BUILDING AND TRAVERSING A POCKET CATHEDRAL: AN INTERDISCIPLINARY READING OF WILLIAM MORRIS’S WOOD BEYOND THE WORLD by LAURA GOLOBISH (Under the Direction of Nell Andrew) ABSTRACT In 1894, Edward Burne-Jones, an illustrator who often worked with William Morris, compared the Kelmscott Press’s edition of The Works of Geoffrey Chaucer to a “pocket cathedral.” A cathedral is an ornate architectural space, and the Chaucer is extensively illustrated. While no single book is completely representative of the press, most Kelmscott books were minimally illustrated. In “The Ideal Book,” Morris supports books that have an “architectural arrangement.” This refers to a holistic composition in which all elements function harmoniously, and permit easy legibility. This is a structural description that can be achieved even if the book lacks ornamentation. This means that volumes other than the Chaucer are suitable for analysis as architecture. I will demonstrate how the Kelmscott Press’s edition of Morris’s The Wood Beyond the World, with its single illustration, draws the reader into a holistic and transformative space that functions like a cathedral. INDEX WORDS: “pocket cathedral;” Kelmscott Press; William Morris; Edward Burne- Jones; Arts and Crafts Movement; Wood Beyond the World; Works of Geoffrey Chaucer; architecture; structure; home; Emery Walker; Pre- Raphaelite Brotherhood; typography; moveable type; Nicolaus Jenson; Old Style type; Giambattista Bodoni; Modern type; blackletter; Gothic type; printing; book; decorative book; John Ruskin; A.W.N. Pugin; Gothic Revival; 19th century; decorative arts BUILDING AND TRAVERSING A POCKET CATHEDRAL: AN INