally, his letters to his mother over her lifetime, like the December 14 letter to Georgiana Burne-Jones mus­ ing on his mother's death, suggest it was enough for Morris to be accepted and to feel himself addressed with kindness, if not insight All this, however, is hardly problematic What is problematic is that Morris, after the musing on her death, done in a single paragraph, turns briskly to a discussion of the London County Council elections, express­ ing hopes that Georgiana Burne-Jones (a candidate for Rottmgdean) would win, and indulging m pessimistic musings on the Fowler Bill The abrupt change of subject may hardly be worth noting, but Mackail appar­ ently thought it was, printing the two halves as if they were different letters written on different days, Mackail that is, apparently thought it inappropriate to let his readers know that in the space of a single letter Morris turned from musing on his mother's death to discussing politics, and this only a few days after her burial Morris's writing such a letter [

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might be explained by observing that since the election in which Georgiana would stand was about to take place, he could not ignore the sub­ ject, moreover, that his mother was ninety permits our seeing simple ac­ ceptance by him that death follows old age and the living must get on with life. Still, unless transitional paragraphs were deleted by Mackail and are lost, the briskness in the change of subject within the letter calls atten­ tion to itself for any reader, even as it probably did for Mackail. Beyond family, there are the several close friendships of the last years. Characteristically for Morris, most are related directly to his activities, so that the best way to discuss the friendships is to discuss the activities as context for the friendships, before turning to these activities for their own sake. The Kelmscott Press is the topic of concern when he writes to Emery Walker, and often when he writes to F. S. Ellis or Walter Crane And after July 1894, the same is true when he sends notes to S C Cockerell, for at that date Cockerell succeeded Sparling as Secretary to the Press. We know as an obvious matter too that Morris was in continuous exchange with Edward Burne-Jones over the illustrations for the Chaucer, and eventually other books, and had letters to Burne-Jones survived there would be more like the one of September 6, 1895, in which Morris ec­ statically expresses his anticipated pleasure in seeing designs for Sigurd the Volsung. In all of the letters about preparing or executing projects for the Press, Morris is the self in relation to others that seems to fulfill him: busi­ nesslike, warm and affectionate when he is pleased about something, but basically the one m charge—most often of an activity aimed at getting a material object produced. Perhaps it is too much to say that these activi­ ties disguised Morris's feelings about others. Perhaps it is more accurate to say there is a successful siting in work relationships of most of Morris's needs for human connectedness, all that is, other than those directed at his family, and those, so difficult to define, that Georgiana Burne-Jones was able to meet, all the needs, it could be said, he was aware of having. The Kelmscott Press is too large a topic to be discussed only or primar­ ily as context for friendships and work relationships; and Morris's absorp­ tion in the Press, for the larger part of the period with which we are dealing, will be a matter receiving full attention here. But before the Press is brought in focus, two other activities that continue the narrative of his life require mention. They are socialism and the S.P.A.B. The involvement with socialism in the last years is best seen as a contin­ ued moral commitment, confirmed from time to time in articles and in letters to those who write to ask if he still is a socialist, though it may be significant that there is doubt m the air, prompting the inquiries A more than symbolic affirmation of his stance is his helping to write the Joint Manifesto of the English Socialists, in 1893, along with representatives of [ XXlll ]

INTRODUCTION

the Fabians and the S.D.F. (including Bernard Shaw and H M. Hyndman). In contributing to the preparation of the Manifesto, Morris did nothing so much as reiterate his wish that English socialists eliminate fac­ tionalism. That he wanted to be free from all internal rivalries among so­ cialists—indeed from all the negotiations over power that constitute poli­ tics—suggests why anarchists often believed he was a kindred soul (leading him to insist he was not an anarchist and explain eloquently why not, as he does in his letters to Wolf Wess and James Tochatti, dated respectively January 15 and December 12, 1893). Morris moves also in these last years to an even stronger support of the labor union movement than he gave in 1889, at the time of the Dockworkers' Strike, and he does so m his re­ sponse to the Coal Miners' Strike of 1893, which was significant, it may be added, because it was the first labor action m England aimed at shutting down an entire industry and because it partially succeeded. He not only gives his strong support to the strike but takes hold of the occasion to explore in print the relationship between art and socialism, doing so in his letter to the Daily Chronicle, dated November 9, 1893. He is never more eloquent than he is, here, m his iterated insistence there must be a rebirth of society before there can be a "genuine new birth of art." Moreover, no discussion of socialism in the last years should overlook the very last article on the subject Morris was to publish, "The Present Outlook of Socialism in England," contributed to the April 1896 issue of The Forum (and included in Volume IV of this edition as Appendix A) He unequivocally insists in the article that class division should remain the focus of concern. He insists that eliminating this division should be the goal of socialism. The article demonstrates, at the very least, that remain­ ing operative was the chief reason for his becoming a socialist, his belief that class division is the first cause of all social ills and evils, including, if not indeed foremost, the degraded condition of the arts. But if socialism in these years takes the form of a reaffirmation of belief, Morris's engagement m his other main public activity—the work of the S.P.A.B.—is best characterized as an aggressive assertion of belief that has all the vigor of a newly discovered conviction There are, as a result, memorable moments in the final years m Morris's career as a voice for the S.P.A.B. Plans to remove statues at the base of the spire of St Mary's Church, Oxford; threatened restorations to Westminster Abbey and to Rouen, Chichester, and Peterborough Cathedrals; and the proposed thin­ ning of trees in Epping Forest are occasions for some of Morris's most vigorous protests ever. The high number of letters in this volume to news­ papers in behalf of the S.P.A.B. and the care taken with them, as early drafts of some make clear, suggest that of all his public activities his effort for the S.PA.B was the one least altered by ill health or diminished zeal

INTRODUCTION

His readiness to write letters remains constant, though it is true the last for the S.P.A.B. appears in 1895. And if, sometimes, the text sent off repre­ sents Cockerell's "fair copying," the vigor of thought and argument are Morris's own. The Kelmscott Press has been noted here as the continuing site, in the last years, of Morris's friendships and successful work relationships. Its continued presence in its own right in any narrative of these final years has also been noted. However, to shift the emphasis to the Press itself is only to say that though it achieved a large, public, historical meaning, the nar­ rative of the Press as it pertains to the period between 1892 and 1896 invites a return to a view with Morris still at center, with questions of his friendships and work relationships turning into new questions about him alone. It is also to see the Press as an introduction to a constellation of Morris's activities and practices, in the last years, governed by two central questions: what do we mean when we speak of Morris as artist, and what did Morris mean when he spoke of art? The start to an answer to both can be made by noting three themes that in the letters after 1892 constitute the story of Morris and the Kelmscott Press. These are Morris's becoming his own publisher; his efforts to complete the Chaucer despite numerous de­ lays, including, at a late stage, a particularly alarming problem—that of the ink; and his search for illustrators for Kelmscott Press editions of his own work who would satisfy him. What the decision to become his own publisher signifies is, certainly, a new confidence, inspired no doubt by the success of The Golden Legend (issued at the end of 1892), that he could take on the financial risk. But arguably the decision had another meaning, too. It suggests a reaching back to the early days of printing, when printer and publisher were the same person. Though there were no production problems with Quantch or other publishers when Morris was printer only, obtaining what he imagined was an historical kind of singular control may have helped him regard himself as the artist-in-charge of production, illusory as the desire for autonomous control was, since he was always dependent on friends, associates, and employees. As for the books issued by Morris as publisher, the most notable was the Chaucer, and what the Letters record is, as suggested, the overcoming of numerous difficulties. It took two years to persuade the reluctant Claren­ don Press to permit use of W. W. Skeat's edition of Chaucer's works as copytext, permission that was finally obtained in 1894. Cutting—to Mor­ ris's satisfaction—woodblock initials, borders, and the blocks for BurneJones's drawings, was a long process, often requiring the engravings be altered or done over. Finally, Morris's decision to turn publisher meant sorting out—with some tension and rancor—his future business relations

INTRODUCTION

with Quaritch, who had with good reason anticipated acting as publisher of the Chaucer himself. It is an epic narrative, for as Cockerell tells it, plans to print the Chaucer with illustrations by Burne-Jones were first made m 1891. From that time on, work of one sort or another was under way for the book until May 8, 1896, the first bound copy finally being placed in Morris's hands in June. With respect to the ink, mentioned here earlier as a particularly troubling problem, the first mk Morris had used was pro­ ducing yellow stains on the printed sheets, threatening to halt the Chaucer at the late date of May 1895. There was great alarm "Steele had no busi­ ness to tell you anything about my trouble with the ink," Morris wrote to F. J. Furnival on July 12, 1895; "I shall issue the Chaucer all right of course. In the meantime I must beg you not to say a word about it to anybody, or you will do me very serious injury." The problem was in fact a good while being solved. After obtaining from Janecke Brothers in Hamburg an ink that satisfied him, Morris encountered protests from his pressman, who found it stiff and difficult to work In timing, duration, and outcome, the story of the ink is a subplot of the production of the Chaucer, demonstrating nothing so much as Morris's tenacity, persistence, and thoroughness when the success of some craft object—that is, of art of his own making, was at stake. As for the effort to find for Kelmscott Press editions of his own books illustrators whose work would satisfy him, it is, quite simply, a record of continuous dissatisfaction But it has implications for the largest of ques­ tions, namely Morris's conception of what art is. The illustrated Glittering Plain, with pictures by Walter Crane, is the first instance of the effort The book was planned in 1891, but impatient to get the Press started, Morris did not wait for Crane's drawings and m that year printed as the first book an edition without illustrations A sec­ ond, illustrated, version was eventually prepared, and was published in February 1894; and it is this later one that is to the point here. Although Morris treated the project as a collaboration, agreeing to divide profits equally (the only time he did so), there is evidence he was unhappy with the book Cockerell, annotating a letter to Morris from Philip Webb, which criticized the illustrations as too flat, wrote "Morris was no less dissatisfied with Crane's illustrations to his Glittering Plain & thought this volume his one Kelmscott Press failure " To be sure, this statement has to be balanced against Morris's February 17, 1894, letter to Crane in which he says, "I think your woodcuts look delightful", but there is no reason to give greater weight to Morris's compliment than to Cockerell's testimony as to what Morris actually thought. Further to the point, and more complicated, was Morris's response to

INTRODUCTION

the drawings of Charles M Gere, who had in 1892 done the frontispiece for Newsfrom Nowhere and was now doing illustrations for The House of the Wolfings; and his response to drawings by Arthur J. Gaskin, commissioned by Morris to illustrate The Well at the World's End. What happened is re­ corded in letters to the two artists in the years 1893 through 1895. These constitute a narrative—a double narrative—of continuous discontent, al­ ready adumbrated, it might be added, in letters to Gere of 1892 concern­ ing the frontispiece for News from Nowhere Morris always, to some degree, complains, a background is not detailed enough, a figure is out of proportion, the artist has not got the costume "right." The message, sometimes clearly delivered, sometimes not, is that Morris has an image in his own mind of what he wants. Considering that The House of the Wolfings is set in a pre-medieval time and The Well at the World's End in an imaginary land, and thus of no particular time logically, it is arresting to see Morris attempting to get Gere and Gaskin to repro­ duce costumes, armor, and settings that are medieval, and to do so in the style of early woodcut illustrations. Although in two 1893 letters (one to Gere on August 28, and the other to Gaskin, April 18) Morris speaks of the need for free invention, he in fact wants fidelity to what might be called the subtexts of his texts, their grounding m the medieval romance that liberated his own imaginative powers as no other narrative material did. He wants also fidelity to the early woodcuts that, to his eye, ex­ pressed the pleasure in the tale—and thus the urge to decorate it—that he himself felt. How to explain this 7 The Letters permit, if they do not insist on, the thought that the personality, character, and even originality of Gere and Gaskin inevitably showed through and registered as competition with Morris's most private imagining. His complaints are about unsatisfactory execution; and though without a full record of what he saw and rejected it is impossible to assess his objections, some of the drawings sent by both men do survive, and it is difficult to see what is wrong with them. Perhaps even more significant, if we focus on The Well alone, is that Morris, when he decided not to use Gaskins designs, turned to BurneJones, getting him to produce four drawings for the book. There is no surviving record of any complaint about these illustrations and we can assume they satisfied in ways that Gaskms had not. But placing a Gaskin and a Burne-Jones drawing together (illustration, p. 38) makes it anything but obvious that Burne-Jones's is better, and only leads to a new ques­ tion—why did those by Burne-Jones satisfy, if they truly did, and those by Gaskin did not? What emerges from all this is a suggestion that Morris's aesthetic per-

INTRODUCTION

ception, when it came to illustrations for his own work, was shaped by his relationship to the artist. Burne-Jones had been his friend for forty years and was the one—along with Philip Webb—to whom Morris felt closest. The possibility that presents itself is that whatever lines Burne-Jones drew, they could not help but be informed for Morris by the memory of shared enthusiasm for all things medieval, memory of discussions about medieval literature and art that had occurred over a lifetime, memories of discussions of doing books together m the 1860s and 1870s. This is not to disparage Burne-Jones as an artist but only to suggest why his drawings were accept­ able while the arguably quite satisfactory drawings of Gaskin were not There is a further possibility: that Burne-Jones's four drawings for The Well did not satisfy either, and Morris accepted them simply to have done with a problem too long in existence and, as with Crane, Morris found he could not express dissatisfaction to a friend about the friend's drawings. Highly conjectural as any such view must be, it is more than interesting to note that Morris, according to Ε. H. News Diary entry of October 11, 1895, said in an interview that "[h]e does not thmk his books want illus­ trations [for] he describes his scenes so minutely and paints them so viv­ idly that an illustration would rather limit than enlarge the reader's con­ ception " Morris added, according to New, that Shakespeare's plays "require no illustration" either, and though Morris apparently did not elaborate as to why, m another context in the interview he said, also ac­ cording to New, that Shakespeare's plays "really belong to all time" and thus "would be best acted m a generalized costume." This astonishingly advanced notion suggests an interesting link between illustrating and cos­ tuming, since Morris's concern in both cases is to resist limiting "the reader's conception." Almost—though not quite—incidentally, one feels prompted to ask again why Gaskm, invited to illustrate a fantasy of no particular time or place, i.e., The Well, should have been required to study medieval costume in order to get the dress "right" on Morris's figures. One wishes there was some corroboration for News Diary notes, since Morris is not on record elsewhere as rejecting all illustration for his work—nor for that matter as expressing such implicit admiration for Shakespeare. Nevertheless, there is at least a consistency between Morris's chronic dissatisfaction with illustrators and the views imputed to him here. There is also the fact that by October 1895, when New says he had the interview with Morris, Gere and Gaskm's drawings had been rejected, Crane's illustrations had been accepted but mentally rejected (if the usu­ ally reliable Cockerell reported accurately), and Morris most probably had seen preliminary sketches of Burne-Jones's four illustrations for The Well, since Gaskin's last effort to persuade Morris to let him keep the assignment [

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had occurred on March 1 (according to Morris's Diary) and Morris had presumably turned to Burne-Jones shortly, if not immediately, thereafter All this belongs as indicated to the narrative of producing Kelmscott Press volumes m the last years The more limited discussion of illustrators just concluded might more properly be termed the narrative of Morris's search for aesthetic realization of his own books The Chaucer is a some­ what different matter—different, among other reasons, because it was from the first envisioned as a collaboration with Burne-Jones and because the questions raised about Gere, Gaskm, and Morris's texts simply do not apply Chaucer, the greatest of writers to Morris, was yet not Morris The texts could be interpreted by another, all the more safely had there been a problem since that other was Burne-Jones The narrative of illustrating the Chaucer is, like the making of the book itself, one of continuous overcoming of difficulties, but it is also, as regis­ tered in the Letters, one of continuous purposeful advance, unlike the in­ volvement with Gere and Gaskin The Letters agree with all our other sources of information that the Chaucer took shape—if over several years—with the aesthetic objective held clearly in mind (though the number of illustrations increased from the sixty originally planned to eighty-seven), and presumably it was an objective shared or agreed upon by Morris, Burne-Jones, and others who played a role, particularly F S Ellis The Letters agree, finally, that issuing the Chaucer was an event promising to define in a celebratory way both the history of the Press and the lifelong career of William Morris as artist But m fact to pursue this narrative to its conclusion is to observe it, at the very end, divert sharply from the depiction of Morris as artist-pro­ ducer From 1893 through 1895 the theme is his absorption in the Press and his struggle to get things right with the Chaucer, as it had been since 1891 When the book was finally issued, however, Morris's response— whether in letters, his Diary or the recollections of others—was decidedly anticlimactic Most to the point, his response to the placing of the first bound copy in his hands in June 1896, as recorded in his June 24 letter to Cockerell, does nothing so much as contrast with his enthusiasm, in many other let­ ters of the same period, for the medieval manuscripts he was purchasing— and with increasing frequency—in the last years of his life For indeed, a passion for manuscripts was pushing to the side his enthusiasm for printed books m general, whether his own or even early books, including incu­ nabula The anticlimactic response to the Chaucer may speak of a simple letdown, or of fatigue brought on by illness, or of some dissatisfaction with the triumph (in all other eyes) of his printing career But more likely

INTRODUCTION

than any of these possibilities, his absorption in manuscript books had be­ come so intense by the time the Chaucer was issued that the passion to acquire them had displaced at the center of his existence the desire that the finished Chaucer could gratify. Whatever the reason, finally, if any one "narrative" of the years 1893 to 1896 can be said to wax, rather than wane, it is the story of Morris's increasing desire for manuscript books. In 1893 those that he purchases begin to compete in number with the printed books he is buying, and from the summer of 1895 nearly to the end of his life they dominate all else. It was during this concluding period that he acquired the Brabant, Huntingfield, and St. Albans Psalters; the Tiptoft Missal; and his final pur­ chase—from Lord Aldenham for £1000—the Windmill Psalter. And surely there is a feeling of closure in the circumstance that the second-tolast important book he was able to buy—a twelfth-century English Besti­ ary bought from the dealer Jacques Rosenthal for £900 m May 1896— was brought to Morris, and thus first seen by him, on what was to be his last stay at his beloved Kelmscott. Given his own insistence that a fine book is an architechtomc triumph (certainly manuscript books are in­ cluded m this vision), and his love for the architectural presence of Kelmscott, it is not too fanciful to see a twining of beloved objects for him at the end, as the first sight of the Bestiary and the last view of Kelmscott concur almost to the day. There is also a sense of closure in the way he refers to the value of the Bestiary to his family after his death—"But you see it will certainly fetch something when my sale comes off," he writes to Webb on May 4, 1896. And if, as his letter to Webb suggests, there is something dry and prac­ tical accompanying his pleasure, it is a condition imposed by his need to convince himself he is not damaging his family by spending large amounts. Indeed, in the last sixteen months of his life he spent over £6,500 on manuscript books—i.e., more than half the final valuation of his entire collection of manuscripts and an amount in purchasing power today equivalent to £325,000. That Morris's final passion was in fact for objects of beauty he felt compelled to look upon as commodities—as ob­ jects contaminated m meaning by the commercial civilization he de­ nounced—would be an irony were he looking forward to a long life and further exchanges of books for money. Given his sense of impending death, however, the conversion he contemplates is conversion of pleasure experienced in the present into comfort and security for his family in the future, and if not precisely in keeping with his dreams of happiness for society in general (in which books played a large part), it was an extension into the future of his caring self: the self that wanted to shield and protect

INTRODUCTION

Jenny, and to be at least a good provider for Jane, if he could not be a husband she loved. There is also another way of seeing Morris's absorption at the end in manuscript buying. The tactile objects of beauty he obtained represented to him what art should be. It is possible to say that in becoming absorbed in them as he did he was making a statement within his own age, despite the superficial implication of withdrawal signaled. Morris was involved in his own age, until the end, and from the larger perspective this fact pro­ vides, the passion for manuscript buying, though a final narrative in Mor­ ris's life, embraces the past not as nostalgic dream but as a concrete entity that can exert its energy in the present. Moreover, this narrative masks, because it seems to consume so much of his energy in the last fourteen months, another narrative that begins before it does and then runs along­ side it: that of the Morris who interrogates his own age on the question what art is, even as he is interrogated by it. This complex involvement is of course expressed in Morris's designs for the Kelmscott Press. It is expressed also in the last years in other enter­ prises and involvements, and in some ways the most salient if problematic of these is his relationship to the Arts and Crafts Movement in general and the Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society (ACES) in particular. Indeed odd, so far as the Letters are evidence, is the question of Morris and the ACES. As suggested, his connection with the ACES reflects his relation to the Arts and Crafts Movement in general; involving him with people like Walter Crane and Cobden-Sanderson, with whom he had already worked closely on private projects; and it also anticipates an even larger theme of necessary concern here: Morris and modernism. But the salient point—or at least the one with which really to begin—is that Mor­ ris was much less responsive to the ACES than its other members were to him, especially the younger ones who regarded him as a leader. Some individuals were his friends and acquaintances and their work presumably had his approval; but the idea of regular exhibits received lackluster sup­ port from him, and a certain amount of negative anticipation of the out­ come, even of the exhibit of 1893, of the year, that is, in which he had become the Society's president. His pessimism, as expressed in a letter to Walter Crane on July 30, 1893—"I believe the public (the big public) are somewhat tired of our exhibitions . . "—should at least have been quali­ fied, it seems from our perspective today, by a reference to the promising fortunes of the arts and crafts in general, and particularly the success of Morris and Co. in these years. For though it is true the ACES had experi­ enced financial difficulties over the years, as Peter Stansky has ably dem­ onstrated, it is also true, as several recent studies have shown, that the

INTRODUCTION

British middle class did support the Arts and Crafts Movement at this time. Its products were finding their way into British homes, with women in large number among its practitioners and patrons both, and—as pa­ trons—helping to increase its markets. It was, in brief, an expanding and historically significant movement. We have only Morris's glancing refer­ ences to the ACES—and none to the larger movement—and perhaps the former's financial troubles did warrant his pessimism, but one detects m him in the matter the same sort of pessimism that led him earlier to speak of the hopelessness of art under a plutocracy: people have yet to be taught to want beautiful things; or, more often, have yet to have had their natural inclination for the beautiful liberated from the distorting influence of so­ cial conditions. In all this, finally, there is a complicated resistance m Morris to much that is new and a refusal to recognize it has arrived, when indeed it has. He is more at ease denying the age can produce creatively, even as his own need compels him to try—and to succeed. Again, as for the ACES in particular, there is no satisfying answer— none, certainly in the Letters—for the lack of any strong evidence of en­ thusiasm on Morris's part. (He goes to Kelmscott despite preparations-mprogress for the October 5 opening of the 1893 ACES exhibit, we learn from a September 29 letter to Jenny. And though he returns for the open­ ing, he stays only the one day, leaving London again on the 6th.) All that can be said is that Morris provided the aesthetic and political rationale for the ACES, as well as designs and products that won admiration, emula­ tion, and enthusiasm for him; but most often refused the word of encour­ agement. It is an apparent contradiction that sets difficulties in the way of discussing him and his achievement historically. The issue does open up into a larger one. There is in Morris a sense of isolation in these years that does not always respond or correspond to the social and political realities about him. It is perhaps instructive that when Webb protests against Morris's regularly giving him expensive Kelmscott Press volumes as they appear, Morris (in a letter dated August 27, 1894) answers: "I do the books mainly for you and one or two others; the public does not really care about them a damn. ..." This does not tally with Morris's readiness to quarrel with Quaritch over the right to control a share of the market through pricing. But it is not hypocrisy either. It is, rather, a figurative way of expressing what Morris wanted, to feel close to Webb, to obtain his sympathetic response and praise for the Press's books as they were produced. It is also—quite explicitly—a statement of genu­ ine indifference to the aesthetic judgment of Kelmscott Press books by strangers, including presumably the judgment of his many eager custom­ ers. The larger image is that of a man who thinks of himself as an artist and

INTRODUCTION

who feels unconnected with the society around him, including, by impli­ cation, with other artists. The image of the artist at variance with his contemporaries is common m the early modern period—in the 1890s, to which Morris at the end belongs. What is uncommon is that Morris continued to have appeal for many of those in whom he could—or would—take no interest (Lucien Pissarro is an example), as well as growing appeal for the art world in general. One of the most interesting indications of the latter was the de­ sire of Octave Maus to include Morris's work m both the first and second salons of La Libre Esthitique in 1894 and 1895, respectively; exhibitions held in Brussels and conceived on even broader grounds than Morris's— i.e., on the idea that all the arts, including the decorative ones, should be exhibited together. Significantly, the salon attracted the attention and work of many important early moderns. In 1894 Morris and Co. papers and fabrics and examples of Morris's typography, ornamental letters, and decorative initials for Kelmscott Press books, were exhibited along with work by Paul Gauguin, Lucien and Camille Pissaro, Paul Signac, Alfred Sisley, Odilon Redon, and Pierre Auguste Renoir. Of some small worth in the history of irony, if only as a passing reference, one of Morris's coexhibitors m the salon of 1895 was Aubrey Beardsley, to whose work he had taken an intense dislike, and who in turn felt obliged to regard Morris as an antagonist. This relationship is stressed here because it points up how truly problematic is the relationship of Morris to early modernism. And certainly of significance, Morris was quite ready m 1895 to write to Holman Hunt and speak approvingly of La Libre Esthetique and urge him to participate (he did). The strong impression made by this fact is that when Morris was properly approached, or perhaps approached from the Conti­ nent, an ambitious dream of the next generation could appeal to him. Whatever the explanation, Morris's extraordinary lying down peace­ ably with some of the most formidable young modernists, in the Brussels salon if not in London (and perhaps because he was unaware of what the work of his fellow exhibitors at the salon was like), is part of the narrative of the last years in focus here. Perhaps, finally, what his readiness to ex­ hibit at La Libre Esthitique suggests, though it is hard to see him bring this to the surface, is a willingness to sympathize with the broad movement of the period: a period of self-consecration among artists as artist-priests and a period that witnessed the growth of belief m the autonomy of art. At this point, too, we can enlarge the question of Morris in the 1890s and his relation to modernism, by exploring his attitude, in the decade, to himself as author. He was pleased to think of himself as a professional author, for it was as such that he described himself m his letter in 1892 to Charles [ XXXlll ]

INTRODUCTION

Shannon—even denying any professional authority as a visual artist—and in his application in 1894 to the Society of Antiquaries for membership That Morris was at the end so intent on being recognized as a writer brings him into even closer connections with the voices creating the mood of the 1890s the mood of early modernism and the belief in the autonomy of art that these voices were articulating And Morris's sense of himself as author, re-articulated in the context of the 1890s, multiplied for him the ways in which art and socialism could relate Ofinterest is his July 16, 1895 letter to The Spectator, in which he vigorously objects to a reviewer's reading of The Wood Beyond the World as a socialist tract There is no allegory he insists it is "meant for a tale pure and simple, with nothing didactic about it," ι e , without reference to nineteenth-century English society and culture in any way, without any lesson to teach The position is reconcilable with the fact that art was always the priority for Morris The goal of social transformation for him was a world in which the energies of everyone would be liberated for the making and enjoying of art Carefully considered, this means that he im­ plicitly staked his claim for the autonomy of art in the future We can read backwards to see that on some level his romance writing m the present functioned as a paradigm of the practice of art m the future—in a postpolitical and post-historical future, it might be said True, when writing to the Daily Chronicle (November 9, 1893) about the Coal Miners' Strike, he says there will only be art in the future if people want it, but he adds that it is natural to want art (ital mine) And if nothing else, the "natural" is autonomous, with respect to social causation it may be shaped by social forces, but it exists by definition before they begin to operate, and—if this were possible—after they cease to exist However much Morris's repudiation of the idea of himself as an allegonst tells us about his self-image, it is important also to note that Morris takes keen satisfaction, at the very end, in the image constructed by others of himself as author He accepts the cultural process that has conferred rank on him as a writer, a process that was already under way when he had been seriously considered as a possible successor to Tennyson as Poet Lau­ reate in 1892 While "art for art's sake" was an abhorrent concept to him intellectually and morally, as a performance his production of literature, and his willingness to be praised, made it possible for others to appropriate him for a literary movement in many ways alien to him, and if not to assimilate him into the Aesthetic Movement, to see his work as sympa­ thetic or harmonious with it Morris was seen by many of his contempo­ raries in the 1890s as helping to make the literature of the decade, that perception is as important to a discussion of him as any effort he did or did [

XXXlV

]

INTRODUCTION

not make to position himself within the decade. And he did not, it should be added, make any effort to reject acceptance of him by the age. Illuminating in this last respect is his November 20, 1895, letter to Hans Ey, a student at the University of Marburg, who had asked Morris whether there was any similarity between himself and Chaucer, saying a friend was writing a thesis on the two poets. It is arresting to learn that Morris, a living author, was an appropriate topic for academic discourse at Marburg; and further, to note that even to suggest (as his friends—or Ey's—thesis does) that there were grounds in that discourse for compar­ ing Chaucer and Morris, is to confer enormous importance as a writer upon Morris. But it is equally significant—in illuminating how the con­ struction of him by others affected his self-image—that his reply contains no hint he feels unworthy of such extraordinary literary honor and dis­ tinction. Rather, there is a note of somewhat astonishing complacency in his response to the comparison. Equally to the point is his letter of March 7, 1895, to Watts-Dunton, in which Morris revels in the latter's praise of The Wood Beyond the World in the Athenaeum (March 2, 1895), and comes close to providing us with his theory of language when he heartily agrees with Watts-Dunton that his—Morris's—own writing is free from "euphuism," "didacticism," and "the curse of rhetoric." Morris is presumably pleased to think of himself as direct, simple, bold, and natural in his writing of narrative description and dialogue. But by "the curse of rhetoric" he must have meant figures of speech, metaphoric language, and syntactical variations for effect. Once again he sees himself as "against the age," in the phrase Peter Faulkner applies to him, even as some critics are ridiculing his language as archaic or pretentious, as an attempt, doomed to fail, to restore the idiom of an earlier—and obsolete—period. That Morris saw none of this—that he re­ garded himself as expressing himself naturally—is all the more remarka­ ble And at the heart of the matter is his insistence, in a way that suggests he sees his own art as autonomous, that he was as an author realizing a "truth to self' that enabled him to give pleasure to his readers. What the prose style of Morris's romances in fact achieves is the en­ gagement of the reader m the "pleasure of the text": there is often a sen­ sual quality to the imagery and rhythms It is not so much an invitation to read over the writer's shoulder, as nineteenth-century literature often is, but an invitation to enter a speech compact with Morris, whose whole purpose is pleasure and whose method is to make the narrator the subject of attention Paradoxically, Morris's archaicising is intended to negate al­ ienation. It is intended to say that he who gives pleasure, as narrator, and the one who receives pleasure, the reader, are bound together by what has

INTRODUCTION

thus transpired. It is intended finally to say that by giving pleasure through the particulars of his tone and style Morris desires to enter the lives of his readers: to make a connection between "art and life" in that way rather than by making art a criticism of life In the 1890s, when writers were withdrawing from the compact that makes civil society possible, learning to distrust both history and the yearning for simplicity, Morris seems to resolve the problem of alienation by converting it into a double stance· a political radicalism that allows him to reconnect with society as its in­ volved critic; and an aesthetic reaching out that asserts art is not an instru­ ment of social criticism but a paradigm for the future, that is, for a new ordering of human culture in which the taking pleasure m art will not only constitute living freely and m fulfillment, but in which part of that fulfillment will also be a reconstitution of social relations through art. Finally, precisely because his writing calls attention to itself as litera­ ture, rather than as social cntjcjsm, history, or philosophy, Morris is seen by his fin de siecle contemporaries as radical. An age that has begun to believe in the redemptive power of art reads Morris's writing as a working out of desire—a new phase after the frustrations of desire charged to soci­ ety have been overcome by eliminating their causes. It is as if the rhap­ sodic vision of Morris as romantic, as well as the wisdom of Morris the socialist, have given rise to a vision of human fulfillment. Tone, mood, and indeed imagery substitute psychologically, if not metaphorically, for doctrine and realism. So Morris seems to have it both ways: to be more humanistic in social vision than the naturalists but as liberated as the aes­ thetes in inventing narratives and imaginary landscapes. And surely though he would have objected to being called an aesthete (though not a humanist, if the term could be freed from its renaissance associations) his belief m the autonomy of art—his image of himself as author—corre­ sponds, as others about him perceived, to that of the Aesthetic Movement. It remains only to speak of how themes come together m the last months of Morris's life. The gratification of manifest desire in obtaining m May 1896 the English Bestiary, and in July the Windmill Psalter, are oddly complemented by Morris's muted, anticlimactic response to first seeing, in June, the bound Chaucer. It is as if Morris had reached back beyond all printed books, even his own, m his search for the pleasure to be found in the true book. There is too, if the surviving correspondence is any accurate record of the matter, the emergence of Webb as the friend to whom he is closest m the last months. There are—essential to note— truly heroic efforts to shield Jenny, even as his life is ebbmg away, result­ ing in the unspeakably moving last line m his last surviving letter, which is to her· "I believe I am somewhat better," he wrote with a feeble hand [

XXXVl ]

INTRODUCTION

on September 14, three weeks before his death There is also the strength of the love he feels for Georgiana Burne-Jones—"I want a sight of your dear face," he writes as he lies dying in September What happens is in good part a return to beginnings to the historic age of manuscript books, to the pleasure in them expressed also in his own early ambition to illuminate manuscripts, to first friends—Webb had been met in 1856 m G E Street's office—and to the love of architecture he could best express when writing to Webb But it is also a turning, as well as a return to love that had no room for the erotic, and to a kind of stoicism—even humor—in the face of discomfort, pam, and weakness, that was truly noble Morris at his best as a human being relating to others The fantasy of "rest" that had appealed to him at the beginning of the 1890s, when he wrote Newsfrom Nowhere, of being a man in search of closure to his own life narrative, oddly no longer suits him It is not, at least, how others saw him When the news of his death on October 5 reached the public, the response affirmed that a great man had died In the last months, even years, he had done much reaching back, but the obitu­ aries rightly described him as a voice of action m the present—in art and in politics—a voice that despaired of the present but hoped for the future in a way that made the present seem bright because of that hope Indeed, like all great artists and important thinkers, Morris in his art and m his social thought enabled people in large numbers to imagine their own future to imagine the gratification of their desires, whatever they might be But the conditions for this private fulfillment that he promised were always to be public and universal Society would exist for the sake of the health and welfare of the body, art for the gratification of the senses, and all institutions and social arrangements would have as their goal the nurturing of that which regards itself as more than a well-nourished body, more than a site for sensory experience the self that humanistically pro­ claims the importance of every other life The self, that is, able to embrace with affection both art and other people, so that affection, love, even eros become the single, unifying, ground beneath both art and life All this was in the image of Morris already in existence in the public imagination when he died Perhaps the fortuitous, unprogrammatic, and random way in which his letters emphasize, at the end, the art he loved ahd his love for the people who meant most to him, and the singular link between his love of art and of those important to him, casts a backward light on all the letters that record his life and career letters that in retro­ spective view can be seen as a continuous orienting of desire toward dreams withm a humanistic creed desire for the pleasure of human fel­ lowship and for the pleasure that art provides—and withal, that strive to [

XXXVll

]

INTRODUCTION

work out the connection between the two desires, the two pleasures. Per­ haps that his letters have done this is the measure of their enduring value for reading the life of an enduring figure. Norman Kelvin The City College and the Graduate Center, City University of New York January 1995

[

XXXVlll ]

MORRIS CHRONOLOGY

B A S E D on " A Calendar of Principal Events in Morris's Life," May Mor­ ns, William Morris: Artist, Writer, Socialist, II (Oxford, 1936), 632—37; and

on the letters in the present edition. 1834

Born, March 24, at Elm House, Walthamstow.

1840

Family moves to Woodford Hall, Walthamstow

1847

Father dies.

1848

Goes to school at Marlborough. Family moves to Water House, Walthamstow.

1851

Leaves school at Christmas, after school rebellion in November.

1852

Reads with Dr. F B. Guy, Forest School, Walthamstow. Ma­ triculates at Exeter College, Oxford, in June. Plans to prepare for the Church.

1853

Goes to Oxford in January. Meets Edward Burne-Jones, C. J. Faulkner, R. W. Dixon, Harry Macdonald, and William Fulford. In rooms at Exeter College by December. During this and following year reads Ruskin's Stones of Venice, Carlyles Past and Present, Thorp s Northern Mythologies, and Charlotte Yonge's The Heir of Redclyffe.

1854

Visits Belgium and Northern France in the summer, seeing the paintings of Memling and Van Eyck, and Amiens, Beauvais, and Rouen Cathedrals. Meets Cormell Price. Reads Ruskin's Ed­ inburgh Lectures and becomes aware of the Pre-Raphaelites. Mor­ ns, Burne-Jones, and their circle plan a monastic brotherhood.

1855

Reads Chaucer and Malory. Makes second tour of France, ac­ companied by Burne-Jones and Fulford. Morris decides not to take orders, and to follow art as a career.

1856

Edits and finances the Oxford and Cambridge Magazine. Articled to G. E. Street, the architect, in whose Oxford office he meets Philip Webb. Takes his B.A. degree. Moves to London with

MORRIS CHRONOLOGY

Street's office and shares rooms with Burne-Jones. Meets Ros­ setti and abandons architecture for painting by end of the year 1857

Decorative work begins at 17 Red Lion Square. Frescoes m the Oxford Union painted, under leadership of Rossetti. MeetsJane Burden. Macmillan rejects The Defence of Guenevere.

1858

The Defence of Guenevere published by Bell and Daldy at Morris's own expense. With Faulkner and Webb, visits France again.

1859

Morris and Jane Burden married on April 26 Tour of France, Belgium, and the Rhineland. Philip Webb builds Red House, at Upton, Kent, for them.

1860

Morrises move into Red House. Edward Burne-Jones and Georgiana Macdonald married on June 9.

1861

Firm of Morris, Marshall, Faulkner and Co. founded Jane Alice ("Jenny") born January 17. Morris begins writing stories for The Earthly Paradise.

1862

Mary ("May") Morris born March 25. Firm shows work at the Great Exhibition and is awarded two gold medals.

1864

Morris ill with rheumatic fever. The Burne-Joneses decide against sharing Red House, and the plan for a "Palace of Art" there is abandoned.

1865

Red House sold to a retired naval officer and Morris family moves to 26 Queen Square, London, where the Firm also sets up shop.

1866

The Earthly Paradise takes form. Morris visits France again, with Wanngton Taylor and William Fulford.

1867

The Life and Death of Jason, originally intended as a tale in The Earthly Paradise, published separately in January. Firm begins

decoration of dining room at South Kensington Museum. 1868

The Earthly Paradise, Volume I, published in April Mornsbegins studying Icelandic with Eirikr Magniisson.

1869

"The Saga of Gunnlaug Worm-tongue" published m the Fort­ nightly Review (January). The Story of Grettir the Strong published in June. Morris takes his wife to Bad Ems for her health. BurneJones's breakdown, precipitated by affair with Mary Zambaco

1870

Volumes I and III of The Earthly Paradise published. Translation (with Magnusson) of Volsunga Saga published. Completes first [ xl ]

MORRIS CHRONOLOGY

illuminated manuscript, A Book of Verse, as gift for Georgiana Burne-Jones. Meets Aglaia Coromo and begins long friendship and correspondence. 1871

Takes Kelmscott Manor, Lechlade1 Gloucestershire, in joint ten­ ancy with Rossetti in June. Rossetti and Jane Morris and chil­ dren take up residence there. In July Morris leaves on first Ice­ landic trip, accompanied by Faulkner, Magnusson, and W. H. Evans. Makes an illuminated Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam for Ed­ ward Burne-Jones. A second (on vellum), a gift for Georgiana Burne-Jones, begun and completed following year.

1872

Morris family leaves Queen Square (Firm continues there) for Horrington House, Turnham Green. Love Is Enough published. Rossetti suffers breakdown and attempts suicide.

1873

With Burne-Jones, visits Florence and Siena in spring. Second trip to Iceland in summer.

1874

Rossetti gives up his share of Kelmscott Manor. Morris takes family on trip to Belgium. In winter of 1874—75, begins illu­ minated Aeneid on vellum.

1875

Morris, Marshall, Faulkner, and Co. dissolved and reestablished as Morris and Co., with Morris as single owner. Takes M.A. de­ gree at Oxford. Three Northern Love Stories published. Begins ex­ periments with dyeing, staying with Thomas Wardle, at Leek, for the purpose. Morris's translation of the Aeneid published.

1876

Becomes Treasurer of Eastern Question Association and begins first period of political activity. Appointed Examiner at School of Art, South Kensington. Jenny suffers first epileptic attack and be­ comes semi-mvalid for the rest of her life. Sigurd the Volsung pub­ lished.

1877

Gives first public lecture, "The Decorative Arts." Helps found the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings ("AntiScrape") and becomes its first secretary.

1878

Takes family on visit to Venice, Verona, and Padua in spring. Move to Kelmscott House, Hammersmith, on return. Morris begins tapestry weaving. Russo-Turkish war ends with Treaty of San Stefano in March; after Congress of Berlin, June—July, EQA becomes inactive.

1879

Leads protest by S.P.A.B. against proposed restorations at St. Marks, Venice. Becomes treasurer of the National Liberal [ xli ]

MORRIS CHRONOLOGY

League First meeting with H M Hyndman, founder in 1881 of the Democractic Federation 1880

Firm decorates Throne Room at St James's Palace

1881

MertonAbbeyworksofMorrisandCo started

1882

Hopes and Fearsfor Art (first collection of essays) published Death

of Rossetti on April 9 1883

Joins Democratic Federation on January 13 Made Honorary Fellow of Exeter College on same day Death of Karl Marx, March 14 High warp tapestry started at Merton Abbey works Lecture, "Art and Democracy," sponsored by Russell Club and delivered in University Hall, Oxford, with Ruskin in chair, in November

1884

Partially subsidizes Justice, organ of the Democratic Federation Chants for Socialists and A Summary of the Principles of Socialism (with H M Hyndman) published In dissension with Hyndman at end of year, and along with others resigns from Democratic Federation (renamed Social Democratic Federation in August)

1885

The Socialist League founded and Commonweal started with Morris as editor Free speech demonstration, Dod Street, on September 20 Morris arrested when protesting sentencing of free speech demonstrators (charge dismissed in court next day) The Pilgrims of Hope published in Commonweal, 1885-86

1886

Demonstration of unemployed in Trafalgar Square, February 8 ("Black Monday") A Dream of John Ball appears in Commonweal, 1886—87 A Short Account of the Commune of Paris (with E Belfort Bax and Victor Dave) published

1887

Morris's translation of the Odyssey published in April The Tables Turned, or Nupkins Awakened produced at hall of Socialist League on October 15 Trafalgar Square demonstration attacked by po­ lice, November 13 ("Bloody Sunday") Pall bearer at funeral of Alfred Linnell, who was fatally injured in demonstration

1888

Signs of Changes, second volume of lectures, published in May Lectures on tapestry weaving at the first exhibition of the Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society Attends the first Art Congress, held in Liverpool The House of the Wolfings published in Decem­ ber (Takes interest in its design and begins to consider the tech­ nique of printing )

[ xI H ]

MORRIS CHRONOLOGY

1889

Delegate at International Socialist Congress, July, in Pans, at which Second International is founded. London Dock Strike (August 14—September 14). The Roots of the Mountains published in November. Opens series of lectures at second exhibition of the Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society. Attends Art Congress in Edinburgh (November)

1890

Designs type, preparing to start the Kelmscott Press. News from Nowhere appears in Commonweal. Leaves Socialist League at end of year and forms Hammersmith Socialist Society.

1891

The Kelmscott Press begins printing in January; its first book, The Story of the Glittering Plain, issued in May. Poems by the Way and first volume of Saga Library published in October. Serious illness. Takes Jenny to France. Address on Pre-Raphaelites at Municipal Art Gallery, Birmingham, in October.

1892

Death of Tennyson on October 13. Morris mentioned as possi­ ble candidate for Laureateship. Reputedly declines to be consid­ ered. Elected Master of the Art Workers' Guild for the year. Principal Kelmscott Press books: The Defence of Guenevere, The Golden Legend, The Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye. Second vol­ ume of Saga Library published

1893

Joint Manifesto of English Socialists drawn up by Morris, G. B. Shaw, and H. M. Hyndman. Socialism. Its Growth and Outcome (with E. Belfort Bax) published. Principal Kelmscott Press books· Mores Utopia, Newsfrom Nowhere.

1894

Morris's mother dies at age 90. Principal Kelmscott Press books: The Wood beyond the World, Swinburne's Atalanta in Calydon, Keats's Poems, and Rossetti's Sonnets and Lyrical Poems. Sydney Carlyle Cockerell becomes Secretary of the Kelmscott Press.

1895

Morris goes to Rottmgdean for his health. Death of Fnedrich Engels in August. Kelmscott Press publishes Beowulf (Morris's translation) and The Life and Death of fason. Purchases Huntingfield Psalter and Tiptoft Missal. Speaks at Sergius Stepniak's funeral.

1896

Kelmscott Press publishes Chaucer and The Well at the World's End. Purchases Windmill Psalter (the last manuscript he was to buy) Sea voyage to Norway in attempt to restore health. Death of Morris, October 3. [ xlin ]

MORRIS CHRONOLOGY

1898

Death of Burne-Jones, Bernard Quaritch, and Kate Faulkner. Sale of Morris's library at auction by Sotheby's. Final Kelmscott Press volumes are issued, and the Press is closed.

1900

Death ofjohn Ruskin.

1906

Death of Aglaia Coronio. Final volume (6) of the Saga Library completed and published by Eirikr Magmisson. Deaths of the following.

1914

Jane Morris.

1915

Philip Webb.

1920

Georgiana Burne-Jones

1935

Jenny Morris.

1938

May Morris.

1962

Sydney Carlyle Cockerell.

[ xliv ]

ABBREVIATIONS OF MANUSCRIPT LOCATIONS

(Printed text locations are included in list of Abbreviations of Works Frequently Cited.) Abrams Coll.

Collection of George Abrams, New York

Bass Coll.

Collection of Ben Bass

Berger Coll.

Collection of Sanford and Helen Berger

Birmingham

City of Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery, Birmingham

BL, Add. MSS.

British Library (British Museum), London, Ad­ ditional Manuscripts

BL, Ashley MSS.

British Library (British Museum), London, Ash­ ley Manuscripts

Bodleian

Bodleian Library, Oxford

Brotherton

Brotherton Collection, Brotherton University of Leeds, Leeds

Brussels, Maus

Octave Maus Archives, Archives de l'Art Contemporain, Musee royeaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique, Brussels

Brussels, Van de Velde

Henry Van de Velde Archives, Bibiliotheque Royale, Brussels

Bryn Mawr

Bryn Mawr Pennsylvania

Bucknell

Ellen Clarke Bertrand Library, Bucknell Uni­ versity, Lewisburg, Pennsylvania

Cheltenham

Cheltenham Art Gallery and Museums, Chel­ tenham, Gloucestershire

Clark Library

William Andrews Clark Memorial Library, Los Angeles, California

Coupe Coll.

Collection of Dr. R. L. Coupe

College

[ xlv ]

Library, Bryn

Library,

Mawr,

ABBREVIATIONS/ MANUSCRIPT LOCATIONS

CPRE

Council for the Protection of Rural England, London

Crane Coll.

Collection of Anthony Crane

CUL

Cambridge University Library, Cambridge

Dartmouth

Baker Memorial Library, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire

Doheny (Ex)

Formerly in the Estelle Doheny Collection of the Edward Laurence Doheny Memorial Li­ brary, St. John's Seminary, Camarillo, California

Dufty Coll.

Collection of A. R. Dufty, CBE

Duke

Sir Thomas Wardle Papers, Perkins Library, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina

Eton

Eton College Library, Windsor

Fitzwilliam

Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge

Fitzwilliam, Blunt Archive

Diaries and Other Papers of Wilfrid Scawen Blunt, including Letters from Jane Morris The Department of Manuscripts and Printed Books of the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge Uni­ versity

Getty

The Getty Center for the History of Art and the Humanities, Santa Monica, California

Gimson Coll.

Collection of Alfred G Gimson

Harvard

Houghton Library, Harvard University, Cambr­ idge, Massachusettes

Howard Papers

Castle Howard Archives, Castle Howard, York­ shire

Huntington

Huntington Library and Art Gallery, San Mar­ ino, California

Iceland

National Library of Iceland, Reykjavik

Iceland, Einarsson Papers

Stefan Emarsson Papers, National Library of Iceland, Reykjavik

IISH

International Institute for Social History, Am­ sterdam

Indiana

Lily Library, Indiana University, Bloomington

LSE

British Library of Political and Economic Sci­ ence, London School of Economics [ xlvi ]

ABBREVIATIONS/ MANUSCRIPT LOCATIONS

Mackail notebook

William Morris Gallery, Walthamstow, London

McMinn Papers

McMinn Papers, Society of Antiquaries, London

Mayfield Coll

Collection of John S. and Edith S. Mayfield, Special Collections Division, Georgetown Uni­ versity Library

Newberry

Wing Collection, Newberry Library, Chicago, Illinois

New South Wales

The Mitchell Library, New South Wales, Sydney

NLS

National Library of Scotland, Edinburgh

Nudelman

Edward D. Nudelman, Fine and Rare Books, Seattle, Washington

NYPL

Manuscript Division, New York Public Library

NYPL, Gilder Papers

Manuscript Division, New York Public Library, The Richard Watson Gilder Papers

NYU

The Fales Library, Elmer Holmes Bobst Library, New York University, New York

Occidental

Occidental College Library, Los Angeles, Cali­ fornia

Ohio

Department of Special Collections, Ohio State University Library, Columbus, Ohio

Oxford

Oxford University Archives (OUP)

Phalen

Collection of Kevin M. Phalen

PML

J. Pierpont Morgan Library, New York

Princeton T

Rossetti Collection of Janet Camp Troxell, Princeton University, Princeton, NewJersey

Princeton, Scheide

Scheide Library, Princeton University, Prince­ ton, NewJersey

Quantch

Bernard Quantch, Ltd., London

Quaritch Archives

Bernard Quantch, Ltd., London

Queensland

Hayes Collection, University of Queensland Li­ brary, St. Lucia, Australia

Rochester

University of Rochester Library, Rochester, New York

Rollin Coll.

Collection of Henry R. Rollin

Rosenthal Coll (Ex)

Formerly in Collection of Julia V. Rosenthal [ xlvii ]

ABBREVIATIONS / MANUSCRIPT LOCATIONS

Rylands

John Rylands University Library of Manchester

Schimmel Coll. (Ex)

Formerly in the Collection of S. B. Schimmel

Sheffield

City of Sheffield Library

Soc. Ant.

Society of Antiquaries, London

S.P.A.B. Archives

Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings, Archives, London

Spilstead Coll.

Collection of H L. Spilstead

Spitzbergen Diary

Getty Center

Subun-So

Subun-So Books, Tokyo

Syracuse

George Arendts Research Library for Special Collections, Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York

TCD

Trinity College Library, Dublin

Texas

Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center, University of Texas at Austin

Thompson

Collection of the late E. P. Thompson

Turner Coll.

Collection of Joscelyn V Charlewood Turner

UCSB

University of California, Santa Barbara

UCLA

Department of Special Collections, Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles

UIowa

University of Iowa Libraries, Iowa City

UKansas

Department of Special Collections, Spencer Li­ brary University of Kansas, Lawrence

ULiverpool

University of Liverpool, Special Collections

UMaryland

University of Maryland, Special Collections, College Park, Maryland

V&A

Victoria and Albert Museum Library, London

Walker Coll.

Collection of Michael L. Walker

Walsdorf Coll.

Collection of John J. Walsdorf

Walthamstow

William Morris Gallery, Walthamstow, London

Warwick

Modern Records Center, Warwick

Wess Coll.

Collection of Alfred Wess

Yale B.

Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Collec­ tion, Yale University, New Haven, Connec­ ticut [ xlvin ]

ABBREVIATIONS/ MANUSCRIPT LOCATIONS

Yale O.

Osborne Collection, Yale University Library, New Haven, Connecticut

Yates Coll. (Ex)

Formerly in the Collection of Arnold Yates

[ xlix ]

ABBREVIATIONS OF WORKS FREQUENTLY CITED

ACES Catalogue, 1893

Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society Catalogue of the Fourth Exhibition (London: The New Gal­ lery, 1893)

Addison

Sir William Addison, Portrait of Epping Forest (London: Robert Hale, 1977)

Arts and Crafts Essays

Arts and Crafts Essays by Members of the Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society (Rivington: Percival

and Co., 1893; rpt., London and Bombay: Longmans Green, 1899) Barker and Collins

Nicolas Barker and John Collins, A Sequel to An Enquiry into the Nature of Certain Nineteenth Cen­ tury Pamphlets by John Carter and Graham Pollard

(London and Berkeley: Scolar Press, 1983) Blunt, Diaries

Wilfrid Scawen Blunt, My Diaries, 2 vols. (Lon­ don: 1920; rpt., New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1923)

Blunt, Unpublished Diaries

Wilfrid Scawen Blunt, Unpublished Diaries, the W. S. Blunt Archives, Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge

Boos, Diary

"William Morris Socialist Diary," ed. and an­ notated with introduction and biographical notes by Florence Boos, History Workshop (Spring 1982)

Brody

Elaine Brody, Pans The Musical Kaleidoscope 1870—1925 (New York- George Braziller, 1987)

Buxton Forman

H. Buxton Forman, The Books of William Moms (1897, rpt., New York- Burt Franklin, 1969)

Campbell

Margaret Campbell, Dolmetsch The Man and His Work (Seattle: Univ. of Washington Press, 1975) [ Ii ]

ABBREVIATIONS / WORKS CITED Carter and Pollard

John Carter and Graham Pollard, An Enquiry into the Nature of Certain Nineteenth Century Pamplets, ed. Nicolas Barker and John Collins, 2d

ed. (London and Berkeley: Scolar Press, 1983) Carruthers, Spitsber­ gen Diary

John Carruthers, "Spitsbergen Diary, July 22August 17, 1896," Resource Collections, The J. Paul Getty Center, Santa Monica, California

Cobden-Sanderson

T. J. Cobden-Sanderson, The Journals of T J Cobden-Sanderson, 2 vols. (1926, rpt., New York: Burt Franklin, 1969)

Cockerell s Diary

Sydney Carlyle Cockerell, Unpublished Dia­ ries, BL, Add. MSS. 52772

Cockerell, "History"

Sydney Carlyle Cockerell, "A Short Descrip­ tion of the Kelmscott Press," m H. Halliday Sparling, The Kelmscott Press and William Morns Master-Craftsman (London: Macmillan, 1924, rpt., Folkstone: William Dawson and Sons, 1975)

Cockerell, "List"

Sydney Carlyle Cockerell, "An Annotated List of the Books Printed at the Kelmscott Press," m H. Halliday Sparling, The Kelmscott Press and William Morris Master-Craftsman (London Macmillan, 1924; rpt., Folkstone: William Dawson and Sons, 1975)

Compton-Rickett

Arthur Compton-Rickett, William Moms: A Study in Personality (London· H. Jenkins, 1913)

Cook and Wedderburn

E. T. Cook and A. Wedderbum, The Works of John Ruskin, 39 vols. (London. G. Allen, 1903— 1912)

Crane

Walter Crane, An Artist's Reminiscences (Lon­ don: Methuen and Co , 1907)

Curtain Call

Dons A. Jones, Taking the Curtain Call The Life and Letters of Henry Arthur Jones (New York Macmillan, 1930)

CW

William Morris, Collected Works, ed. May Mor­ ns, 24 vols. (1910—1915, rpt., New York: Rus­ sell and Russell, 1966). The Introductions to these volumes have been separately reissued as May Morris, The Introductions to the Collected [ In ]

ABBREVIATIONS / WORKS CITED

Works of William Morris , 2 vols. (New York:

Oriole Editions, 1973) 1893 Diary

William Morris, unpublished Diary for 1893, BL, Add. MSS. 45409

1895 Diary

William Morris, unpublished Diary for 1895, BL, Add. MSS. 45410

1896 Diary

William Moms, unpublished Diary for 1896, BL1 Add. MSS. 45411

Ellis, Valuation

Valuation of the Library of William Morris, com­

piled by F. S. Ellis, 1896 (Berger Coll.) Ensor

R.C.K. Ensor, England: 1870-1914 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1936)

Fishman

William J. Fishman, East End Jewish Radicals, 1875-1914 (London: Duckworth, 1975)

Fitzgerald

Penelope Fitzgerald, Edward Burne-Jones (Lon­ don: Michael Jospeh, 1975)

Gaskell

Philip Gaskell, A New Introduction to Bibliography (New York and Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press, 1972)

A&G Gaskin

Arthur and Georgie Gaskin, Exhibition Catalogue

(Birmingham: Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, 1981) Glasier

John Bruce Glasier, William Morris and the Early Days of the Socialist Movement (London: Long­ mans Green, 1921)

GofF

Goff, ed. Incunabula in American Libraries. A Third Census of Fifteenth-Century Books Recorded in North American Collections (New York: The

Bibiographical Society, 1964) Gutman

Robert

W.

Gutmans

"Introduction"

to

Volsunga Saga The Story of the Volsungs and Niblungs, trans, by William Morris (New York:

Collier Books, 1962) Hake and ComptonRickett

Thomas Hake and Arthur Compton-Rickett, The Life and Letters of Theodore Watts-Dunton

(London: T. C. and E. C. Jack, Ltd; New York: Putnam, 1916) Ham. Min. Book

Hammersmith Minute Book, Socialist League [ !in ]

ABBREVIATIONS / WORKS CITED

& Hammersmith Socialist Society, BL, Add MSS 45891-45893 Ham Soc Rec

Hammersmith

Socialist

Record 1—21

(October

1891-June 1893) Henderson, Letters

Philip Henderson, The Letters of William Morris to His Family and Friends (London Longmans Green, 1950)

Henderson, Life

Philip Henderson, William Morris His Life, Work, and Friends (London Thames and Hudson, 1967)

T G Jackson

Thomas Graham Jackson, The Church of St Mary the Virgin Oxford (Oxford Clarendon Press, 1897)

JM to WSB

Peter Faulkner, ed , Jane Morris to Wilfrid Scawen Blunt (Exeter Univ of Exeter Press, 1986)

JWMS

Journal of the William Morris Society (London

The Society) Keates, Album

Album of Proofs of the Woddcuts of C E Keates,

Newberry Library, Chicago Kelmscott Visitor's Book KP Letterbook

The visitor's book for Kelmscott Manor, Lechlade (BL, Add Mss 45412) The Kelmscott Press Letterhook, William Morris

Gallery, Walthamstow, London Lang

Cecil Y Lang, ed , The Swinburne Letters, 6 vols (New Haven, Conn Yale Univ Press, 1959— 1962)

Laurence

Dan H Laurence, ed , Bernard Shaw Collected Letters 4 vols (New York Viking, London Max Reinhardt, 1965—1988)

LeMire

Eugene D LeMire, ed , The Unpublished Lectures of William Morris (Detroit Wayne State Univ Press, 1969)

Mackail

J W Mackail, The Life of William Morris, 2 vols (London Longmans Green, 1899)

Mackail notebook

William Morris Gallery, Walthamstow (Com­ piled by Mackail in preparation for writing The Life of William Morris, it consists for the most part of summary statements by Mackail of infor[ Iiv ]

ABBREVIATIONS / WORKS CITED

mation about Morris as well as lists of dates, names, and brief summaries of the contents of letters with occassional direct quote of a few of Morris's own words.) When an excerpt from Mackails notebook is quoted, the words given are the entire extract that Mackail recorded. Mackmurdo

A. H. Mackmurdo, ed. Selwyn Image Letters (London: Grant Richards, 1932)

Marillier

H. C. Marillier, History of the Merton Abbey Works Founded by William Morris (London: Con­ stable and Co., 1927)

Marsh

Jan Marsh, Jane and May Morris: A Biographical Story 1839—1938 (London and New York: Pan­ dora Press, 1986)

MeMinn

Ney Iannes MeMinn, "Letters of William Mor­ ris to the Press." Ph.D. diss. Northwestern Univ., 1928

MeMurtrie

Douglas C. McMurtrie, The Book: The Story of Printing and Bookmaking (1943; rpt., London: Bracken Books, 1989)

Memorials

Georgiana Burne-Jones, Memorials of Edward Burne-Jones, 2 vols. (London: Macmillan, 1906)

Meynell, Friends

Viola Meynell, Friends of a Lifetime: Letters to Sydney Carlyle Cockerell (London: J. Cape, 1940)

H. Morris, Hayle Mill

Henry Morris, A Visit to Hayle Mill (North Hills, Pa.: Bird and Bull Press, 1970)

MM

May Morris, ed., William Morris, Artist, Writer, Socialist, 2 vols. (1936; rpt., New York: Russell and Russell, 1966)

WM, "A Note"

William Morris, "A Note of the Founding of the Kelmscott Press," in H. Halliday Sparling, The Kelmscott Press and William Morris MasterCraftsman (London: Macmillan, 1924; rpt.,

Folkstone: William Dawson and Sons, 1975) Needham

Paul Needham, "William Morris: Book Collec­ tor," William Morris and the Art of the Book (New York: The Pierpont Morgan Library, 1976)

Parry

Linda Parry, William Morris Textiles (London: [ Iv ]

ABBREVIATIONS / WORKS CITED

Weidenfeld and Nicolson, New York Vikmg Press, 1983) Peterson, Btbliog

William S Kelmscott

Peterson, A Bibliography of the (Oxford Clarendon Press,

Press

1984) Peterson, History

William S Peterson, The Kelmscott Press A His­ tory of William Morris's Typographical Adventure

(Berkeley Univ of California Press, 1991) Pevsner and Metcalf,

Nikolaus Pevsner and Priscilla Metcalf, The Ca­

Middlesex

thedrals of England Middle, Eastern and Northern England (Middlesex Viking, 1985)

Pevsner and Metcalf,

Nikolaus Pevsner and Priscilla Metcalf, The Ca­ thedrals of England Southern England (Middlesex

Southern England

Viking, 1985) Pevsner and Newman, West Kent

Nikolaus Pevsner and John Newman, Buildings West Kent and the Weald (London Penguin Books, 1969)

PML Catalogue (PB)

Catalogue of Manuscripts and Early Printed Books from the Libraries of William Moms, Richard Ben­ nett, Bertram Fourth Earl of Ashburnham, and Other Sources Now Forming Portion of the Library of J Pierpont Morgan, Vol I (Printed Books), com­

of England

piled by Alfred W Pollard (London Chiswick Press, 1907) PML Catalogue (MsB)

Catalogue of Manuscripts and Early Printed Books from the Libraries of William Morris, Richard Ben­ nett, Bertram Fourth Earl of Ashburnham, and Other Sources Now Forming Portion of the Library of f Pierpont Morgan, Vol II (Manuscripts), com­

piled by M R James (London Chiswick Press, 1906) Printing as Art

Mary Chenoweth Stratton, ed , Printing as Art William Morris & His Circle of Influence (Lewisburg, Pa The Press of Appletree Alley, 1994)

Sewter

A Charles Sewter, The Stained Glass of William Morns and His Circle, 2 vols (New Haven, Conn Yale Umv Press, 1974—1975)

Shaw, Diaries

Bernard Shaw The Diaries, ed and annotated by Stanley Wemtraub, 2 vols (University Park,

[ Ivi ]

ABBREVIATIONS / WORKS CITED

Pa., and London: Pennsylvania State Univ. Press, 1986) Sotheby Catalogue (1898)

The Sotheby Catalogue of the Sale of the Li­ brary Catalogue of William Morris (December 5-10, 1898)

Sparling

H. Halliday Sparling, The Kelmscott Press and William Morris Master-Craftsman (London: Macmillan, 1924; rpt., Folkstone: William Dawson and Sons, 1975)

Stansky

Peter Stansky, Redesigning the World (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton Univ. Press, 1985)

Stead

Rexford Stead, The Ardabil Carpets (Malibu, Ca.: The J. Paul Getty Museum, 1974)

Steinberg

Saul H. Steinberg, Five Hundred Years of Printing (Middlesex, England: Penguin Books, rev. 2d ed 1961)

E. P. Thompson

E. P. Thompson, William Morns' Romantic to Revolutionary (1st ed. London: Lawrence and Wishart, 1955; 2d ed., London. Merlin Press, 1977, and New York. Pantheon, 1977). Refer­ ences are to the readily available second edition unless otherwise indicated.

Vallance

Aymer Vallance, William Morris' His Art, His Writings and His Public Life (London: George

Bell and Sons, 1897) Wise

T. Wise, Letters on Socialism (London: Privately printed, 1894)

[ Ivn ]

THE COLLECTED LETTERS OF

WILLIAM MORRIS VOLUME IV

1893 /

2082 · To EIRIKR MAGNUSSON

LETTER 2083

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, HammeRmith January 3, 1893

My dear Magniisson1 I will look at the 3 sheets sent to me, & return them to printer at once.2 I take it that I shall not want to look at the sheets of the appendix, which are all your own work;3 so will you kindly return them to the printer as they come in: I return you your copy along with the sheets which they have sent to me from C.C. inclusive.4 As to the money matter: by all means; there will be no difficulty any time you want it.5 Yours very truly William Morris P.S. The drawing of the map will be sent to you when the engraver6 has done with it Iceland See Volume I, letter no 64, η 1 2 For the first volume of the Hetmskrmgla (Vol 3 of the Saga Library) which was to appear in February 1893 For a list of the stories it contains, see Volume III, letter no 1786, η 3 3 By "appendix" Morris means the notes on the metaphors contained in the visur, ι e , the staves of verses (see Volume III, letter no 2047, η 8) For visur, see Volume III, letter no 1783, η 7 4 Presumably Morris means by "C C inclusive" from signature CC to the end 3 Without knowing the agreement between Morris and Magmisson, there can be only conjecture about their financial arrangement for collaborating on the Saga Library Morris's language here suggests either that he had agreed to advance money to Magniisson against the latter's expected share of royalties from Quantch (the publisher), or that Magniisson, it was understood, was to be paid directly by Morris for his work 6 The firm of Walker and Boutall (see Volume III, letter no 2072, η 8) MS

1

2083 · To MACMILLAN AND CO.

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith January 5, 1893

Dear Sirs My estimate for printing 500 copies of Tennyson's Maud m black & red duly ornamented in the style of the Kelmscott press, and delivered bound in limp vellum with silk ties is sixteen shillings per copy.1 I stipu­ late also that I shall be allowed to print ten good copies extra for my private use, which however I bind myself not to sell till your edition is exhausted. It is my custom to print a few copies of my books on vellum: if you should wish any copies so printed I can offer (these at) these at £5.5.0 per

LETTERS OF WILLIAM MORRIS

copy. I should print ten good copies, and propose to offer you eight, keeping two for myself as the other good overs. 2 You understand that this is for 'Maud' by itself, which will make a very small book; if you should wish to add something more to that poem, it would be better I think, 3 & the book would cost proportionately less. I am Dear Sirs Yours truly William Morris Messrs Macmillan & Co. MS BL, Add. Mss. 55260 1 Morris's letter is m reply to one from Macmillan and Co dated December 21, 1892, which reads: "We understand from our friend Dr Furmvall that you are prepared to con­ sider the question of printing for us an edition of Lord Tennyson's Maud· We think that such a book printed m your charming type would make a very attractive volume, and we shall be glad if you will let us know at your convenience what would be the cost of produc­ ing 500 copies and the style and size that you would propose for it" (BL, Add. MSS 55439). The book was commissioned by Macmillan, and as Sparling notes (p. 113) was one of three Kelmscott Press books printed at the request of publishers (The others were The Book of Wisdom and Lies for Quantch [see letter no 2235, notes 1 and 2] and Rossetti's Hand and Soul for Way and Williams of Chicago [see Peterson, Bibltog , pp. 91—93] ) Octavo in size, Maud was printed in Golden type, in black and red, and was the first of the octavo books to have a woodcut title. The two borders used were specially designed by Morris for the book. (They were both used later in The Poems of John Keats [see letter no. 2225, η 4]; and one also appears in The Sundering Flood [see letter no. 2464, n. 2]). See Cockerell, "List," ρ 155; and Peterson, Bibliog., pp. 47—48 Dated August 11, Maud was issued by Macmillan on September 30, 1893 2 In the event, five copies were printed on vellum and Morris seems to have kept all five for his own use, since none were for sale (see Cockerell, "List," p. 125) Peterson has located one copy on vellum, it has Morris's bookplate (Bibliog. ρ 48) 3 Macmillan presumably did not agree: the book contains only Maud. Morris may have suggested that other poems be added for a reason other than concern that the book would be small Peterson quotes (Bibliog., ρ 47) Morris's confession to W S. Blunt, recorded by the latter in his Diary, October 6, 1893: "I would sooner have printed them [Macmil­ lan and Co ] Tennyson's first volume, which is all I ever cared for in his poems "

2084 · To OSCAR WIJLDE

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith January 5, 1893

Dear Mr. Wilde I am told that Lady Wilde, your mother, 1 was the translatress of a book which was much read and liked by our clique some twenty five or thirty years ago. 2 I think it still a very good translation of a very good book, and

1893 /

LETTER 2084

it is (not) now long out of print. Now I want to print a small edition (say 350) at the Kelmscott Press;3 but I should by no means like to do so with­ out express permission from Lady Wilde. Would you be so kind as to lay my wants before her, and also to ask her what she would think a proper honorarium for this privilege.4 One thing I should add, that I propose printing the book just as it stands,5 errors of the press excepted; as I hate alterations years after the date of the first issue.6 I am Dear Mr Wilde Yours very truly William Morris P.S. Just like me! I have not mentioned the name of the book: but no doubt you have guessed that I am writing of Sidonia the Sorceress. MS Texas. 1 LadyJane Francesca Wilde (1821-1896) was the daughter of Charles Elgee, an Episco­ palian clergyman. She married Sir William Robert Wills Wilde, a distinguished Dublin eye surgeon, in 1851, and Oscar Wilde was the second of their three children. An established author before her marriage (under the pseudonym "Speranza"), Lady Wilde contributed to The Nation from 1845 to 1848, wrote poetry, and translated from the German and French. After her husband's death in 1876, she moved to London and resumed her career as an author, publishing among other works Ancient Cures, Charms, and Usages of Ireland (1890). 2 Morris refers to Sidonia the Sorceress, as his postscript makes clear. It was a translation of Sidonia von Borke, die Klosterhexe, a historical romance by WilhelmJohann Meinhold, pub­ lished in 1847, that was based on the witch hysteria in northern Europe in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries Lady Wilde's translation appeared in 1847 m two volumes and was reissued in the Parlour Library in 1849. 3 A Kelmscott Press edition of the book was printed. A large quarto, it was finished on September 15 and issued November 1, 1893, with Morris as publisher. In the announce­ ment for the book Morris wrote: "[I]t was a great favourite with the more literary (pat) part of the Preraphaelite artists in the earlier days of that movement. . . . Lady Wilde's transla­ tion, which was the one (in) through which we mad (e)acquaintance with Memhold's genius is a good simple and sympathetic one" (MS. Clark Library, quoted in Peterson, BibIiog , p. 51). 4 Morris paid Lady Wilde £25, which Peterson notes (Bibliog., p. 51) she "doubtless ap­ preciated . . for she was living in extreme poverty in the 1890s." 5 Morris did apparently think of adding illustrations Aymer Vallance writes (p 363) that Morris complained it was difficult to obtain suitable illustrations for the Kelmscott books, including the planned Sidoma, and that he—Vallance—persuaded Aubrey Beardsley (see letter no 2313, n. 11) to make a drawing of Sidoma, and then took Beardsley to show Morris his portfolio, including the new drawing. But Morris was unenthusiatic about the work, though praising Beardsley's "feeling for draperies"; and Beardsley left discouraged. For an account of the episode, including a sequel in which Vallance showed Morris Beardsley's Morte Darthur drawings only to anger him and set him against Beardsley more firmly, see Aymer Vallance, "The Invention of Aubrey Beardsley," Magazine of Art 21 (May 1898), 362-69 Vallance says the visit to Morris occurred "so far as [he] could recol-

LETTERS OF WILLIAM MORRIS Iect in the spring or early summer of 1892," but it seems more likely that it took place sometime after the present letter to Wilde was written—ι e , sometime in 1893 As for Beardsley s drawing of Sidonia, it has not survived (see Aymer Vallance, "List of Drawings by Aubrey Beardsley," in Robert Ross, Aubrey Beardsley [London John Lane, 1921], ρ 71) 6 There is unfortunate irony in Morris's reference to "errors of the press " On January 6, 1894, F S Ellis, who had just finished reading Stdonia, wrote to Morris and listed ten printer's errors, adding "These are but a few that I have noted, for when I had no pencil at hand I didn't mark 'em" (BL, Add MSS 52715, cited and quoted by Peterson, Bibhog , ρ 52)

2085 · To [FRANK OR ROBERT] SMITH

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith January 6, 1893

My dear Smith 1 I find I (am) have more to pay than I thought: so if convenient I should be obliged if you would pay in £500, say in a fortnight; kmdly let me know when you do so. Also I would be obliged if you would hurry up the people who are making the silk strings 2 as Leighton the binder 3 is waiting for them to finish a book which will bring in cash; in fact it is just that having being delayed by two or three things which makes me ask for your money. Yours very truly William Morris MS Queensland

See Volume III, letter no 1959, η 1 The silk strings were possibly for the ten vellum copies of The Potms of William Shakespeare to be issued by the Kelmscott Press on February 13, 1893 For a full description of the edition, see Peterson, Bibliog , pp 331-33 3 See Volume III, letter no 1726, η 1 1

2

2086 · To CHISWICK PRESS [CHARLES THOMAS JACOBI?]

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith January 9 [1893]

Dear Sir 1 I cannot account for it, as I feel almost ccrtam that I sent you (the) X & Y. 2 However I am writing to Mr. Magmisson he may have the correc­ tions. I shall be calling tomorrow if I can. Yrs truly W Morris

1893 /

LETTER 2088

PS) Have you sent Mr. Mag: the proofs of last sheets as you have all the copy?3 If not please do so at once.4 MS Bodleian.

See Volume III, letter no. 1632, η 1 Moms is referring to signatures X and Y of the first volume of the Heimsknngla These contained part of "The Story of King OlafTryggvison," which began in signature Q 3 Since "The Story of King Olaf Tryggvison" runs through signature BB, the sheets Morris refers to here probably contained a part of that tale (see note 2 above). 4 Morris wrote this postscript across the top of the holograph—a postcard—because he ran out of room at the bottom 1

2

2087 · To MACMILLAN AND CO.

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith January 15, 1893

Dear Sirs I shall have no difficulty in delivering the copies of Maud before Octo­ ber 1st and accept the condition.1 I suppose that the book will be limited to Maud, (on) without any of the additional poems included in the first edition.2 Thanking you for your letter and the confidence which you repose in me I am Dear Sirs Yours faithfully William Morris To Messrs. Macmillan MS : BL 1 Add MSS . 55260. 1 On January 13, Macmillan had replied to Morris's letter of January 5 (see letter no 2083 and n. 1), accepting his terms on condition that he "agree to deliver the copies to us not later than October 1, 1893" (BL, Add MSS . 55439) 2 As well as the title poem, the first edition of Maud (1855) included among others: "The Brook," "Ode on the Death of Lord Wellington," and "The Charge of the Light Brigade " See also letter no. 2083, η 3

2088 · To MARIA SETHE

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith January 15, 1893

Madam1 You are at liberty to see whatever is to be seen at my shop 449 Oxford St, and (as) I am sure that my partners2 will show you every attention there.

LETTERS OF WILLIAM MORRIS

As to the Rossettis they are much dispersed amongst many private own­ ers; but there are 3 at the National Gallery3 As you are in London now allow me to advise you to visit the Exhibition of Burne-Jones' pictures which is open at the New Gallery Regent St.4 I am happy to give you any information on these subjects that I can I am Madam Yours obediently William Morris Brussels, Van de Velde Maria Sethe (1867-1943), a designer and musician who was close to the leaders of the emerging modernist art movement in Brussels in the 1890s Trilingual—fluent in French, German, and English, she traveled frequently to London to acquaint herself better with the art being produced, and among the artists of whom she was especially aware was William Morris. In 1893, she had as a particular mission in traveling to London to speak with Morris in behalf of Henry Van de Velde (1863—1957), who had changed the emphasis in his own career from easel painting to the Arts and Crafts and architecture He was, in 1893, plan­ ning a course on the Arts and Crafts, and wanted to know if he could use samples of Morris and Co fabrics for his teaching In 1894, Maria Sethe and Van de Velde were married, and she continued to figure prominently in the decorative arts movement in Belgium. 2 Frank and Robert Smith (see Volume III, letter no 1959, n. 1) 3 There were three works by Rossetti in the National Gallery at this time, but only two were paintings· Eeee Ancilla Domini and Beata Beatrix. The third item was a drawing Rosa Triplex. All three are now in the Tate. 4 The New Gallery exhibition of works by Burne-Jones ran from January 2 to April 15, 1893. See The Times, December 27, 1892, ρ 1 and April 5, 1893, ρ 1. MS

1

2089 · To WOLF WESS

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith January 15 [1893?]

My dear Wess1 You must understand that I am not an anarchist nor ever have been: as far as I can understand what anarchists mean I disagree with their princi­ ples so far as they differentiate them from Socialism, or Communism, which name I prefer. Anarchism when put forward simply, as Tucker2 of Boston does, seems to me to mean the negation of society, which for my part I cannot even conceive of. At the same time I admit that many who call themselves Anarchists are really socialists, only somewhat wrongheaded, if I may say so, as to tactics; refusing, as I think to look facts m the face. Excuse this long preamble; but 1 thought I had better define my position. For the rest I should be sorry to see Freedom 'go under', and I

1893 / LETTER 2090

will lecture for you if you can make the day suit.3 The point is that owing to domestic circumstances I cannot get away on a Sunday: so if you can arrange for a week-day meeting, all you have to do will be to tell me the day; the subject you name will of course be suitable. Thanking you much for your kind & friendly letter I am Yours truly William Morris MS : Wess Coll. 1

See Volume III, letter no. 1746, n. 2. Benjamin R. Tucker (1854-1939), an American who called himself a Scientific Anar­ chist and who believed that freedom was incompatible with any kind of communism In 1881, he founded Liberty, a forum for American radicalism, which was admired by H. L Mencken, Walt Whitman, and George Bernard Shaw; the last was a contributor who de­ scribed Tucker as "a philosophic anarchist, an unterrified Jeffersoman democrat" (see MM, II, xxn). As for Morris's reference to Tucker in this letter, he probably is referring to articles by Tucker that appeared frequently in Liberty 3 On March 10, 1893, Morris lectured in aid of the Freedom Pubhcation Fund (see Free­ dom VII, 76 [May 1893], 26). 2

2090 · FROM A LETTER TO [JANE MORRIS?]

[January 16, 1893]

[Reynard the Foxe is] a very jolly book. . . .1 I have been reading 'The Little Minister';2 but I left off and couldn't go on. I don't belong to the parish. . . .3 TEXT. CW, 22, xxvi. 1 May Morris says (CW, 22, xxvi) that the reference here is to "Reynard the Fox being out"; i.e., that the Kelmscott Press edition of The History of Reynard the Foxe (see Volume III, letter no. 2024, n. 3) had been issued. Finished December 15, 1892, it appeared January 25, 1893. As for identification of recipient and date, in his notebook Mackail directly quotes, from a letter to Jane Morris on January 16, 1893, the language referring to The Little Minister and Morris's experience reading it. 2 By SirJames Matthew Barrie (1860—1937), the prolific playwright and novelist, author of Peter Pan (1904). The Little Minister was published as a novel in 1891, and performed as a play in 1907. It tells of Gavin Dishart, a young clergyman in the Scottish village of Thrums. When he marries the gypsy, Babbie, the parish is scandalized. He and Babbie are separated, but after many obstacles are overcome, he regains both his wife and the good opinion of the parish. 3 See note 2 above.

LETTERS OF WILLIAM MORRIS

2091 · RECIPIENT UNKNOWN

January 17 [1893']

Dear Sir I enclose a cheque for £13.18.9 in payment for the things you have brought me. Kindly send a receipt. Yours truly W Morris MS Dartmouth

2092 · FROM A LETTER TO [FREDERICK STARTRIDGE ELLIS?]

[January 21, 1893'] 1

There is really no risk in it 1 . . . . I shall get more money; and the public will have to pay less.2 TEXT Mackail, II, 281 1 The dating of this letter (and identifying the recipient) is slightly problematic Mackail implies (II, 281) the letter was written "by the end of 1892 " However his notebook, while listing no letter in December 1892 that discusses Morris's decision to turn publisher (see note 2 below), does list one to Ellis on the subject datedjanuary 21, 1893 2 Mackail, who prints this letter, writes (II, 281) in a prefatory comment "Morris had made up his mind to add the trade of a publisher to that of a printer", and after quoting the letter as given here, adds "The reprint of Caxton's 'Reynard the Foxe,' then just finished, was in fact the last of his large books that he issued through a publisher, though with the smaller books the old practice was for some time continued But the reprint of Caxton's 'Godefrey of Boloyne,' issued the following May, bore on it for the first time the words 'Published by William Morris at the Kelmscott Press' the 'Utopia of the following Septem­ ber was the last Kelmscott book issued through Mssrs Reeves & Turner, and thenceforth, except in a few cases of special arrangement (as when Tennyson's 'Maud' was published by Mssrs Macmillan, and the two volumes of Rossetti's poems by Mssrs Ellis & Elvey), Morris published all Kelmscott Press books himself" For an early discussion of Morris, the Kelmscott Press and the question of a publisher, see Volume III, letter no 1751, η 2

2093 · To CHARLES FAIRFAX MURRAY

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith Saturday (21 [January 21, 1893]

My dear Murray 1 I am sorry that I was out when you called. I shall be m all tomorrow (till) from 1.30. Would you come in to early dinner if you have nothing better to do Yours very truly William Morris [ io ]

1893 / Ms 1

LETTER 2095

Texas See Volume I, letter no 78, η 1

2094 · To WOLF WESS

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith January 21, 1893

Dear Wess All right: Kindly send me a reminder about a fortnight before.1 Many thanks for letter. Yours fraternally2 Wess Coll See letter no 2089 and η 3 2 Morris neglected to sign this letter

MS

1

2095 · To EIRIKR MAGNUSSON

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith January 23, 1893

My dear Magnusson I have duly received your parcel of Olaf Saga but have not had time to look at it yet.1 I will very soon get to work hard on it. I am afraid that Q is not likely to stand anything extra on the map,2 as the price of it already rather took his breath away. However you can put me in Q's place and I will stand an extra £5 with pleasure if that would meet your views. (Th) We are going to put the map m a pocket as you suggest. It is the only possible way of dealing with it.3 Yours very truly William Morris Iceland Presumably Morris means Magniisson's manuscript for "The Story of Olaf the Holy," the first story in the second volume of the Hetmskrtngla (Vol 4 of the Saga Library) As for Morris's planning "to look at it," see Volume III, letter no 1793 (For the Saga Library as a whole, see Volume III, letters no 1786 and notes, and no 1787, η 3 ) 2 A map of Norway, engraved by Walker and Boutall, included in the first volume of the Heimskrtngla See Volume III, letters no 1967, η 2, and no 2072, η 8) 3 This was in fact done (see Volume III, letter no 1967, η 2) MS

1

[ H ]

LETTERS OF WILLIAM MORRIS

2096 · To CHARLES FAIRFAX MURRAY

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith Monday [January 23, 1893?]1

My dear Murray I shall be m all today till about 7 p.m. when I have to go to town. Tomorrow I am going to Kelmscott for a day (back on Thursday) but as I shall not go from here till 12.30 I can see you in the morning tomorrow if I miss you today. Yours very truly W Morris MS 1 Texas 1 The conjectural dating of this letter is based on the following· Morris wrote only "Monday"; and January 23, 1893, was a Monday Morris in the letter says he is going to Kelmscott the next day, and Cockerell in his Diary for Tuesday, January 24, 1893, wrote. "W.M. to Kelmscott. . " Finally, Morris says he is going only for a day, which was unu­ sual for him (he made the trip only to meet C M. Gere [see letter no. 2104 and notes], and he was, in fact, in London again on the 26th (see Morris's 1893 Diary entry for that date).

2097 « T O ELLIS AND ELVEY

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith January 24, 1893

Dear Sirs1 Many thanks for sending me the Cologne Chronicle;2 but I have a fair copy of it already; so I must send it back. Yours truly William Morris to Messrs. Ellis & Elvey MS : Phalen Coll 1

See Volume II, letter no. 1118, n. 1. The Cologne Chronicle, the first known history of Cologne, was published in 1499 at Cologne by Johann Koelhoff the Younger (d. 1502). Of special interest, a chapter in the book is devoted to the origins of printing, and credits Johann Gutenberg (1395?—1468) with its invention at Mainz about 1440 The book is one of the important contemporary references substantiating the claim that Gutenberg was the inventor of printing See McMurtne, pp. 165—66, and Steinberg, p. 63. Morris's copy of the Chronicle was bought by Richard Bennett and is now m the PML. See also Goff, C-476 2

1893 /

LETTER 2099

2098 · To BERNARD QUARITCH

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith January 26, 1893

Dear Mr. Quaritch Your cheque for £288.15.00 is to hand Many thanks for prompt payment. Formal receipt on other side1 Yours very truly William Morris Quantch. On the verso, in Cockerell's hand and signed by Morris, is the following. "Received of Bernard Quantch, Esq. the sum of £288 15—being half payment of paper copies of Reynard the Foxe. By cheque January 26, 1893 £288 15—William Morris " The receipt is stamped. For the agreement between Morris and Quaritch concerning Reynard the Foxe, see Volume III, letter no. 2068, n. 2. MS

1

2099 · To [CHARLES EDWARD KEATES]

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith January 27, 1893

Dear Sir1 Your proofs to hand: they are quite satisfactory, so please send in the block to Mr. Walker at Cliffords Inn. I shall be glad to have the other ornaments.2 Yours truly William Morris Newberry See Volume III, letter no. 2023, η 1 This letter, included in an album of Kelmscott Press miscellanea collected and annotated by C. E Keates, presumably was written to him. 2 The ornaments to which Morris refers were probably for the Kelmscott Press edition of The History of Godefrey of Boloyne and of the Conquest of Iherusalem, finished April 27 and issued May 24, 1893. The ornaments include, as well as an engraved title (see illustration, p. 14), side, corner, half, three-quarter and full borders, six- and eight-line initials, and chapter titles in red. In an announcement of the book, quoted by Peterson (Bibhog., p. 43), Morris wrote "There are many new ornaments in this the latest issue from the Kelmscott Press, for the chapters being very short and the scheme of ornament being very similar to that of the last two quartos, the Reynard and The Recuyell, the book is very decorative." Peterson quotes (Bibltog., pp. 43—44) the inscription of a presentation copy. "Given by Mrs William Morris in memory of her Husband, 1897, to C E. Keates, Esq who engraved many of the ornaments in this book." MS. 1

LETTERS OF WILLIAM

MORRIS

Title page of the Kelmscott Press edition of Godefrey of Boloyne, 1893. [ 14 ]

1893 /

2100 ·

To CHARLES

LETTER 2101

FAIRFAX MURRAY

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith Saturday [January 28, 1893]1

My dear Murray If you come in some time this afternoon or evening or tomorrow you can have your vellum copy of Reynard. Yours very truly W Morris MS: Texas 1 Morris dated the letter "Saturday." A note at the top of the holograph, presumably in Murray's hand, supplies the date January 28, 1893, m fact, a Saturday.

2101 ·

To

[FREDERICK STARTRIDGE ELLIS?]

[January 31, 1893?]

There is a little book of the Librairie Elzevirienne1 hight Contes et Nouvelles de la XIIIme Siecle:2 two of these are amongst the most beauti­ ful works of the Middle Ages, and I intend translating them, and printing in a nice little book in Chaucer type.3 Probably I shall design some twocoloured letters for it.4 TEXT: Mackail II, 282-83 1 Part of an eleven-volume set published between 1854 and 1858 at Pans by Jannet (see Sotheby Catalogue [1898], lot 42, and note 2 below). 2 Mackail writes (II, 283) that Morris "misquotes the title with his characteristic careless­ ness when he was writing a letter, 'Nouvelles Francoises en prose du XIIIme Siecle,' a little book published in 1856 [It] had for thirty years been one of the treasures of literature to him. Together with the 'Violier des Histoires Romaines,' which appeared m the same series two years later, it had been among the first sources of his knowledge of the French romance of the Middle Ages " 3 It is unclear to which of the stories Morris refers. As Mackail in printing this extract notes (II, 283), Morris eventually printed four of the tales in three Kelmscott Press volumes rather than two tales in a single volume as anticipated here. The three Kelmscott Press volumes are The Tale of King Florus and the Fair Jehane (dated December 16, issued Decem­ ber 28, 1893); Of the Friendship of Amis and Amile (dated March 13, issued April 4, 1894); and an edition of two stories, The Tale of the Emperor Coustans and Of Over Sea (dated August 30, issued September 26, 1894). All three volumes were printed m Chaucer type Cockerell writes ("List," p. 156) that the tales "were first announced as in preparation under the heading 'French Tales' m the list dated May 20, 1893." Of Amis and Amile Cockerell notes ("List," ρ 157) "A poem entitled 'Amis and Amillion,' founded on this story, was origi­ nally to have appeared in the second volume of The Earthly Paradise [1869], but . . it was not included in the book " Finally, with respect to The Emperor Coustans and Of Over Sea, Cockerell comments ("List," ρ 158). "The first of these stories . . was the source of'The Man born to be King' in The Earthly Paradise "

LETTERS OF WILLIAM MORRIS 4 In the event, there were no two-color letters Taking note of this, Mackail adds (II, 284) that neither were there such letters in "any other of the Kelmscott Press books, though several designs m red and blue were made by [Morris] for that purpose "

2102 · To EIRIKR MAGNUSSON

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith February 2 [1893]

My dear Magnusson I enclose cheque for £5. 1 Thanks for sending on the proof, 2 which was mine. I shall soon throw myself on the Olaf Saga. 3 Yours very truly William Morris Iceland Presumably to help pay for the printing of the map of Norway being prepared for the first volume of the Heimskrmgla See letter no 2095 2 Probably for the first volume of the Heimskrtngla, though it is not clear whether Morris refers to a proof with which the printer was finished, or one still requiring Morris's atten­ tion The book was published during February 1893 and the second of the month would be a late (but not impossible) date for the latter purpose 3 The second volume of the Heimskringla (Vol 4 of the Saga Library) MS

1

2103 · To THOMAS JAMES COBDEN-SANDERSON

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith February 6 [1893]

All right for the supper. 1 but I am too old to play jack-puddmg 2 I shall be in on Wednesday & should like to see you: 3 then we can talk about the books. 4 WM Schimmel Coll (Ex) This note probably refers to a supper planned by the Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society for February 9, 1893 Cockerell's Diary, February 9, 1893, reads "WM at SPAB and Arts & Crafts supper " 2 A buffoon or clown It is difficult to know why Morris uses the term In 1893 he was president of the Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society, and he seems here to be declining a request that he speak at the supper Possibly he knew he would be expected to be witty The invitation would have come from Cobden-Sanderson because he was honorary sec­ retary that year For Cobden-Sanderson, see Volume II, letter no 934, η 1 3 Morris may have wanted to discuss, among other matters, his wish to extend the prem­ ises of the Kelmscott Press and the way this intention connected with Cobden-Sanderson's MS

1

1893 /

LETTER 2104

plan to start the Doves Bindery. At the beginning of 1894 Cobden-Sanderson related in his Journals (I, 310-12) that the bindery was established on March 20, 1893, in a house opposite the Kelmscott Press in Upper Mall, Hammersmith, called The Nook, but that it "was at first a question whether Morris or I should take The Nook, and I or he be the tenant. . Annie and I decided that I should take the house, and Morris be the tenant. Accordingly I took the house . and let attic and first floor room on the south to William Morris." 4 It is uncertain what Morris means here but a possibility is that he wanted to talk about having bound, at the soon-to-be-established Doves Bindery (see note 3 above), books he had purchased. Cobden-Sanderson wrote at the beginning of 1894 (Journals, I, 313), that "though we have not done much binding for the Kelmscott Press, we have done a great deal of mending, re-binding and recovering for the library of early-printed books which Morris is collecting " As for the Kelmscott Press, it is unclear what Cobden-Sanderson intends, since "not . much" means "some." J. & J Leighton were the regular binders Cobden-Sanderson may have received commissions from individual purchasers to rebind their copies of Kelmscott Press volumes.

2104 · To CHARLES MARCH GERE

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith February 6 [1893]

Dear Mr. Gere1 Your drawing (to) safe to hand. I think it very satisfactory now:2 indeed you have done exactly what was wanted to make it come right, and it is now a very beautiful thing. I am delighted with it.3 I am much obliged to you for getting it done so promptly. If you can conveniently come here on Thursday, I should be very pleased to see you: but don't put yourself out of the way I shall be in all the morning & if you were to come in at a little before 1 we could have lunch together & talk afterwards. Kindly let me know what I owe you for the drawing & I will send a cheque at once.x Yours very truly William Morris x

P.S. Don't forget to charge extra for all expenses.

MS: Cheltenham. 1

See Volume III, letter no 2059, n. 1 Morris refers to Gere's drawing for the frontispiece to Newsfrom Nowhere (see Volume III, letter no 2059, notes 3 and 4) With this drawing at hand, preparation for publishing the book could proceed and it was issued March 24, 1893. 3 Morris was not initially delighted. See for example, Volume III, letters no 2062 and no 2077 2

LETTERS OF WILLIAM MORRIS

2105 · FROM A LETTER TO JANE MORRIS

[Kelmscott House, February 6, 1893]

I saw Margery's man-baby 1 at the Grange yesterday. He is a dear little baby; and looks so good. That joined with the fact that his ears stick out very much make me think he will grow up into something. MS (copy) Mackail notebook 1 Dems Mackail (1892—1971), second child of Margaret and John William Mackail and thus second grandchild of Edward and Georgiana Burne-Jones Denis Mackail grew up to be a prohfic and popular novelist, publishing at the height of his career in the 1920s and 1930s at least one book a year Among his most successful works were Greenery Street, Tales of Greenery Street, The Livingstones, and Ian and Felicity, tales of the London upper middle class

Denis and Angela Mackail with Edward Burne-Jones, c 1894

1893 /

LETTER 2107

2106 · To JANE STEWART BELL NICHOL

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith February 7, 1893

Dear Mrs Nichol 1 Many thanks to you for remembering me. I should very much like to see you; but I really cannot come out of evenings: partly because though I have had no active trouble from my enemy the gout, I gain that advan­ tage on condition of being very wary of him; and partly because I am drowned in half-finished work, and am compelled to work at might. 2 I am Dear Mrs. Nichol Yours faithfully William Morris MS : NLS 1 ProbablyJane Nichol (see Volume III, letter no. 1586, n. 1) was visiting London at this time and had invited Morris to dinner 2 A slip of the pen presumably.

2107 · To LEOPOLD DELISLE

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith February 14, 1893

Dear Sir,1 I am sending to the Library a copy of my reprint of Caxton's Recuyell of the Historie of Troy', and also of his Reynard the Fox', which I beg to offer as a gift to the Library, and should consider it an honour if they are accepted I am Dear Sir With much respect Yours obediently William Morris MS : Bibliotheque Nationale 1 Leopold Victor Delisle (1826—1910), who in 1874 had become the director of the Bibliotheque Nationale, Pans A historian, he published papers on the medieval period in France. In 1897 he initiated the printing of the General Catalogue of the Bibhotheque Nationale

LETTERS OF WILLIAM MORRIS

2108 · To [ELLIS AND ELVEY?]

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith February 16 [1893]

Dear Sirs I hope to be able to settle your account in about a month from now; and I enclose a cheque for £100 on account of it. Thanks for catalogue of Mr. Buckleys books: 1 but there does not seem anything there that I should care for. Yours very truly William Morris MS: UCLA. 1 A reference to the Sotheby Sale of the Library of the Rev. William Edward Buckley, February 27-March 8, 1893.

2109 · FROM A LETTER TO JANE MORRIS

[Kelmscott House, February 16, 1893]

My eyes! how good it is!1 MS (copy): Mackail notebook. Published: Mackail, II, 284. ' Mackail in his notebook quotes this extract from Morris's letter and adds it is about "[finishing the ornament for the first page of Chaucer that day."

2110 · FROM A LETTER TO JANE MORRIS

[Kelmscott House, February 26, 1893]

[W. B. Richmond]1 is very full of his work at St. Paul's.2 But to say the truth, though he is taking much pains with them, he is not up to much as an ornamentalist; his portraits are really his work. 3 MS (copy): Mackail notebook. 1 See Volume I , letter no. 558, n. 2. 2 Morris refers to W. B Richmond's project, under way at this time, for the decoration of St. Paul's Cathedral with mosaics. Of this undertaking, Helen Lascelles has written: "[Richmond] drew up a plan, into the execution of which, when it was approved, he threw himself whole heartedly," engaging on the work for several years "Convinced that mosaic was the only material suited to the London atmosphere, he found that he must first master the technique himself and then impart it to the British craftsman. Moreover, the customary method of building up the mosaic elsewhere and then attaching it to the walls was found to be incompatible with a solution of the various problems of light which arose" (see "Sir William B. Richmond and His Work," The Art Annual, S.I., [London: H Virtue

1893 / LETTER 2111 and Co., 1902], p. 461). See illustration below. 3 Among the eminent Victorians whom Richmond painted were Morris himself in 1882 (see illustration, Volume II, p. 120); Robert Browning, c. 1885; W. E. Gladstone, 1898; Robert Louis Stevenson, 1887; and Charles Darwin, c. 1880. Richmond also painted a portrait of the German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck in 1887.

2111 ·

To AFRED JOHN WYATT

February 26 [1893?]

Dear Mr Wyatt1 I have rhymed up the lines of Beowulf which you sent me. 2 I should be very much obliged if you could send me some more as soon as possible as I want to get the book out quickly. I think we might well go to press in two month's time: at any rate if you will supply me with matter I will undertake to be through in 2 months. 3 Of course it would be very desirable for us to meet; I should like you to criticize my rendering, and also to explain certain matters: e.g. the pas­ sage in which you have accepted some emendation of the text—about the

:jk

IS? V-

t-sS? feM*

*%&«*· ίΦίί

1

William Blake Richmond's mosaics for St. Paul's Cathedral.

LETTERS OF WILLIAM MORRIS

son & father-in-law. Also if we read over the original I shall soon I think begin to appreciate the language. Could you tell me what day would suit you next week. At the same time may I hope for some more of your trans­ lation before that, as I am very eager to be at it, finding it the most de­ lightful work? And I may add again that your translation is exactly what I want. Yours truly William Morris TEXT MM, I, 494-95 Published Henderson, Letters, 353 1 See Volume III, letter no 2031, η 1 2 See Volume III, letter no 2031, η 2 3 The translation was in fact finished on April 10, 1894, but Morris did not complete the "Argument" until December 10, 1894, and the book was not issued until February 2, 1895 (dated January 10, 1895) See Cockerell, "List," pp 159—60 and his Diary entry for Febru­ ary 4, 1895 (indicating the publication date), see also Peterson, Bibhog , pp 82—86

2112 ·

To BERNARD

QUARITCH

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith February 28, 1893

Dear Mr. Quantch Many thanks for your cheque for £500 duly received; I enclose a for­ mal^) receipt. 1 Yours very truly William Morris MS Quaritch 1 Quantch's payment was for the balance owed for The Recuyell A receipt dated Febru­ ary 28, in Cockerell's hand and signed by Morris reads "Received of Bernard Quaritch, Esq the sum of £500, being the balance due for the 'Recuyell of the Histories of Troye'" On February 23, Morris had sent Quaritch a receipt for the sum of £512 10 which was at that date "half of the amount still due" for the book

2113 ·

To THOMAS

ARMSTRONG

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith March 12, 1893

My dear Armstrong 1 Will enclosed do? 2 I could speak in stronger words; but I thought it better to explain the merits of the piece. 3 It would be a crime to let it go.

1893 / LETTER 2115

I never saw such a design in my life. The Vienna ones dont come within a mile of it.4 Yours very truly W Morris By the way if extra money is wanted I will add my mite, say £205 V&A Robinson Papers See Volume II, letter no 727, η 2 2 Probably the letter to Armstrong dated March 13, 1893 (letter no 2115) 3 Seeletterno 2115, η 1 4 Seeletterno 2115, η 3 5 Morris wrote this postscript in the upper left-hand corner of his letter, which is written on one side of a single sheet of paper MS

1

2114 · FROM A LETTER TO JANE MORRIS

[Kelmscott House, March 12, 1893]

[I] . . . & relish it hugely1 (copy) Mackail notebook Mackail m his notebook, quoting the extract given here, notes it refers to Morris's having "begun translating Beowulf " MS

1

2115 · To THOMAS ARMSTRONG

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith March 13, 1893

My dear Armstrong, With reference to the big dated Persian carpet I think that the Depart­ ment should certainly buy it at the price you mention, and that no reason­ able man who understands the subject would think it an extravagant price for such a remarkable work of art.1 For my part I am sure that it is far the finest Eastern carpet which I have seen (either of actual ones carpet or representations of them) For firstly it must be remembered that this one has no counterpart,2 whereas the finest carpets hitherto seen, like the famous ones at Vienna,3 belong to a class of which there are many exam­ ples. Next, and this is the chief reason that I wish to see it bought for the public, the design is of singular perfection; defensible on all points, logi­ cally and consistently beautiful, with no oddities or grotesqueries which might need an apology, and therefore most especially valuable for a Mut 23 ]

LETTERS OF WILLIAM MORRIS

seum, the special aim of which is the education of the public in Art. The carpet as far as I could see is in perfectly good condition, and its size and splendour as a piece of workmanship do full justice to the beauty and intellectual qualities of the design. 4 Lastly the fact that it is dated is of real importance. (I mean not merely from a commercial point of view) as it gives us an insight into the history of the Art, and a standard whereby one may test the excellence of the palmy days of Persian design. In short I think that it would [be] 5 a real misfortune if such a treasure of decorative art were not acquired for the public.6 I am, My dear Armstrong, Yours very truly William Morris TEXT (transcription): V&A Robinson Papers V&A Registry Published· Stead, The Ardabil Carpets; Barbara Morris, "William Morris and the South Kensington Museum," Victorian Poetry 13, 3, and 4 (1975), 168 1 Morris refers to the Ardabil Carpet (one of two so designated, see note 2 below) pur­ chased in 1893 by the South Kensington Museum (now the Victoria and Albert Museum) on his advice (see illustration, ρ 25) Of the carpet, A Cecil Edwards has written (The Persian Carpet, p. 8) "This renowned carpet is so called because it came from the mosque in Ardebil [sic] where Shah Ismail and Sheikh Sefi-ud-Din, his ancestor (after whom the Sevavi dynasty was named), are buried " The date and a quotation by Hafiz are m an in­ scription woven into the carpet. In Natalie Rothstein's The Ardabil Carpet, t540 A D (V&A Masterpieces, Sheet 5, 1976), the entire inscription is given in two translated versions "I have no refuge in the world other than thy threshhold / There is no place of protection for my head other than this porchway / The work of the slave of the Holy Place, Maqsud of Kashan in the year 946." The second (more recent) translation reads "Except for thy heaven, there is no refuge for me in this world / Other than here there is no place for my head / Work of a servant of the court, Maqsud of Kashan, 946." About the later version Rothstein observes (pp 2—3)· "[T]here is no reference to a Holy Place and the association with Ardabil, a Holy shrine, seems to have been a nineteenth century inspiration In 946 AH the buildings of Ardabil did not apparently include a Mosque, although one was built there later. Moreover . not a single room in the sixteenth century building was large enough to have taken either carpet, without folding it, let alone two " 2 In fact, it has one (see note 1 above), presently in the collection of the J. Paul Getty Museum in Malibu, California. Rexford Stead has written of the two (The Ardabil Carpets, p. 17): "Aside from removal of the outer borders and a section of lower field on the Los Angeles Ardabil, which has diminished its overall size, the carpets are a nearly identical pair The weaving of important carpets in pairs (but never more than two) was not an unusual circumstance in sixteenth-century Persia." 3 Morris refers to the collection of Oriental carpets now at the Museum for Applied Arts in Vienna, which was first exhibited in 1891 (see The Times, April 7, 1891, ρ 5) A cata­ logue of the exhibit, Oriental Carpets, was published in 1892, and Morris owned a copy See Sotheby Catalogue (1898), lot 920 4 "The regal Ardabils," Stead writes (p 19) "have a multi-level design that gives the viewer an almost three-dimensional impression this is caused by the fugue-like intricacy of

t 24 ]

The Ardabil Carpet.

LETTERS OF WILLIAM MORRIS the master-design, in which the main medallion with its sixteen ogival appendages appears to float on a field of floral traceries, all this against a vibrant and pulsating blue background of varying tonality " He continues (p 20) "In many sixteenth-century Northwest Persian Medallion carpets, bar and pendant appendages appear above and below a longitudinal axis at the central medallion much in the manner of book covers of the period More original and innovative, the Ardabif Carpets forsake this device m favor of a radically different ap­ proach that is not known on any other extant Persian carpet of the period in place of the bar and pendant, what may perhaps be mosque lamps of different style are suspended out­ ward from the uppermost and lowermost of the ogival panels which in turn radiate outward from stylized lotus blossoms that spring from the tips of equidistant minaret-type projec­ tions from the central medallion " And concluding with praise of the "myriad of flower blooms which spring from undulating and interlocking leafed vines," Stead notes that the "blossoms are a typical sixteenth-century Persian motif the traditional Sasanian lotus palmette crossed with a Chinese peony," and that the effect of these Safavid creations "is that of a millefleurs tapestry on a truly grand scale " The carpet measures 34 feet 6 inches by 17 feet 6 inches Rothstein describes it (ibid, note 1 above) as "the largest possibly in the world " 5 As indicated above, the copytext for this letter is in a hand other than Morris's The copyist added "(be)," using parentheses to indicate, presumably, the word was being sup­ plied I have retained the "be" since it is part of the copytext, however, I have substituted for the parentheses, square brackets, used in this edition to indicate interpolations 6 The Museum bought it, paying the dealer Messrs Robmson and Co £2000

2116 · FROM A LETTER TO [JANE MORRIS?]

[Kelmscott House March (14?) 1893]

I am very busy all round, and ought to be busier, but can't be. TEXT Mackail II, 284

2117 · To CHARLES MARCH GERE

Kelmscott, Lechlade April 1 [1893J

Dear Mr. Geere I am very pleased with the look of your cut in the book. Though it comes a little heavier than your beautiful drawing, that is perhaps desira­ ble for a book ornament. 1 As to the Wolfings I certainly want you to go on; 2 I purpose to send you some specimen p.p of the type & position of cuts which I think will be of use to you & will save you making sketches of a form which will not go in. As to your designs, I leave you quite free as to which subjects you will choose; 3 but I think you ought to look at the first you do as only one out

1893 /

LETTER 2118

of the lot: I think there ought to be at least 15; 4 a book sparsely illustrated is a do. Kindly let me here from you as soon as you are ready to go on. Yours very truly William Morris MS Cheltenham

See letter no 2104 and η 2 In December 1892, Morris had asked Gere to illustrate a Kelmscott Press edition of The House of the Wolfings (see Volume III, letter no 2070, η 1) Though Gere completed at least thirteen drawings (see note 4 below) and Morris had two trial pages printed, the book was never done See Peterson, History, ρ 157 3 Among the subjects that Gere drew were "Hall-Sun is seated on the Hill of Speech," "Asmund the Old Carl greets Thiodolf," and "Ah leads Annborn and Thiodolf to HallSun " For illustrations, see pp 158 and 81 4 It is unknown how many Gere did eventually draw, but thirteen have survived These were sold at a Sotheby's auction in 1987 (see Sale Catalogue, December 4, 1987, lots 216 and 217) 1

2

2118 · To THE EDITOR OF THE Journal of Derbyshire Archaeological and Natural History Society

April 5, 1893

It may interest you 1 to know that I wove a piece of ornament with my own hands, the chief merit of which I take it, lies in the fact that I learned the art m doing it, 2 with no other help than what I could get from a very good little eighteenth century book, one of the series of "Arts and Me­ tiers" published by the Government. 3 I think it must be about fifteen years ago I exhibited two pieces at the Manchester Exhibition. The subjects were Flora and Pomona. 4 Some public body at Manchester bought them, and they are there now. 5 The most important piece I have yet done was for my own College at Oxford (Exeter). It is in the chapel there. The subject is the Adoration of the Magi, designed by Mr. Burne-Jones. 6 It has generally been thought succesful. I am now doing a replica of it, 7 and also a large set of hangings for Mr. D'Arcy, at Stanmore, in Middlesex. The subject is the Achieve­ ment of the Sangraal, designed by Mr. Burne-Jones. 8 I have exhibited on three occasions in the Arts and Crafts. Subjects:— Peace, by Mr. Burne-Jones; 9 A Greenery, designed by Mr. Dearie, one of my pupils; 10 and a Piece with Animals, designed by Mr. Philip Webb. 11 TEXT JDANHS, XVI, 97 Extract published Marillier, H C , History of the Merton Abbey

L 27 ]

The Greenery tapestry, designed by John Henry Dearie

The Forest tapestry, designed by Morris, with animals by Phillip Webb.

LETTERS OF WILLIAM

MORRIS

Flora tapestry, designed by Morris, with figures by Edward Burne-Jones [ 30 ]

1893 /

LETTER 2118

Tapestry Works, 16; Aymer Vallance, "Some Examples of Merton Abbey Tapestries," Studio 45 (1980) 13. 1 The Rev. Charles Kerry (1841 ? -1908), editor of the Journal from January 1892 through January 1900. 2 Morris refers to the Cabbage and Vine tapestry, also called Vine and Acanthus, which he began on May 10, 1879. See Volume I, letters no. 571 and 584. 3 The books called Arts et Miners were published by the Pans Academie des Sciences, not by the British government as Morris's letter seems to suggest (possibly Morris wrote "French Government" and the typesetter of the text as we have it dropped "French"). Moreover, the series does not include one on tapestry weaving Of the manuals issued, Parry writes (p 102) that they "were written by various experts between the 1760s and 1780s [and] cover a wide range of techniques from candle-making to tailoring and embroi­ dery." Parry adds that "no volume on tapestry weaving has yet been traced, [but] as Morris said that he found the volume on carpet weaving very useful, it is possible that he used [one devoted to that subject]." 4 For these tapestries see Volume II, letter no. 851, η 4, and illustration of Pomona, p. 164; for illustration of Flora, see present volume, ρ 30. The pair were exhibited at the Manchester Centenary Exhibition held in 1887 (see Parry, ρ 112). Since they were woven between 1884 and 1885, there is no possibility of their having been exhibited "about fif­ teen years" before the date of this letter Either Morns was misremembermg to the extent of nine or ten years or the text as we have it exhibits at this point a first or second (see note 3 above) typesetters error, perhaps the substitution of the word fifteen for five Less likely but still possible is that Morris was unintentionally substituting the date at which he began carpet weaving—1878—for the exhibition date of Flora and Pomona 5 They were purchased by the Whitworth Institute (now the Whitworth Art Gallery) in 1887 (see Parry, p. 108). Although the Institute's first display was not until 1890, the tapes­ tries were bought in advance as early acquisitions for the collection being formed For the founding of the Institute, see Greg Smith, "Art and Industry* The Manchester Royal Jubi­ lee Exhibition and the Whitworth Institute," Apollo (October 1989), pp. 231—35. 6 See Volume II, letter no 1271, and n. 2; and illustration, ρ 814. 7 Morris and Co made several replicas of The Adoration of the Magt Wilfrid Scawen Blunt commissioned a copy (see Volume III, letter no. 1771 and notes) and Morris may be refer­ ring to the one in preparation for him, since it was delivered to him in 1894 (see Parry, pp. 113—14). For other copies, see Marillier, pp. 17—18 As Manllier notes (p 18), the cartoon was given to the Victoria and Albert Museum. 8 See Volume II, letter no. 1559 and η 6. 9 The Peace figure was drawn by Burne-Jones, with background and border by J. H. Dearie (see Volume II, letter no. 1382, η 1), and the tapestry was woven in 1889. It was included in the Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society exhibit of that year, but the design was first used for stained glass in the English Church in Berlin in 1886. See Marilher, pp 17—18, and Parry, ρ 112. 10 Correctly identifying tapestries named by Morris in this letter poses several problems, which are discussed in this note and in note 11 below. Prior to the date of this letter, Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society exhibits held were in 1888, 1889, and 1890. Although The Greenery was woven for Percy and Madeline Wyndham's house, Clouds, and delivered in 1892, it may have been completed by 1890 in time to be shown at the exhibit in that year, but not delivered until 1892 because Clouds had been gutted by fire in 1889 and was being rebuilt until 1892 There are difficulties with this explanation, however A tapestry de­ signed by Dearie and exhibited by the Society in 1890 is named in the catalogue The Forest, not The Greenery; and Marillier calls it In the Woods Moreover, Parry writes (p. 120)

LETTERS OF WILLIAM MORRIS that The Greenery was woven in 1892, which if true would eliminate any possibility it had been exhibited m 1890 or any year prior to the date of Morris's present letter On this last point, however, I am pleased to be able to add that Linda Parry has said in correspondence that The Greenery might, in fact, have been woven in 1890, with delivery to the Wyndhams delayed for the reasons given above For The Greenery, see illustration, ρ 28 11 There is on record no Morris and Co. tapestry designed by Webb or anyone else called Piece with Animals. However, in 1887 Morris and Co wove a tapestry in which there are animal figures drawn by Webb, verdure attributed to Dearie by Marillier and to Morris by Parry, and foreground details that Parry agrees were probably by Dearie Exhibited by the Society in 1888, it was listed in the catalogue for that year simply as an Arras tapestry. This work is no doubt the one Morris is recollecting here (possibly Morris had written "a piece with animals" meaning simply the unnamed tapestry designed by Webb and the typesetter had turned its description into a title). Depicted are a very large lion standing tranquilly between a rabbit and a fox, while a peacock and a raven, also looking quite at ease, occupy the left and right corners; and it is possible too that Morris meant to write Peace with Animals (or that he in fact did and "piece" is a typographer's error). The tapestry most certainly represents predators at peace with creatures that ordinarily are their prey Although as indi­ cated it is unnamed m the ACES Catalogue, 1888, this tapestry has come to be referred to as The Forest, that is, it has been given the same name under which the design discussed in note 10 above had appeared m the ACES Catalogue, 1890 For this tapestry, see illustra­ tion, p. 29; for references to it, see Marillier, p. 32; and Parry, pp. 111—12 and 114—15). It was woven for Alexander ("Aleco") Ionides (1840—1898; for the Iomdes family, see Vol­ ume I, letter no. Ill, η 1).

2119 ·

To

CHISWICK PRESS [CHARLES THOMAS JACOBI?]

Hammersmith April 11 [1893]

Dear Sir Could you send me some more clean sheets of the Well after Y1 which is the last I have Yrs truly WM MS: Bodleian. 1 Morris is requesting sheets of signature Z, and possibly of signature AA as well.

2120 ·

To

SYDNEY CARLYLE COCKERELL

[Kelmscott House] April Ilth [1893?]

I cannot find my big drawing-paper block:1 nor can John.2 WM MS: Getty

1893 / LETTER 2121 1 The reason for Morris's wanting his drawing-block at this time is uncertain. Possibly he was planning to design a new border or other ornament for the Chaucer. Cockerell notes ("List," ρ 163) that Morris began his first folio border for the book on February 1, 1893. 2 Possibly a servant at Kelmscott House, or an employee of the Kelmscott Press. I have not been able to identify him

2121 · To ARTHUR JOSEPH GASKIN

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith April 11 [1893]

Dear Mr. Gaskin1 Thank you for your kind letter. Yesterday I told Nutt2 to send you a copy of that German illustrated book which seemed to interest you.3 This must be called a business present,4 as probably you may find it useful, not of course to copy; but these mediaeval things are so (to) stimulating with their frank imagination & their grasp of essentials; & the details of costume & furniture are really necessary to be studied. Walker has some photos of various illustrations which I am sure you will find useful also therefore I will send you prints of them. Wishing you luck I am Yours very truly William Morris MS: Eton 1 See Volume III, letter no. 2071, n. 1 2 See Volume III, letter no. 1892, n. 1 3 Gaskin probably saw the book on a visit to Kelmscott Manor some days before the date of this letter The Kelmscott Visitor's Book indicates that Gaskin was there at "Easter" and in 1893 Easter fell on April 2 4 That Morris calls the book a "business present" suggests that he had already commis­ sioned Gaskin, possibly earlier in April (see note 3 above) to do work for the Kelmscott Press. Cockerell's Diary makes no mention of Gaskin drawing for the Press until April 23, 1893, when he writes in part: "Gaskin [to illustrate] the Roots & The Well at the World's End." Printing of the Kelmscott Roots of the Mountains had begun on December 16, 1892, but only a trial page was struck off and the edition was never finished (see Peterson, Bibhog., p. 153) For Gaskin's work on The Well, see letter no. 2126 and η 2.

LETTERS OF WILLIAM MORRIS

2122 · To BERNARD QUARITCH

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith April 11, 1893

Dear Mr. Quaritch Thanks, the account is quite correct. I will take the Turrecremata1 at £125. I will pay what balance may be against me m three months from now. Kindly send on the Turrecremata. Yours truly William Morris Quantch Probably the Meditations of Johannes de Turrecremata printed in Rome by Ulrich Hahn, December 9, 1478 Cockerell writes in his Diary (April 23, 1893) "[Morns] had just bought 9 Italian MSS & Ulnc Hahn's Turrecremata " The book had been bought by Quaritch at the Lakelands Sale (March 12, 1891, see Volume III, letter no 1841, η 4) and apparently remained unsold until the time of the present letter In 1892, Morris had bought a later edition o f the Meditations from Leighton (see Volume III, letter n o 2042, η 1) I a m grateful to Richard Linenthal for suggesting that Turrecremata's Meditations is most proba­ bly the book which Morris, m this letter, indicates he will purchase The copy discussed here is now in the PML See also Goff, T-538 MS

1

2123 · To CHISWICK PRESS [CHARLES THOMASJACOBI?]

Kelmseott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith April 14 [1893]

Dear Sir The copy I want is the copy of the Saga.1 of those sheets of which I have had the proofs, and which copy I have never had: this is stopping my revision of sheet C. The copy you have sent me is of no use as I havent got the proofs and I shall have the trouble of sending it back to you Please in future always to send me the copy with the proofs. I have not yet received any further proof of Well at World's End.2 Please get on with it Yours truly W Morris MS 1 2

Bodleian For the second volume of the Heimskringla (Vol 4 of the Saga Library) See letter no 2119

18 9 3 / L E T T E R 2 1 2 4

2124 · To JAMES LEATHAM

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith April 21 [1893]1

Dear Leatham Thank you for your friendly and interesting letter. I hope you will soon pull yourself together again.2 We hear in London much more rosecoloured views of Socialism,3 which, however, I do not at all believe, especially after your account of things there; but after all things must be better than they were a few years ago. As to my coming to Scotland, I think I had better make an engagement for the autumn now, and then, unless very awkward things happen, I shall be able to keep it.4 I saw Blatchford5 last night, and rather liked the looks of him. You see you must let a man work on the lines he really likes.6 No man ever does good work unless he likes it: evasion is all you can get out of him by compulsion. However since I am moralizing I had better leave off with best wishes to you. Yours very truly, William Morris. TEXT . MM, II, 340-41 1 In printing this letter May Morris supplies the year in square brackets: presumably none was indicated on the holograph. 2 Leatham (see Volume II, letter no 1499, n. 6) had lost his job when The Northern Daily News went under, and was about to take up a position in Manchester (See James Leatham, "Sixty Years of World-Mending," The Gateway, 29, 344 [July 1942], 11—16.) I am grateful to Eugene D LeMire for the information given here and for the reference for the purpose of this note to Leatham's autobiographical writings, published in The Gateway over several issues 3 TheJanuary 1893 issue of the Ham. Soc Rec carried (p. 3) a note from J. B. Glasier that read in part 1 "In Scotland there are everywhere signs of a great revival of interest in Social­ ism, and a great increase of propaganda effort." 4 Morris did not keep the engagement made here The last of his lectures in Scotland was in 1889, although in the spring of 1892 he did anticipate speaking in Scotland in the au­ tumn (see Volume III, letter no 1970). This trip was canceled (see Volume III, letters no. 2040; no. 2050; and no 2054). Given this history, the apparent certainty with which Mor­ ris refers to a trip in the autumn of 1893 raises a question about May Morris's dating, especially since no subsequent letters in 1893 make reference to lecturing in Scotland; it is at least conceivable that the letter was written in 1892 A further difficulty, although it is one I am discounting, is that Blatchford (see note 5 below) in his obituary of Morris (The Clarion, October 10, 1896, pp 324-25) indicates he first met Morris in 1895 This is almost certainly incorrect, since a surviving letter from Blatchford to Morris written on July 6, 1895, is clearly a continuation of an aquamtance made in the past (see BL, Add MSS 45345). 5 Robert Pell Glanville Blatchford (1851-1943), a journalist who became an active sup­ porter of socialism At twenty, he enlisted for six years in the British Army, and while still in service began to write By 1885, he had become a staff member of the Manchester Sunday

I 35 1

LETTERS OF WILLIAM MORRIS Chronicle, writing under the pseudonym Nunquam Converted to socialism by reading Hyndman and Morris's Summary of the Principles of Socialism (see Volume II, letters no 922 and n. 4; and no. 942 and n. 6), he left the Chronicle, and with several other former staff members founded in December 1891 The Clarion, a socialist weekly. It became an influen­ tial journal among working women and men, but Blatchford made his most decided impact by reprinting his articles as a book titled Merrie England (1893), it sold over a million copies, and in pirated editions and translations reached a wide audience in America, Holland, Scandinavia, and Spain Among Blatchfords other books were Britain for the British (1902), God and My Neighbour (1904), and Not Guilty, a Defence of the Bottom Dog (1906) By the end of the nineteenth century his popularity had waned, as a result of his supporting the Boer War, attacking revealed religion, and mounting a campaign of warning that Germany had become a threat to England. 6 It is unclear why Morris makes this observation about Blatchford Morris may have been praising articles by Blatchford published in The Clarion recently (and eventually to become chapters in Merrie England; see note 5 above). Five pieces had been printed by April 21, 1893, appearing in the issues of March 4, 11, and 18 and of April 1 and 8. (In Merrte England they were respectively titled "The Problem of Life," "The Practical School," "Town vs. Country," "The Life of the Worker," and "The Bitter Cost of a Bad System.")

2125 · To BERNARD QUARITCH

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith April 22, 1893

Dear Sir I beg to acknowledge receipt of cheque value two hundred and eightyeight pounds and fifteen shillings in settlement of account for paper copies of Reynard the Foxe. Also please find cheque enclosed value two hundred & ninety pounds on account, for which receipt will oblige.1 Very truly yours William Morris2 MS: Quantch. 1 Presumably in payment for medieval manuscripts or early printed books purchased from Quantch The exchange of payments registered here epitomizes Morris's double busi­ ness relationship with Quantch m the 1890s· Quantch was either publisher or seller of books printed at the Kelmscott Press and at the same time purveyor or purchase-agent to Morris of books for his library 2 The letter is not m Morris's hand, but was signed and stamped by him

1893 /

LETTER 2126

2126 · To ARTHUR JOSEPH GASKIN

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith April 25 [1893]

My dear Mr. Gaskin Inprimis have they (Nutt) sent you that book yet?1 In secondis I send you the shape & size with specimen ρ of the Roots, when you can get along with them. But in tertus, there is another job I want first, if you will kindly under­ take it. I want 4 cuts for the Well at Worlds End 2 for the 4 different parts. 3 I send you the space & the framework of them & have ordered the print­ ers to send you clean sheets of the ordinary edition for you to read; for I fear I must debauch your mind once more— The illustration should be taken from the 'Book' that it prefaces, and perhaps it would be handiest if (we) I could have first that to Book III 4 Of course I do all the ornament. I should mention that the cut will have to face one of the (blac) white-on-black borders & will be surrounded by the like, so that there ought to be a good deal of colour in it. Excuse haste as I am just leaving for Kelmscott Yours very truly William Morris MS: Turner Coll. 1 See letter no. 2121 and n. 3. 2 Although this is the first clear request by Morris that Gaskin do illustrations for the Kelmscott Press edition of The Well at the World's End, Morris had apparently discussed the book with Gaskin earlier, since he seems to write as if Gaskin is familiar with the story. Gaskin, presumably on receiving this letter, began the job, and was eventually to do nine­ teen drawings in all—none ever used. Some were engraved by W. H. Hooper (see Volume III, letter no. 1853, n. 2) in October and November 1893. Morris, however, was dissatis­ fied with them and after prolonged correspondence finally informed Gaskin in February 1895 that the drawings would not be used. Although the latter offered to do four new ones, Morris turned to Burne-Jones; and his four, engraved by Hooper, were the ones included. For a full account of the matter, see Peterson, Bibhog., pp. 98-99. See also letter 2351 and η 1; and A&G Gaskin, pp 44—48 (cited also by Peterson). See also notes 2 and 3 below. 3 In the event, the four drawings that appeared in The Well (as done by Burne-Jones, see note 2 above) were these· for Book I: "Help is to hand in the wood perilous"; Book II. "The chambers of love in the wilderness", Book III (see note 4 below); and Book IV* "The last time of the long champion." It is unclear whether Morris had these specific scenes in mind at this time, although the drawing for Book III was, in fact, rendered by both artists (see note 4 below). 4 "Friends in need meet in the wild wood," the illustration for Book III, shows Ursula (dressed as a man) and Ralph, by a fire in the forest Burne-Jones s illustration of this scene was finally the one used. For both versions, see illustration, p. 38.

LETTERS OF WILLIAM MORRIS

Two drawings of "Friends in need meet in the wild wood," one (top) by ArthurJoseph Gaskin and the other (bottom) by Edward Burne-Jones

1893 / LETTER 2128

2127 · To CHISWICK PRESS [CHARLES THOMAS JACOBI?]

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith April 28 [1893]

Dear Sir When I called on you on Monday I left word asking you to send sheets of the Well to A. Gaskin Esqre (357) 375 Conventry Rd. Birmingham. As he has not yet received them perhaps this has escaped your notice, so I will ask you to send them to him at once as it is important that he should have them 1 Yours truly William Morris 2 Ms Bodleian 1 Presumably Gaskm had as yet made none of the designs he was to draw for The Well, and Morris apparently wanted Gaskin to see the story so that he could decide as soon as possible what to illustrate 2 A note at the bottom of the letter reads "sent April 26th by Parcel post 4½ " The hand­ writing in several respects resembles Jacobi's in other documents I have examined, but I have not been able to conclude with certainty that Jacobi wrote the note

2128 · To WILLIAM SWAN SONNENSCHEIN

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith May 2 [1893]

Dear Sir1 The small paper sheet will do well enough with the alteration I have indicated. 2 But the large paper is very wrong, so I have cut down a leaf to show you the proper proportion of margins for the page of type. The size of the paper as sent to me seems very much too large, and if used would make the large paper copies much less desirable than the small.3 The qual­ ity of the paper seems to me very bad but I suppose it is not the paper you are going to use. I am Dear Sirs Yours truly William Morris I think the book should be printed in Caslon's (unleaded) or Miller & Richards (thin-leaded) pica old style.4 The position of the page should be

LETTERS OF WILLIAM MORRIS

attended to. The foredge and tail margins should be bigger than the head & back margins so X X

1

I

Shoulder notes in smaller type (long primer 7 ) will be wanted William Morris

TEXT MM, I, 671 1 William Swan Sonnenschein (1855—1931), the head at this time of the publishing firm Swan Sonnenschein and Co , established by him in 1878 In 1902, he became joint-managing director of George Routledge and Sons, remaining with that company until his death Among his own works were The Best Books, a reference volume first published in 1887, A Reader's Guide to Contemporary Literature, 1895 (intended to supplement the first), and an edition of Caxton's Reynard the Foxe (1924) During the First World War he changed his name, taking his mother's surname, Stallybrass 2 Morris refers to the printing of Socialism Its Growth & Outcome, issued in 1893 in En­ gland by Swan Sonnenschein and in New York by Charles Scnbners Sons The book was a revision of the twenty-four installments published by Morris and Belfort Bax in Common­ weal in 1886 under the title "Socialism from the Root Up " For Bax, see Volume II, letter no 979, η 3, for references to the Commonweal articles, see Volume II, letters no 1269, η 1, and 1559, η 7 3 The regular edition of Socialism Its Growth and Outcome (see note 2 above) was a crown octavo Ofthe large-paper copies Buxton Forman writes (p 169) "[They] are 'called an edition,' and rightly, they are 275 in number, demy 8vo on hand-made paper " 4 The two typefaces named by Morris are discussed by Gaskell (p 212) in the context of a nineteenth-century development "From the 1840s there was a gradually quickening re­ vival of interest in old-face romans The first sign of the reaction against modern face was the use of original Caslon founts by the London printer Charles Whittingham (from 1840) for reprinting texts of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries [and] from the mid 1850s new founts were cut both in England and in France in adaptations of renaissance forms The most influential of them, Miller and Richard's Old Style of 1860, was not a close copy of renaissance roman but a modernized version It found numerous imitators not only in Britain but also in France, Germany, and America " (For Charles Whittingham, see Volume III, letter no 1644, η 2 ) It is apposite to note that one trial page of The House of the Wolfings had been set in Miller and Richard's old style at the Chiswick Press (see Volume II, letter no 1506, η 2) and that Morris in a letter to Quantch in 1890, discussing arrangements for the Saga Library, asks apparently that the books be printed in Caslon (see Volume III, letter no 1737)

1893 /

LETTER 2130

2129 · To CHISWICK PRESS [CHARLES THOMAS JACOBI?]

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith May 4 [1893]

I am sorry, but I must ask you to send me new pulls of J. K.(L)1 as I have mislaid them WM. Ms: Bodleian. 1 Morris refers either to proofs of signatures J and K for The Well or (less probably) to revised proofs for the second volume of the Heimskringla

2130 · To JOSEPH EDWARDS

May 5, 1893

My dear Mr. Edwards,1 I can only say that I wish you all success.2 If ever there was a time for pushing the cause of Socialism it is the present. There is much to encour­ age us in the state of things. The working classes are awakening to a sense of their position, and are preparing to use the political power which the last few years have given them. The governing classes are showing signs of yielding to the necessities of the time, and giving something at least to the demands of the people. These, on the other hand, need education; they want to be shown what to demand, and how to do so. This is the talk of us Socialists, and if we carry it out diligently and faithfully, we shall no doubt see in our own time something like the beginning of the end of the muddle of tyranny and incapacity which is called civilised society, and which must yield at last to a society of equality, a true society, that is, in which we shall be wealthy because we have no longer either rich or poor amongst us. Yours fraternally William Morris TEXT· The Labour Prophet, July 1893, 60, Extract published: E. P. Thompson, 610-11. 1 Joseph Edwards (1861—1922) was born in Liverpool, where he became a partner in an iron and steel manufacturing concern and where he was also active in the Unitarian Church. Through his religious convictions, he eventually became devoted to labor issues, and combined a commitment both to Christian Socialism and secular working-class move­ ments. When m 1892 the Liverpool Socialist Society, of which he was member, merged with the Liverpool Fabian Society, newly founded, he became the first president of the latter. Earlier, in 1890, Edwards had probably heard the lecture Morris gave to the Liver­ pool Socialist Society (see Volume III, letter no. 1697, n. 2), though the present letter is the first evidence of their corresponding.

LETTERS OF WILLIAM MORRIS 2 This letter was read at the Labour Church Service in Liverpool, on "Labour Day," Sunday, May 7, 1893. Presumably in 1893 the church celebrated May Day on the 7th because it was the first sabbath in May that year (but possibly other workers' groups selected the Sunday for other reasons: see Commonweal, May 1, 1893, p. 1). The church had been founded by John Trevor, who in 1877 had visited America and read Ralph Waldo Emer­ son, and who, after returning to England, had become both a Unitarian and socialist This led to his establishing in 1891 the first Labour Church, in Manchester (as well as his found­ ing its organ, The Labour Prophet, in which Morris's letter was published); and by 1895, there were twenty-five Labour Churches in the North. (For a discussion of their philoso­ phy, see Norman and Jeanne Mackenzie, The Fabians [New York: Simon and Schuster, 1977], p. 188.) On its masthead, The Labour Prophet carried a quote from Mazzim: "Let Labour Be the Basis of Civil Society."

2131 · FROM A LETTER TO [FREDERICK STARTRIDGE ELLIS] [May 17, 1893]

we shall be twenty years getting it out . . . 1 TEXT : Mackail, II, 285. 1 Mackail indicates (II, 281) that Morris refers to the slow progress of the Chaucer "which was chiefly owing to the great difficulty of getting Burne-Jones' designs satisfactorily ren­ dered upon wood. . . ." See also letter no. 2318, n. 1.

2132 · To CHARLES MARCH GERE

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith May 17 [1893?]

Dear Mr. Gere Many thanks for your sketches. 1 They seem to me very promising; but it would take such a long time to write my views of them in detail, that I think it would be better if we could meet. Would it be difficult for you to come up here; I could give you a bed without any difficulty. Of course I would pay all expenses. If you could come we could do more in an hours talk than by much writing. In any case pray go on with the work. I thought your picture at the New Gallery very good. 2 Yours very truly William Morris MS : Huntington. 1 Morris refers to early sketches by Gere for the Kelmscott Press edition of The House of the Wolfings (see letter no. 2117 and notes 2-4). 2 Gere's picture was The Finding of the Infant St George and it was included in an exhibit at the New Gallery that had opened on April 30, 1893. The Athenaeum, May 6, 1893, reviewing (p. 577) the show wrote disparagingly of the painting: ti The Finding of the Infant

1893 /

LETTER 2134

St George (251) contains nothing which a much less capable artist than Mr C M Gere could not have put upon a kit-cat Mr Gere has contrived to spoil a respectable design by using a canvas of preposterous dimensions His larger figure looks like Mr Holman Hunt's Joseph in the 'Triumph of the Innocents' [see Volume III, letter no 1827 and notes] turned round upon a pivot, so that we may get a side view of him " The review, however, con­ cluded more approvingly "On the other hand, the little St George lying near a stone and enshrined in flowers is pretty and good In fact, in many respects this is an excellent picture, possessing solid qualities and the promise of better things "

2133 · To THACKERAY TURNER

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith May 20 [1893?]

My dear Turner I am going to see Jackson1 next Thursday, and shall get some informa­ tion out of him I hope. So will you kindly send me the report on the images.2 Yours very truly WMorns S PA B Archives ' Sir Thomas GrahamJackson (see Volume II, letter no 741, η 2) 2 Morris refers to the statues ringing the base of the spire of Great St Mary's, Oxford For the issue at hand, see letter no 2137 and notes As for "report" Morris means the S PA B report on the spire prepared in 1893, see S PA B Archives, "St Mary's, Oxford " MS

2134 · To CHARLES MARCH GERE

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith May 26, 1893

Dear Mr. Gere You are very welcome to the Bonnard.1 It was a book which D. G. Rossetti introduced me to many years ago, he found it very useful. Thank you for sending me the sketch of the Hauberk & the Dwarf.2 I think it is quite a satisfactory treatment and is likely to work out well. Just what is wanted m fact. All right I will do a border or two: only please send me a copy of your pattern of the space, as I haven't one by me.3 Yours very truly William Morris MS 1

Huntington Morris refers to Camille Bonnard's Costumes des XIIIe, XIVe et XVe Stecles, 2 vols

LETTERS OF WILLIAM MORRIS

"Wood-Sun is shown at the cave of the Dwarf Lord," drawn by C. M. Gere.

(Paris: 1829, 1830); issued in a three-volume second edition as Costumes historiques des XIIe, XIIIe, XIVe et XVe Siecles (1860-1861). 2 I have been unable to locate a drawing of the Dwarf and the hauberk alone; but for a design depicting the Dwarf, the hauberk and Wood-Sun, see illustration, above. It seems likely that the drawing discussed in the present letter was an early stage of the one Gere completed. For a discussion by Morris that seems to support this view, see letters no. 2149; no. 2152; and no. 2153. 3 Morris in fact did design a border that was printed with at least two of Gere's drawings. See illustration, p. 169.

1893 /

LETTER 2135

2135 · To J. & J. LEIGHTON [WALTER JAMES LEIGHTON?]

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith May 30 [1893]

Dear Sir1 Thank you; I am glad you got the Sorg;2 I will look at the books you name with pleasure. Except the Lattebury which I am glad to have, I got nothing.3 As the Preces Piae went for £414 I suppose that Q had a higher commission than mine, & so I had no chan(g)ce. He offers me the other two books, but the price is much too high & I wont.5 I must lie by for something good here after. Could you send me some 5 or 6 more Godfrey6 before Friday. Yours truly W. Morris Bodleian. Whatever the probability that earlier letters to the firm of J. & J. Leighton were in­ tended for WalterJames Leighton, Morris almost certainly meant this one for his attention. The reference to "Q"—Quantch—suggests that Morris was talking to a manager-owner about the latter's peer in another firm. 2 This book, and others mentioned in Morris's letter, were in the Sotheby Sale of the Library of William Bateman (1787-1835) and Thomas Bateman (1821-1861) of Lomberdale House, Youlgrave, Derbyshire. Ordered by the Court of Chancery, the sale was held from May 25 through May 31, 1893. The volume in question (lot 1380) was the Passional von Jhesu und Mane printed by Anton Sorg (see Volume III, letter no 1838, n. 3) at Augsburg in 1491, in gothic letter, with numerous woodcuts. Leighton bought it for £9.9s. The book is now in the PML. 3 Morris obtained this book from Quaritch. The catalogue (see note 2 above) describes it (lot 1176) as J Latteburn's Expositio ac Moralisatio term Capituh Trenorum Iheremiae Prophetae, printed at Oxford by Theodoric Rood (fl 1478-1485) and Thomas Hunte (fl. 1473—1485) in 1482, and lists as a special feature, four manuscript leaves in a contemporary handwriting. It is now in the PML. 4 Lot 1304 in the Bateman Sale (see note 2 above). A fifteenth-century manuscript on vellum, the Preces Piae was decorated with seventy-seven initial letters historiated with fig­ ures, two of them with miniatures. Quaritch paid £41 for it 5 Although not discussed here, one manuscript in the sale apparently was wanted by Morris and is worth noting as an addition to the evidence in this letter (and in letter no 2136) of what interested him in the Bateman Sale The manuscript volume is now in the University Library, Cambridge, and a note written by Samuel Sandars (see letter no 2333, n. 1) accom­ panying the volume reads: "Purchased May 1893 at the sale of the Library of the Batemans of Youlgrave, Antiquarians for two or three generations in Derbyshire I paid £43 for it Quaritch got it for me Wm Morris the Poet and Socialist was the underbuyer He asked me to let him have it Probably Nth France " The note then continues: "The volume seems to be a collection of fragments from a Psalter, followed by the canticles. The decorations are in a very fine style of art date about 1300 74 leaves." The note is CUL, Add 4085 6 Morris has shifted here to his business with J. & J Leighton as binders of the books produced at the Kelmscott Press He is requesting copies, bound by Leighton, of Godefrey of Boloyne (see letter no. 2099, n. 2). MS

1

LETTERS OF WILLIAM MORRIS

2136 · To [ WALTER JAMES LEIGHTON?]

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith May 31, 1893

Dear Sir You (or you & I together) have made a mistake about the Belial: 1 the book I meant you to bid for was a printed book (S A & L) 2 with coloured woodcuts: 3 for this I told you to bid £15 about We saw this book before the sale, and discussed its place of printing &c. The MS you have sent up I have just seen for the first time, and I should never have dreamed of buying it at any price. What is to be done' I really cannot keep the book in my house. I must ask you to sell it for me for anything it will fetch. Yours truly William Morris P.S. I may call in tomorrow at about 4 30 & we will talk about it Bodleian Morris refers to a manuscript apparently purchased for him in error by Leighton at the Bateman Sale (see letter no 2135, η 2) The book was probably Der Deutsche Belial (lot 1804), by Jacobus de Theramo (1349-1417) 2 sine anno aut loco 3 Morris may have wanted either lot 913 or 914 of the Bateman Sale Both were Horae, printed on vellum, with colored woodcuts, and both were s a & 1 MS

1

2137 · To PHILIP SPEAKMAN WEBB

Kelmseott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith Tuesday June 6 evening [1893]

My dear Fellow I duly (ca) went to oxford, & came back: 1 the upshot was this: scheme A (ours) 92 B (Chases) Il 3 C (Jackson 1) 165 4 D - 2 60 (I think) 5 C: being thus carried was put as a substantive resolution and was de­ feated by a large majority; I thought I was bound to give my non-placet 6 & so did Birchal 7 who sat next me This means that none of the above schemes were adopted but that the whole matter was referred to a 'dele­ gacy' ie Committee to reconsider. 8 Jackson seemed down in the mouth about it; but I am afraid little good will come of it, for either (which I suppose is most probable) the delegacy will finally adopt Js

1893 / LETTER 2137

scheme; or they will get another architect who will be as bad or worse. 9 I should mention that when I began speaking about the statues Case called me to order as being out of the question: the Vice-chancellor 10 however allowed me to go on, so I got my word in, the point of which was that the preservation of the statues was far more important than the question of the arrangement of the pinnacles, which as a matter of fact is all that the dons are troubling their heads about. 11 Jackson assures me that the tower is all right: it seems that an engineer was called in to advise him on this point, and agreed that so it was. J. took me up on the spire, & I had a good look at the images, & fought Jackson at every point. The fact is he would now willingly keep the im­ ages, if he could do so without visibly banding & tying them, but this he funks. This was my chief point; as I refused to be led into a discussion as to whether they could be tied up to look neat, but stuck to it that even if they had to be covered with a cage of bars, it should be done rather than 'removing' them. You see the worst of it is that the dons don't care one damn about them; I thmk that if they pressed J. at all he would do some­ thing: but they rather bully him about things that don't matter, and do not press him on important points. Thank you for your letter, which was of use enabling me better to un­ derstand the drift of Cases long speech. 12 I confess I don't think much of him: he seemed to me to be one of those knowing noodles of which Oxford always produces many. I would write more but am dropping with sleep. So will talk about it when we meet. You can show this to Lethaby.13 Yrs affectionately WM V&A An annotation by S C Cockerell to the entire letter reads "This refers to the fight put up by the S PA B and Morris against T G Jackson's [see note 9 below] drastic work on the spire of Great St Mary's, Oxford " At issue for Morris was what the fate of the statues ringing the spire of the fourteenth-century church would be if repairs to the building, contemplated for safety, were carried out Jackson at first wanted the statues removed, he cited the danger of their weight to the weakened fabric of the church He also contended that two of the statues were only forty years old and that the rest retained little original carving, having been patched so often Morris and the SPAB had insisted from the first the statues not be removed and a means be found to keep them safely in place The debate had been going on since at least December 1892, and according to Cockerell's Diary for January 6, 1893, Morris had written to The Times—presumably on that day—"about the proposed renewal of the statues in St Mary's spire, Oxford," though the letter if written was not printed For reports earlier in the year as well as correspondence on the matter that was published, see The Times as follows December 28, 1892, ρ 10, letter from T G Jackson quoting one to himself from Thackeray Turner j January 3, 1893, ρ 11, letter from Thackeray Turner (in reply), January 5, ρ 7, Jackson's answer, January 9, ρ 14, a response MS

1

LETTERS OF WILLIAM MORRIS

Church of St Mary s, Oxford before the removal of the statues

1893 / LETTER 2137

Head of King Edward the Confessor (one of the removed statues)

Removed statues, stored in the Lower Chamber of the Old Congregation House, Church of St Mary's, Oxford

LETTERS OF WILLIAM MORRIS by Turner, and January 10, ρ 11, a letter from Jackson concluding the exchange At issue in all was the condition and history of the statues For a review of the entire matter, see also Mackail, II, 285-87 For Jackson's own account, see Recollections of Thomas Graham Jackson 1835—1924, ed Basil H Jackson (London and New York Oxford Umv Press, 1950), pp 234-36 2 By "ours" Morris actually refers to the position of the S PA B , essentially to stay with the changes made in 1850 by John Chessell Buckler (1793—1894) Buckler's alterations to St Mary's had included renewing two statues, repairing several others, and raising the pin­ nacles In 1893 all that was proposed by those who (like the S PA B ) adhered to Buckler's design was to lower the pinnacles that had been raised To the SPAB and Morris the appeal of the original design and of its slight 1893 modifications was that the statues were kept in place For a discussion of Bucklers 1850 work, see T G Jackson, pp 144-46 3 Morris means Thomas Case (1844—1925), Waynefleet Professor of Philosophy and fel­ low of Magdalen College His book, St Mary's Clusters (London James Parker and Co , 1893), was a source of information for the discussion and debate at the meeting (see note 11 below) His plan, proposed in the book, meant support of what was known as the design of 1610, that is, opposition even to Buckler's 1850 design as it had already been imple­ mented (see note 2 above) Ofthe 1850 design, Case wrote (p 146) "[Its] weak point was the excessive height, tenuity, and distance from the space of the topmost pinnacle The alteration in the outline of the steeple, and the dwarfing of the spire by the heightened pinnacles around it, have been a frequent theme of lament with those who remember and regret the compacter outline afforded by the Jacobean pinnacles of 1610 " Moreover, in addition to proposing a return to the 1610 design, Case argued against a specific recom­ mendation by Jackson that oblong piers be used, Case wanted square ones He also asked that a delegacy be appointed to evaluate the varied plans The entry for him in the Diction­ ary of National Biography includes the following (1922—1930, pp 163—64) "His skill in architecture was shown in the restoration of the hall roof at Magdalen [1902], where he materially assisted G F Bodley [see Volume I, letter no 32, η 2] and in that of the spire and pinnacles of St Mary's," where he tried to set limits to Jackson's plans for alterations (see notes 4 and 9 below) 4 Morris refers to Jackson's original proposal, which required removal of the statues 5 Morris refers here to Jackson's second design, which was preferred by G F Bodley The Times, June 7, 1893, reported (p 8) Plan D as "the reproduction of Mr Buckler's design with the pinnacles lowered " ( The Times, incidentally, recorded the vote for the last two plans differently than did Morris, its figures were C 102, and D 32 ) 6 Literally, "It does not please " The term is used to vote in ecclesiastical assemblies and in those of Oxford and Cambridge Universities 7 The Rev Oswald Birchall had become local correspondent for the S PA B in 1887, succeeding Henry George Woods (see letter no 2142, η 1) For Birchall, see Volume II, letterno 1165, η 1 8 The following were elected to serve with the vice-chancellor and proctors on the delegacy to which Morris refers Dr Bartholomew Price, Master of Pembroke College, Dr Henry Woods, President of Trinity, Dr W W Jackson, Rector of Exeter, Professor Tho­ mas Case (see note 3 above), Thomas WatsonJackson (of Worcester), and AlfredJoshua Butler (of Brasenose) 9 Jackson remained in charge, and in the event, his view that the statues should be re­ moved prevailed All but one were taken down and stored in the Old Congregation House Mackail gives an account of the process of their removal and of how the renovated church appeared (II, 287) "Owing to the decay of the holdfasts, certain heads and hands were so loose that they could be lifted off But the surface of the stone had weathered to such

[ 50 j

1893 / LETTER 2137 hardness that it resisted the point of a knife, and the bodies, which were solid set into the wall behind them, had actually to be sawn from their settings before they could be taken down. . . [They have been replaced by copies] on the now doubly and triply recon­ structed mass of pinnacles from which the central spire springs into the sunlight " It might be noted that Mackail's language seems not to acknowledge that one statue was kept in place 10 Henry Boyd (1831-1922), vice-chancellor of Oxford University and principal of Hertford College. Like Morris, he had been an undergraduate at Exeter, receiving his B.A in 1854. He commissioned T. G.Jackson to undertake the enlargement of Hertford Col­ lege, a project that included the building of a new hall and chapel (both completed in 1907) 11 The Times, June 7, 1893, reported (p. 8) the meeting Morris describes in this letter Noting that as vice-chancellor, Boyd had submitted to the Convocation four alternative designs (those cited by Morris in this letter; see notes 2—5 above), the report said that Boyd had then expressed his own preference for the design by Jackson (his second) endorsed by G. F. Bodley, ι e , Plan D (see note 5 above) However, he hoped that some plan would be adopted, avoiding a delegacy with its delays and responsibilities for himself and the proc­ tors. But Henry Francis Pelham, The Times continued, said that he himself must vote for a delegacy, as intricate considerations were involved. The article noted that Morris spoke next and said it would be a pity to refer the matter to a delegacy. One thing was impossi­ ble—namely, to restore the fourteenth-century spire, it reported him as saying He was in favor of repairing Buckler's work as the object of his boyish affections and he was a thick and thin advocate of the statues. What difficulty there was in retaining them ought to be faced, he said The question was not, he continued, whether it was desirable to retain them but whether it was possible· any necessary disfigurement would be better than destroying them or removing them to a museum, which could be equally destroying them architec­ turally. They were in fact the only fourteenth-century work remaining, every step should be taken to preserve them and a rider should be added giving this direction to the architect, Morris was reported to conclude Davidson and Child spoke after Morris, and their re­ marks were no doubt among those he complained about at this point in his letter, since Davidson was reported as concerned that the proposed double gable might ruin the tower (a point originally made by Case) and Child as thinking Buckler's restoration had made the spire less beautiful 12 OnJune 5, Webb, prompted by Lethaby (see note 13 below) wrote to Morris, summa­ rizing and commenting on Case's essay (which Webb had just read), diplomatically inform­ ing Morris that St Mary's tower did pose real structural problems and that it would not do for Morris to ignore them and to focus only on the fate of the statues, at the meeting he was to attend. Of Case and his essay Webb wrote* "[H]is conclusions are as illogical as . . well, an Oxford don's might be expected to be!" But Webb added that Case in his essay had given useful information about the repeated dealings with the tower, and Webb summa­ rized this history, continuing. "I shd say, before anything else is done, the condition of the whole fabric should be looked into, and that all necessary repairs should be done, at whatever cost ; and a skilled engineer be called in should subsidence or other serious points of weight be disclosed." Webb added that if the architect or engineer was "able to keep the fabric standing, there could be no excuse for the architect's saying that he could not keep the statues standing." The letter concluded "If you should have to listen to Case's proposition for altering the present design of the pinnacles, you can safely say there are no dependable facts known as to what the original design was If he should argue, as he does in his essay, that the weight of the present pinnacles adds to the risky condition of the fabric of substruc­ ture—you can safely say that any alteration of them wd have infinitesimal ef-

LETTERS OF WILLIAM MORRIS feet Also, that you are assured there would be more risk in changing the present equilibrium than in leaving it alone Of course all decayed structural stonework shd be renewed, and only that. You will be likely to say Ί knew all this before,' but I can only say, I can't help what you do know, but I might help you in what you don't know Yours, without trembling, Philip Webb" (V&A, MS 86.TT13, L 687—1958) 13 See Volume III, letter no. 1609, n. 1

2138 · To CHARLES ROWLEY

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith June 8 [1893]

My dear Rowley1 You know what a bad letter-writer I am so I will not further apologize for not writing before. As to lecturing some time, yes I will, but I wont give a date just yet.2 As to Kelmscott, I shall be very pleased to see you there. We are going down there towards the end of the month, & I shall be there off & on through July August and September I think. So tell me what time about you would like to come, & we will knock up a date.3 We are terribly burnt up there at present; there is no grass at all. I thmk that district has suffered more than any part of England by this drought; they have scarcely had a shower since the beginning of March.4 Wishing you good luck. I am Yours ever W Morris Nudelman. See Volume II, letter no 921, η 1 2 On October 22, 1893, Morris delivered a lecture titled "The Dangers of Restoration, with Special Reference to Westminster Abbey" before the Ancoats Recreation Committee in Manchester. See LeMire, ρ 287. 1 According to the Kelmscott Visitor's Book, Rowley was at the Manor from July 8 to 10, 1893 4 In his 1893 Diary Morris makes note (April 27 entry) of the drought "no ram at K[elmscott] for 6 weeks " MS: 1

2139 · To WILFRID SCAWEN BLUNT

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith June 13 [1893]

My dear Blunt1 Very many thanks for your kind offer; but I do not thmk that I care enough about the Daphnis & Chloe to take it as a present, though I may

1893 /

LETTER 2139

think it my duty to buy it. 2 Give me one of the 'Stealing of the Mare' & Sanderson can bind it for a guinea (as he has done some little books for me) and I shall be very pleased to have such a good book which will then be a memento of your bringing it out. 3 I was glad to see a pretty good notice of the said book in last weeks Athenaeum;4 perhaps that will move it on a bit. You see the critics are shy of such books for fear of displaying their ignorance too openly. Yours very truly William Morris MS: V&A. 1 See Volume II, letter no 1069, η 1. 2 The edition of Daphnts and Chloe Morris diplomatically declines here cannot be named with certainty Possibly Blunt had wanted to give him a copy of one illustrated by Shannon and Ricketts (see Volume III, letter no 1979, η 2), a limited edition published by the Ballantyne Press in 1893. The text, a second century A.D Greek Pastoral romance, had been translated in 1630 by George Thornley (b. 1614) (Of interest is that Ricketts re­ garded Thornley's translation as his and Shannon's discovery, see Rickettss letter to Cecil Lewis, December 24, 1920, in Self Portrait Taken From the Letters and Journals of Charles Ricketts, RA., comp. T. Sturge Moore, ed. Cecil Lewis [London: Peter Davies, 1939], p. 324) 3 Morris refers to Blunt's The Celebrated Romance of the Stealing of the Mare (London. Reeves and Turner, 1892) An Arabic classic by Abu Obeyd (about whom little is known), it had been translated by Lady Anne Blunt (see Volume II, letter no. 1069, η 1) and then done into verse by W. S. Blunt That Morris explicitly says he will himself get The Stealing of the Mare bound, and inexpensively, suggests that Blunt, in offering him a copy of Daphnis and Chloe (see note 2 above), had said he would have it bound It is not carrying conjecture too far to suggest Morris's tactful but firm rejection of an expensive gift, coupled with mild flattery of Blunt's pretensions as a poet, reflect complex feelings about the man who was Jane Morris's lover and with whom Morris chose not to break It is also worth noting that in December 1892, when Jane Morris was in Bordighera, Blunt had sent her a copy of Stealing of the Mare (see JM to WSB, ρ 77) Whether she left the book in Italy (which seems unlikely), or Morris was unaware there was already a copy at Kelmscott House, or he was suggesting to Blunt to make him a gift of the same book Jane had received, is unknown. But to complicate further the background of Blunt's wanting to give Morris a gift and Morris's response, it is worth noting that Blunt, on or near the very day of writing to Morris, had sent Jane an acrostic Copied into Blunt's Diary for June 9, 1893, with the note "I had written an acrostic for Mrs. Morris and sent it to her" (JM to WSB, p. 80), the poem reads. Jacinths and jessamines and jonquils sweet All odorous pale flowers from orient lands, (No vain red roses) strew I at thy feet, Emblems of grief and thee, with reverent hands Mine is no madrigal of passionate joy Or orison or aught less chaste than tears Ruth on thy brow sits fairest. Its annoy Rends not thy beauty's raiment, nor the years In thy shut lips, what secrets! Who am I Should seek a sign at that sad sanctuary?

LETTERS OF WILLIAM MORRIS 4 Blunt's book had been reviewed in The Athenaeum, June 10, 1893, pp 730—31 The notice, unsigned, begins "To Lady Anne Blunt and her capable collaborator not only do Orientalists, but all lovers of literature owe a debt of gratitude," and after describing the book concludes "[W]e repeat our warm acknowledgments to those who have become responsible for the present [translation], and heartily congratulate them on work so success­ fully performed "

2140 · To CHARLES WILLIAM BOASE

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith June 15 [1893]

Dear Mr. Boase1 Thank you very much for so kindly thinking of me. I recogmsc the interest of your industrious book, especially (for you know I am mediaevalist by nature) in the early part of it. 2 Did you take any interest m the subject of St. Mary's Spire' 3 The vote was a queer one I thought; and I must say, though I thought it my duty to vote for the Buckler arrangement of the pinnacles as being the most conservative, I also thought Mr. Jackson rather hardly used by the anom­ aly of first approving of his scheme & then throwing it out. I should also say that I think he realizes the value of the Statues, (if) and would like to keep them if he thinks he can. 4 So I end my letter (with) by asking you to do your part in trying to preserve them. I feel quite sure that they can be preserved if people are not too squeamish about the necessary means being quite obvious: I was going to say disfigurements, but I should not feel them so: a necessary patching up or banding has even a sort of value, as showing that the(y) statues are old, and valuable in themselves.5 Excuse me for troubling you with this, but I am very anxious about these fine relics of historic art. I am Dear Mr. Boase Yours very truly William Morris MS BL, Add MSS 35073 1 Charles William Boase (1828-1895), an Oxford historian Receiving his B A from Ex­ eter College in 1850, he was elected a fellow of the College the same year From 1859 to 1869 he was lecturer in Hebrew, and from 1884 to 1894 university lecturer in modern his­ tory In 1875, he published, with G W Kitchin (1827-1912), a translation of Leopold von Ranke's History of England Boase was also the compiler and editor of several works relating to Oxford, notably the Register of Oxford University, 1449-63, 1505-71 (1893-1894) 2 I have been unable to identify the book to which Morris refers

1893 / LETTER 2141 See letter no 2137 and notes Morris presumably refers to his private conversation with Jackson, reported to Webb in his letter of June 6, 1893 (see letter no 2137) 5 Morris was ignoring Jackson s view, expressed months earlier, that much of the original carving in the statues was already gone In his letter to The Times, January 5, 1893, Jackson had written (p 7) "Even now [the S P A B ] has only imperfectly fathomed its error for though only two of the statues may have been entirely renewed, all the others had new heads, hands, and other parts put on 40 years ago, and the trunks which remain are in many places modelled up in Roman cement " 3 4

2141 · To BERNARD QUARITCH

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith June 18, 1893

Dear Mr. Quantch Thank you for your letter. You are mistaken m supposing that there is any change in Mr. Sparling's position in regard to the Kelmscott Press.' It is true that I shall probably publish the Sidoma myself,2 as I have done with the Godfrey;3 but I do not suppose I shall generally publish (my) the Kelmseott Press books myself4 As to your offer, it takes me rather by surprise; and it seems to me that the books are rather too big a lot for me to deal with: however I will consider it and let you know my decision soon. By the way I think there is a mistake as to the cost price of the Golden Legend, which I think was about £2.12.6 and not £3.3.05 I am Dear Mr. Quantch Yours truly William Morris Quantch Quantch seems to have thought Sparling was no longer secretary of the Press Why he should have thought so is unclear Even if he had heard rumors of marital discord between May and Sparling, he is unlikely to have presumed to draw conclusions, in writing to Morris, about how Sparlings domestic troubles would affect his position, there was no formal separation until May 1894, and Sparling did not leave the Press until July of that year Possibly Quaritch had heard Sparling was in France in May 1893 (see Shaw, Diaries, II, 936—37), but since he seems to have returned before the end of that month (see 11, 939), it is unlikely the brief absence was the source of any rumor Quaritch may have heard and inquired about in June 2 Stdonia the Sorceress (see letter no 2084, notes 2 and 3) 3 Godefrey of Boloyne (see letter no 2099, η 2) 4 Whatever the reason's for Morris's minimizing here the import of his having begun himself to publish Kelmscott Press books, the developments after the date of this letter were these of the twenty-seven books still to be finished at the Press during his lifetime, Morris

MS

1

LETTERS OF WILLIAM MORRIS was the publisher of twenty-one (including one printed before he died but not issued until November 2, 1896) Quaritch was the publisher of none 5 Morris presumably refers to the price per copy that he as printer charged Quantch (the five hundred paper copies of The Golden Legend published by Quaritch [see Volume III, letter no 1750, η 1], were sold for five guineas each)

2142 · To HENRY GEORGE WOODS

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith June 20 [1893]

Dear Dr. Woods 1 Since I learn with pleasure that you are on the delegacy about St. Mary's spire 2 I venture to write to you a last word on the statues. They are so very good (I mean of course the mediaeval ones) that it would be a great disaster if they were not retained in their places. 3 Mr. Jackson who I suppose (and hope) will still be the architect of St Marys, quite under­ stands how valuable they are, but thinks that it will be found difficult if not impossible to keep them, all but 3 or 4. This of course you know from his report, I only mention it because I believe he really wishes to keep them, & I gathered from my conversation with him that he rather shrinks from going to all lengths m banding & patching them, which may be necessary m some cases. For my part I think that nothing of this kind would be so bad as losing the statues, or any (oth) of them, and I thmk if the Delegacy could be brought to see it from that point of view & were to recommend the architect to take all possible steps m the way of mend­ ing and tying up, he would accept the position & find his hands strength­ ened to do his best in that direction. Knowing the rational interest you take in art I have troubled you with this letter, and am sure that you will understand that I have thought it an absolute duty to do all I could to get a feeling awakened about the presevation of the only genuine remains of St Marys Spire. I am Dear Dr Woods Yours very truly William Morris Bodleian The Rev Henry George Woods, at this time president of Trinity College, Oxford, he was a member of the S PA B with whom Morris had been associated in 1881 in the protest against widening Magdalen Bridge (see Volume II, letter no 739 and notes) 2 For the delegacy to which Woods had been appointed, see The Times, June 10, 1893, ρ 7, see also letter no 2137, η 8 3 In the event, only one was kept in place See letter no 2137, η 9 MS

1

1893 / LETTER 2143

2143 · To J. &J. LEIGHTON [WALTER JAMES LEIGHTON?]

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith June 21 [1893]

Dear Sir Re Auchenlick1 sale: the Meidenbachs2 (is) are to be sold on Sat­ urday, and I should like to have one or other of them if they would make up my copy handsomely. Mine lacks S2 3, 4, 5.3 (there are only 6 leaves, when perfect, in S.) It measures 11½ inches top, & tail. It is coloured throughout in rather good old colouring: if the cheaper copy is good enough for my needs I may as well have that. I am afraid that I shall not be able to get down to Sothebys before Friday afternoon: so if you don't hear from me about the sale, I must leave the price to you. But as I gave only £12 for my copy, which was supposed to be perfect, I should £5 or £6 would be the outside of what I ought to spend on the making up. The numbers of the books are 488 & 489—4 4755 might suit me but I cannot put a price on it without seeing it: I suppose about £2.10.0 I should like to see 1416 but could not say anything (unl) unless I saw it. I shall try to get to you either on Thursday or Friday afternoon after 4 30. Yrs truly W Morris MS: Soc. Ant 1 The Auchinleck Sale was held at Sotheby's from June 23 through June 26, 1893. The books were from the library of Lord Auchinleck (Alexander Boswell, 1775-1822), poet and antiquarian, and the eldest son of James Boswell (1740-1795), the biographer of Johnson. A part of the library was put up for sale m 1893 by Auchinleck's granddaughter Julia (Boswell) Mounsey (d. 1905), heiress to the collection 2 Morris refers to two books in the sale (see note 1 above) printed by Jacob Meydenbach of Mainz (fl. 1491-1495) They were two copies of Johannes de Cuba's Hortus Samtatus (see note 4 below), the first book printed (1491) by Meydenbach. See Rush C. Hawkings, Annmary Brown Memorial Catalogue of Books (Oxford. Oxford Univ. Press, 1910), ρ 7 3 Presumably Morris wanted the book to supply the missing leaves (in signature S) in the copy he owned. An important book in the history of natural science, it contains more than a thousand woodcut illustrations of animals, plants, and precious stones. Morris's copy, now in the PML, is now complete 4 Lot 488 is described in the Catalogue (see note 1 above) as a copy of Hortus Samtatus, printed in 1491, with curious woodcuts and a small hole in the first three leaves. It was bought by the bookseller William Ridler for £6 15s Lot 489 was another imperfect copy of the Hortus Samtatus. It was bought by Leighton for £3, but rejected by Morris (see letter no 2145). 5 Lot 475 was a copy of De Propnetatibus Rerum by Bartholomaeus Anglicus (erroneously described by Sotheby's as Bartholomaeus de Glanville) printed at Cologne by Johann Koelhoff in 1483. It was bought by Ridler for 18 shillings. Whether Morris acquired this copy

LETTERS OF WILLIAM MORRIS is uncertain. The Sotheby Catalogue (1898) lists (lot 551) a copy of De Proprietatibus Rerum, printed in 1482, but no printer is given. 6 Lot 141 is described as a Latin Bible printed at Venice in 1483, with rubricated capitals, many of them illuminated. The book was bought by Quaritch for £24.

2144 · To [ELLIS AND ELVEY]

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith [June 24, 1893]

Dear Sirs I shall be in town on Monday (26) and could call on you about 12. It will not put one out in the least. 1 Yours truly William Morris MS: UCLA. 1 It is unclear why Morris wanted to visit Ellis and Elvey on June 26. About two weeks earlier he had purchased a book from them. Cockerell in his Diary (June 15, 1893) wrote "W.M. at S.P.A.B. & Gatti's. He had a superb little 13 c. Psalter (Liege) which he brought into New Gallery in the afternoon and had since bought from Ellis & Elvey." Possibly, though not likely, Morris planned to visit to make payment. More probably, he had been invited to look at another book for sale.

2145 · To J. &J. LEIGHTON [WALTER JAMES LEIGHTON?]

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith June 27 [1893]

Thanks: but the Ortus Sanitatis will not be of any use to me (though it is the right edition 1491) for the section S which I want 1 is mere rags in this copy. The Roxborough Book I consider a sell, being I see only a fragment. 2 WM MS: Bodleian. 1

See letter no. 2143 and n. 3. Morris may refer to lot 670 at the Auchinleck Sale. The fragment was of a book issued by the Roxburghe Club as a limited edition and was described in the catalogue as follows: "Six Books of Metamorphoses, in whyche ben conteyned the Fables of Ovyde, translated by W Caxton, dub binding, 1819." It was bought by Leighton for £4 IOs , and presumably sold by him to Morris: a book matching the description is listed (lot 887) in the Sotheby Catalogue (1898). For the Duke of Roxburghe and the Roxburghe Club, see Chve Bigham, The Roxeburghe Club: Its History and Its Members 1812—1927 (Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press, 1928). For the Auchinleck Sale, see letter no. 2143, n. 1. 2

1893 /

LETTER 2147

2146 · To WALTER CRANE

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith June 29 [1893?]

My dear Crane1 Bax asks me to send you on the enclosed; excuse me for being the go between of a piece of nuisance.2 I hope m a week or a little more to be able to show you a ρ of your Glittering Plain.3 Yours very truly William Morris MS Berger Coll.

See Volume I, letter no. 638, η 1 The enclosure has not survived. 3 Morris refers to the illustrated Kelmscott Press edition of The Glittering Plain (see Vol­ ume III, letter no. 1831, n. 1) Presumably Morris meant a page containing a drawing by Crane, a border designed by Morris, and text. 1

2

2147 · To REDMOND DENNIS LYONS

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith June 31, 18931

Dear Sir2 If you let the Patriotic Club3 to the Twentieth Century Press4 I will be responsible for £50 (fifty pounds) for one year's rent, if the said Press does not pay: but I {mus) will not be responsible for insurance, or rates and taxes or for anything else than the bare £50 Yours faithfully William Morris to Mr. R. D Lyons MS : BL, Add MSS . 45341 1 It is difficult to decide whether Morris's "June 31" signifies "June 30," making the "31" a slip of the pen; "July 1", or—conceivably—"July 31 " I have opted for July 1, but have made no change m the date as Morris wrote it. 2 Redmond Dennis Lyons, a member of the hosiery manufacturing firm of Hardcastle and Lyons, as well as of the Clerkenwell Vestry. In 1884 he had purchased the house on Clerkenwell Green to which Morris refers (see note 3 below) 3 Morris means the part of the building that had housed the London Patriotic Club from 1872 until 1892. Constructed in 1738 as a charity school for poor boys of Welsh parentage, the building had been subdivided in 1822 into Nos. 37 and 38 Clerkenwell Green, and subsequently into 37 and 37a The Patriotic Club, an organization devoted to the labor movement (and at one time affiliated with the S D.F.), occupied the premises at 37a Mor­ ris had lectured at the Patriotic Club at least once, was acquainted with several of its mem­ bers, and had wanted the Socialist League to make common cause with it at the time of the

LETTERS OF WILLIAM MORRIS Anti-Coercion Bill agitation, April 1887 (see Volume II, letter no 1214 and n. 1, and letter no. 1336 and n. 3). For the history of the house given here and in note 4 below, as well as other details, see Andrew Rothstein, A House on Clerkenwell Green (London Lawrence and Wishart, 1966) 4 The Twentieth Century Press had been established in 1891 by the Social Democratic Federation to take over the printing of Justice and to produce additional socialist as well as general publications The Press began at 44 Gray's Inn Road but by the middle of June 1893 Justice was being issued from 37a Clerkenwell Green The move had obviously taken place with Morris's help and constitutes another sign of how little his former disagreement with the S.D.F meant to him by the early 1890s Morris's support of the S.D.F in this matter also coincides in point of time with his desire to see issued a joint manifesto of socialist organizations (see letter no. 2159, η 2). It may be of further interest to note that Iskra (The Spark), edited by Lenin and distributed illegally in Czanst Russia, was printed at the Twentieth Century Press during 1902—1903. In 1933 "37a" became the Marx Memo­ rial Library and m 1967 the Library achieved charity status

2148 · To ARTHUR JOSEPH GASKIN

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith July 1, 1893

Dear Mr. Gaskin: I have just got your drawing & am much pleased with it. 1 Only two criticisms I make 1. the hem of Ursula's skirt looks a little stiff as if it wanted a 'nick' or two at the end r j ] °f these lines that indicate the leg: will you kindly think of this, j J ! 2 the foreground (benea) be­ low their feet, the bottom of the V ' / grass might be made a little darker; it has a tendency to let the picture run into the text at present. I think the action of the figures very good, and the background as good as can be; the general colour & decorative effect all than could be wished. Who is to cut it?2 Also which will be the next? (I)it would be conven­ ient for me if you would do the ones that belong to the end of the 2nd book; 3 ie those between Morfinns treachery & this. Having those I could get on with the printing a bit. I will send you this & the Morfinn one in a day or two: you can then do what alterations seem necessary to you in the latter, & we shall be getting on. Yours very truly William Morris P.S. I would make as little alteration in the Morfmn one as possible: chiefly Ralphs eye,4 & that bunch at the top of the bush which BurneJones noticed. I should like very much to see one of the small ones. 5

1893 / LETTER 2148

"The betrayal of Ralph," drawn by A. J. Gaskin.

Turner Coll. "Friends in need meet in the wild wood" (see letter no. 2126, n. 4). 2 Morris may be asking whether the responsibility for having it cut would be his or Gaskin's. Or, he may be asking which of the engravers employed by him Gaskin would prefer. In the event, Hooper did the cutting (see letter no. 2126, n. 2). 3 See letter no. 2126 and n. 3. 4 Morris refers to "The betrayal of Ralph," which shows Ralph and Morfinn arriving at the Lord of Utterbol's Camp (Book II, chapter 32). See illustration, above. 5 Originally Morris had asked Gaskin to do only four large drawings (see letter no. 2126 and notes 2—4). This is the first reference in the letters to further drawings, many of them in fact to be small. MS: 1

LETTERS OF WILLIAM MORRIS 2149 · To CHARLES MARCH GERE

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith July 1, 1893

Dear Mr. Ge(e)re Your designs came duly to hand yesterday, and I have been looking at them very carefully. 1 I have liked so(m) many of your designs that I am the freer to criticise these, and I am sorry to say that I do not think that you have done yourselfjustice in them. I do not think that the execution is happy; in the lighter ones the line lacks richness & fullness which does not mean necessarily that the line is too thm; but that it is the wrong kind of line. In the darker one the execution is also wrong; but though I could show you why, it is difficult to explain m a letter; as indeed is mostly the case as to the execution. I am aware that if you cut the 'Ambush' you could set this right more or less; but it seems to me that it is already drawn for cutting which is not quite right. 2 As to the designs as designs, I could point out some pieces of drawing which want setting right; there would be no difficulty about that. But there is to my mind a (general) something lacking in them which is wider & deeper. Three of them, the ambush, and the two pieces about the hawberk 3 are well planned, but scarcely well carried out; I find a want of interest in the whole picture, and of distinction m the drawing of the figures, which (the figures) I do not necessarily (com) expect to come up to my literary ideal, but which should have some strong character of their own; and this I do not see m them. Again if I were to see you I could point this out m detail, but I scarcely could do so m a letter. One thing about this occurs to me, (that) to wit how much the defective style of execution affects the designs as designs this again is a matter for conversation. Now I written plainly as to the qualities of (the) your drawings, as I am sure you will admit, I was bound to do, the question is what is to be done. I will ask you first if the small size of the pictures handicaps you? (I no­ ticed that the big one you sketched was by far the most satisfactory of the sketches.) Next if you would like to try again on that size Only we should not be able to have above 10 or 12 pictures in that case Anyhow I must ask you to look at the subject again, and to put some new life into the designs. Also please do not be discouraged at what I have been saying. I know very well that the subject is a very difficult one; and a designer cannot be expected to fall into such a subject at once. Also if I were you I would reconsider the whole of the execution. Your Kelmscott was very well drawn as to style of line 4 Your pictures in the Russian book were not so satisfactory in that way, although the designs were with one exception very good. 5

Frontispiece and first page for the Kelmscott Press edition of News from Nowhere, 1892, illustration by C M Gere

LETTERS OF WILLIAM MORRIS

One last remark I make as to the Wolfings, to wit; that the men must not be treated as lumpish or half-starved peasants, but as free warriors: and this is the point about them. I am sure you will understand that I am extremely sorry to be obliged to bring any adverse criticism to bear upon your drawings; and that I am obliged to criticize them narrowly, as I shall be responsible for them when the book comes out. Therewith best wishes I am Dear Mr. Gere Yours very truly William Morris Huntington For The House of the Wolfings 2 See letter no 2152 and η 2 3 By "two pieces about the hauberk" Morris probably refers to the drawing of WoodSun, the DwarfLord and the Hauberk (see letter no 2134 and η 2), and to a drawing he describes in his July 12 letter to Gere as being about the "rejection of the hauberk" (see letter no 2152 and η 1) 4 Morris refers to Gere's drawing for the frontispiece of the Kelmscott Press edition of News from Nowhere (see illustration, ρ 63) 5 See Volume III, letter no 2076 and notes 1 and 2 MS

1

2150 · To [CHARLES ROWLEY]

July 1 [1893]

You mean I suppose July 81 That would suit me very well. What train would you come by to Lechlade, your station? a train leaves Oxford at 4.25 pm gets to Lechlade at 5.30—this leaves London if you come thence at 1.35. an hours wait at Oxford. Please write to Kelmscott Lechlade as we go there Tuesday: & I will send to meet you on the Saturday. We shall be very glad to see you. Yrs W Moms Ms 1

Walthamstow See letter no 2138, η 3

1893 / LETTER 2152

2151 · To ARTHUR JOSEPH GASKIN

Kelmscott Leehlade July 3 (Monday) [1893]1

Dear Mr. Gaskin I am as you see in the country, & shall not be back till Saturday this week- I hope you will be able to call on me that day2 I shall be home by about 11.30 to 12 & should very much like to see your drawing Mr. Walker showed me a very pretty one of yours the other day· the line execution I thought particularly good.3 There was & I suppose still is an early suit of armour (say about 1460) in the Tower,4 made for a tall thm legged man the head piece is a 'salade' of fine shape / ^ This is the thing worth drawing best of all there. » | ' It is very beautiful here now, a great improvement on that cold time when you came this way.5 Hoping to see you (la) on Saturday: (Sunday will do as well) I am Yours very truly William Morris Turner Coll In 1893 July 3 fell on a Monday 2 Morns seems to be asking Gaskin to call at Kelmscott House on July 8, but see letter no 2153 and η 1 3 Walker was in charge of photographing Gaskin's drawing onto woodblocks before Hooper engraved them For a full description of the process, see Volume III, letter no 1912, η 1 4 There is only one fifteenth-century suit of armor m the Tower of London Numbered Class I, No I, it is in the "Gothic" style, and is dated c 1460 Although the legs are resto­ rations, it is a fact that most armors of quality were slender in the legs, presumably because the men who could afford them spent their time on horseback I am grateful to the late A R Dufty for the information given here 5 See letter no 2121, η 3 MS

1

2152 · To CHARLES MARCH GERE

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith July 12 [1893]

Dear Mr Gere Many thanks for your letter. I am sure that with the time and labour you talk of you will succeed m doing something quite good As to the redesigning the one (with) of the rejection of the hawberk, does not seem to me to want much to set it right as to design.1 Something seems wrong with the figure of the departing Thiodolf, though I find it difficult to say what it is except that there does not seem to be enough drawing in it

LETTERS OF WILLIAM MORRIS

1;¾ 1¾!¾:

"Hrosshild's tidings," drawn by C. M. Gere.

Indeed apart from the quality of line that seems to me to be the chief lack throughout these pieces. Again if the figure of the runner had more interest in it, and the people in the Hall were better there is nothing amiss with the plan of the design. Where they are looking at the Hawberk there is something too com­ monplace about the figures, the woman especially; her hand & arm lack drawing & expression, but the plan again is quite right & tells the story. In the Ambush, 2 Thiodolfs figure is unsatisfactory, and again verges on the commonplace. The action of his arm to take the horn is wrong The figures behind him want reconsideration as to details, and I think it would be better & tell the story better if you pretty much filled that corner up with figures. The distant Romans want more making out I think—The oak tree is very good indeed. Now, as to your suggestion, do as you please & I shall be very glad to see what you make of it. Here is another suggestion: You have made a sketch of the Dwarf &c. which seemed promising. 3 How would it be to go on with that?

1893 /

LETTER 2153

You would have to be careful to make the woman beautiful & the Dwarf strange, & to get the woman's drapery good and crisp & then I am sure that it would turn out well. IfI could see you I should be very glad & it would help us much. I shall be here till next Wednesday. If you cannot come here perhaps you might get over to me at Kelmscott after Wednesday, as I shall be there for more than a week. Yours very truly William Morris Huntington In Chapter XXVI, Thiodolf tells Wood-Sun he will no longer wear the magical hau­ berk because it separates him from the people, saving him and letting them perish Gere may have at one time sketched a drawing of Thiodolf, Wood-Sun and the hauberk, but no such drawing survives 2 Morris refers to "Hrosshild's tidings," the scene in Chapter XIV in which Hrosshild, a woman of the Wolfing tribe, brings to Otter (of a kindred tribe) news that the Romans are approaching (see CW, 14, 113-15). See also illustration, ρ 66 3 See letter no 2134, n. 2.

MS: 1

2153 · To ARTHUR JOSEPH GASKIN

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith July 13 [1893?]1

Dear Mr. Gaskin As I am doubtful whether I shall get to Kelmscott before Friday, would you mind coming here next Tuesday. I would not trouble you but look upon it as a matter of business that we should talk these things over thor­ oughly at this early stage.2 If you would send me a word telling me about what time I might look for you, I should be much obliged. I could put you up quite easily. Yours very truly W Morris Turner Coll If this letter was written in 1893 (as Morris's reference to "a matter of business . . . at this early stage" seems to indicate), then Morns appears to be modifying earlier plans to have Gaskin visit him in London on July 8 (see letter no. 2151 and η 2). In the event, Gaskin may have visited on Sunday, July 16, since Cockerells Diary for that date reads in part. "Saw Gaskin's drawings for the Well [see note 2 below]." 2 Presumably in connection with Gaskin's illustrations for The Well at the World's End (see letter no 2126, η 2) MS* 1

LETTERS OF WILLIAM MORRIS

2154 · To JENNY MORRIS

TheGrange 49 North End Road West Kensington, W July 13 [1893]

Dearest own Jenny Here I am as you see writing at The Grange, since I came to see Aunt Georgie & she has seduced me to stay to lunch since I have no anxious (fal) family awaiting me at home. May came m yesterday morning, & I went round with her to see the new curtain, 1 which I thought very beautiful. I spent the afternoon writ­ ing letters, seeing to the press, and writing a preface to the Utopia which I had intended to write at Kelmscott & had forgotten all about? I found 2 designs from Gaskin, small ones this time: I am sorry to say that I did not thmk they would quite do. 3 Walker came in the evening, which I was glad of as I was lazy & didn't want to work, and I went to bed early. Of course I went out in the garden; the ram has freshened it up a good deal so that except for a few patches the grass is green The hollyocks are all out & really look quite beautiful: there are many sunflowers out, some quite good ones; so that we beat Kelmscott in some things, darling. Not mostly though; I thought London looked very grimy & desolate when I first came home; all sorts of places which looked reasonably tolerable, looked bad & squalid when I came back to them. So you see I am all the more prepared to enjoy Kelmscott again when I come down to you, my own Child! It seems that they had very heavy rain here yesterday morning; in fact it was just going off with the last of a thunder-storm when I got to Ham­ mersmith. There was rain yesterday between 5 & 6 p.m and thunder & lightning with it. It rained also in the night; but how much I dont know. The wind got round to the N.W. last night, and now (nearly 1) the weather is getting quite fine. Well darling, I wont promise to write tomorrow as I shall be very busy. Toothster in early morning, 4 to Middleton S.K.M to lunch, 5 and m short general running about. Bless your dear bones likeways Mothers— give her my love. Your own old father WM MS BL, Add Mss 45340 1 Possibly a work by May Morris herself Since 1885 she had been in charge of the firm's embroidery workshops (see Volume II, letter no 1195 and η 1) One example of her work, the "Orchard" portiere, was especially popular, and five versions of it were produced by Morris and Co in 1893 (See B Morris, Embroidery, ρ 110 ) It may have been to one of these that Morris refers here

1893 /

LETTER 2155

2 Morris refers to his foreword for the Kelmscott Press edition of Sir Thomas More's Utopia. The book, an octavo in Chaucer type, was a reprint of the second edition (1556) of the translation by Ralph Robinson, and was edited by E S. Ellis. Dated August 4, it was issued on September 8, 1893, and was sold by Reeves and Turner. (See Cockerell, "List," pp. 154-55 ) Discussing the book, Peterson quotes (Bibhog , pp 44—45) a passage from Vallance (p. 400) that is apposite to Morris's foreword· "Of the 300 copies issued, 40 had been ordered m advance by an Eton master, with the intention of distributing them as prizes among the boys of the college, but when the work appeared with a compromisingly Socialistic introduction by Morris, the order, from motives of prudence, had to be cancelled." 3 Presumably for the Kelmscott Press edition of The Well at the World's End (see letter no. 2153, n. 1). 4 Probably a dentist. 5 At this date, J. H. Middleton (see Volume I, letter no. 194, η 1) was Art Director at the South Kensington Museum.

2155

· To WALTER CRANE

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith July 25 [1893]

My dear Crane Will you kindly give the bearer the book. I take this opportunity to ask you [as] Editor of the A & C. essays1 what you would like done about your things in them: would it be well do you think to run your 3 prefaces into one; or take from 2 & 3 what is general, as at present they refer to details of business.2 I am in your hands as to any alteration you wish to (pa) make in this or in your other papers3 Yrs very truly William Morris Syracuse Arts and Crafts Essays, by members of the Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society (London· Rivington, Percival and Co., 1893), with a preface by Wilham Morris, dated July 1893 Morris was the editor of the volume. 2 The three prefaces to which Morris refers were written by Crane for the ACES Cata­ logues 1888, 1889, and 1890, respectively In fact the three were combined, and the result, which served as the introduction to the Essays (see note 1 above), was titled "Of the Re­ vival of Design and Handicraft· With Notes on the Work of the Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society." 3 In addition to the introductory essay (see note 2 above) the volume contains two essays by Crane from the ACES Catalogue, 1888· "OfDecorative Painting and Design" and "Of Wall Papers." MS

1

LETTERS OF WILLIAM MORRIS

2156 · To BERNARD QUARITCH

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith July 29, 1893

Dear Mr. Quaritch Many thanks for cheques duly received (for £117.4 out of town, or would have sent receipt1 by return. Yours truly William Morris

I have been

(receipt on other side) Quaritch ' DatedJuly 29, 1893, the receipt reads "Received of Bernard Quaritch Esqe for vellum copies of Reynard the Fox £56 14 12 copies of Godefrey (paper) 60 10 William Mor­ ns " The signature is stamped (For the agreement between Morris and Quantch regarding Reynard, see Volume III, letter no 2068 and η 2 ) MS

2157 · To WALTER CRANE

Kelmscott House July 30 [1893]

My dear Crane I will send you the sizes1 in a day or two, I have been away or I would have done it before. As to the Society:2 of course I agree as to keeping our independence: but I think we might do so even if we were to rent the N.G. again3 And you see we may be driven to do so by lack of another place, as it is clear that possible places are not easy to get At the same time I should prefer much to try such a place as DeMorgans,4 which would mean a new de­ parture, which might grow into a kind of institute. And this all the more because I think it is far from certain that we should make a pecuniary success of the next N.G. Exhibition. I don't think we should; I believe the public, (the big public) are somewhat tired of our exhibitions there and that we ought now to address ourselves to the small and really interested public. But in case DeMorgan's place is not available what are we to do then? Perhaps we could get a house somewhere else. I have not got any new sheets of the lectures: so you must use the cata­ logue.5 I should be glad to have this matter settled or I shall be having Percival6 down on me Yours very truly William Morris MS

Syracuse

1893 / LETTER 2158 1 It is unclear what Morris means. Presumably he uses the word "sizes" to refer to di­ mensions Possibly he is discussing here the illustrations for The Glittering Plain and is prom­ ising to send the measurements of the spaces in which Crane's drawings were to appear. 2 The Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society. 3 In the event, the exhibit was held at the New Gallery (the Society had exhibited there in 1888, 1889, and 1890). 4 Morris refers to the showroom William De Morgan (see Volume I, letter no. 356, η 3) had established at 45 Great Marlborough Street in 1886, and was to maintain until 1898 5 Morris presumably refers to Crane's Prefaces, to ACES Catalogues, that were to be combined and condensed into an introductory piece for the 1893 Arts and Crafts Essays (see letter no. 2155 and notes 1 and 2) 6 See Volume III, letter no. 1809, η 2.

2158 · To CHARLES MARCH GERE

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith August 2 [1893]

Dear Mr. Geere I have been up in town for 3 days & have been so busy that I could not write even as brief a letter as I shall have to do now to you. To begin with I think the general design of the picture is good; tells its story well, & is decorative enough: I do (As to the 2) not altogether like the figure of the Lady, though it is graceful: it looks on the whole better in No 1 than in No 2. The face in either case has got to be done, & this might put the desirderated life into the figure. In both cases also there is I think something wrong about her head & shoulders, though the action of them (looking down into the hole) is good. The general action of the figure seems to me to want stiffening up. But I could tell you so much more about this when I saw you; as also about the dwarf, who is good on the whole. 1 As to No I. & No. II I am rather puzzled: the only thing I am sure of in judging between them is that you have altered the position of the Cave much for the better: on the other hand I prefer the descent and the corner of the picture in No 1; and I think the trees have more go in them. The execution is neater in No II; but I do not dislike that of number I. The line generally I think good. Altogether, if we could get the lady(s) better this would make a very satisfactory cut. I shall be at Kelmscott for more than a week now. Would you like to come over there to me? I could give you a bed & should be very pleased to see you.

LETTERS OF WILLIAM MORRIS

I send you the drawings back; but again should be inclined to recom­ mend you to2 I send on some of the Crane cuts: they are rough proofs on thin paper; but as I suppose you want them for the borders, perhaps they will answer your purpose: you can cut them about or do anything you like with them.3 Yours very truly William Morris MS: Huntington. 1 Morris is discussing the illustration for the scene in Chapter XXVI of The House of the Wolfings in which Wood-Sun visits the cave of the Dwarf Lord to obtain for Thiodolf the magic hauberk. Gere prepared two versions, the second after Morris had expressed dissatis­ faction with what he had seen (see letter no. 2151; see also illustration, p. 44). 2 The sentence is unfinished and there is a blank space following the word "to " The impression given is that Morris paused to decide how to complete his advice, then forgot, as he went on, that he had not completed it 3 The "cuts" were most likely proofs of Crane's drawings for The Glittering Plain. It is conceivable Morris sent them at Gere's request so that he might assess his own drawings within the borders Morris had designed for Crane's If this is what Gere wanted, and Mor­ ris's letter seems to suggest it was, the difficulty is to say why a proof of an empty frame was not sent Conceivably Gere tacitly understood he was to look at Crane's drawings to see what Morris liked and wanted in an illustration—though in the event Crane's drawings were no more satisfactory to Morris than Gere's (see Volume III, letter no. 1875, n. 3)

2159 · To EMERY WALKER

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith August 9 [1893]

My dear Walker1 I will go up to Kelmscott by the 7.50 train on Monday if that will suit you. Only you must dine with me Saturday: besides turning up other times. Re: the Joint Committee;2 What ever other people do; we, the H. people must be careful to make as little quarrel with either party as we can help: I think the Fabian executive have made a mistake;3 but I am bound to admit that the S.D.F. rather brought on the disruption: there are 'faults on both sides.'4 My own opinion is that we ought not to break up what is left of the Committee, but wait & see what can be done. Meantime one thing seems to me clear, to wit that if the Fabian & the S.D.F don't look out they will be giving themselves up to the I.L.P, & I should be rather in favour of making what advances are possible to them.5 However this is speculative, and we must not be rash about it. More and more at any rate I want to see a due Socialist party established.

1893 /

LETTER 2159

Then I see you Friday at 7.30 ρ m at any rate: of course under the circumstances I shall go into the meeting. Weather fine all going well. Yours affectionately William Morris Sent off Maud yesterday6 MS· 1

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See Volume II, letter no. 1001, n. 5 2 Morris refers to the Joint Committee of Socialist Bodies that was formed on his initia­ tive. It consisted of five delegates each from the Hammersmith Socialist Society, the Fabian Society, and the Social Democratic Federation. The first meeting was held on February 23, 1893, and Morris was elected chairman for three months. W. H. Utley (Fabian) and James Edward Dobson (S.DF) were appointed joint secretaries, and Sidney Olivier (Fabian) treasurer. Morris, Hyndman, and Shaw undertook to draft a Joint Manifesto, which was completed that spring and published on May 1. (For Utley see Volume II, letters no. 1370, n. 4; and no. 1492, n. 3, Olivier, Volume II, letter no. 1303, η 1; and Hyndman, Volume II, 904, n. 1.) 3 Almost immediately Hyndman and the Fabians disagreed about policy (see note 4 below), and in July the Fabian Society withdrew its delegates See Fabian News, III, 3 (May 1893), pp. 9-10; III, 5, p. 18; and III, 6, p. 21 (the last gives reasons for the Fabian Society's withdrawal from the Committee ) 4 It is not clear what faults Morris ascribed to each side. In a letter to Graham Wallas, dated July 20, 1893, Shaw reported a meeting at which Morris opposed several moves by Hyndman to gain the Committee's support for an S.D.F. candidate (Η. B. Rogers) standing for the London County Council (Laurence, I, 398—99). Morris's reservations about the Fabians conceivably had to do with their stand on the issue before everyone: whether or not to support the International Labour Party. The S.D.F. had been on record the previous year as refusing to help the I.L.P., whereas the Fabians had favored it. In this matter, Mor­ ris's inclinations were probably sympathetic to the S.D.F.'s position (see note 5 below). 5 Morris's awkward syntax and unclear pronoun reference in this sentence make it im­ possible to be certain what it is he favors. My own reading is that he is saying he would be in favor of the H.S S "making advances" to the Fabians and the S.DF. (the antecedent, in this reading, of "them") to avoid the danger of both organizations being absorbed by the I.L.P. It is conceivable, however, that "them" refers to the I.L.P., but if it does, the warning to the Fabians and the S.D.F. becomes exceedingly cryptic. A possible gloss would be that Morris wants the two organizations to negotiate with the I.L.P. rather than capitulate to it 6 Morris is saying he sent his design for the title page of Maud, presumably photographed onto wood by Walker at this point, to Keates for engraving (see letter no. 2164 and n. 3). By August 11, Morris had finished printing Maud and was waiting only for the title page to be completed.

LETTERS OF WILLIAM MORRIS

2160 ·

To CHISWICK PRESS [CHARLES THOMASJACOBI?]

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith August 12 [1893]

Dear Sir Preliminary Worlds End.1 HalfTide The Well at the Worlds End Title (as over)2 Table of Chapters according to Books.3 I suppose you will repeat all this in 2nd vol.4 I shall soon be able to send you copy for the next vol of Saga Library.5 With thanks for your note I am Yours truly William Moms MS Bodleian 1 Morris is describing his design for the half-title and title pages of The Well at the World's End, being printed at the Chiswick Press for publication by Reeves and Turner, the sheets were to be used also for setting the text of a Kelmscott Press edition For the history of the preparation and publication of The Well, see Volume III, letter no 2081, η 1 2 Enclosed with this letter was a rough sketch and directions for the title page (see illus­ tration ρ 75) Peterson notes (History, pp 210—11) that there are no surviving designs by Morris for page layout, possibly because he distrusted highly detailed designs that might inhibit a craftsperson, preferring to deliver instructions to the compositor orally Citing this rough sketch as the single partial exception, Peterson adds (p 211) "[B]ut it is not very instructive and is merely patterned after the title-page of the Reeves and Turner Poems by the Way [see Volume III, letter no 1860, η 2] " 3 Morris is requesting that the chapters in Vol 1 of The Well be listed in the Table of Contents under Books I and II They were, m the event, arranged as Morris wished 4 The format was continued Vol 2 contains Books III and IV, with the chapters ar­ ranged under these Book headings (see note 3 above) 5 Vol 4 of The Saga Library, that is, the second of the Heimskringla

2161 ·

To ARTHUR JOSEPH GASKIN

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith August 12, 1893

Dear Mr. Gaskin I have spoken to Mr. Burne-Jones about that matter & he would be very pleased if you would try the translation of one of his designs 1 Sc So I will tell Mr. Walker to send you a photo, of one of them.

1893 I LETTER 2161

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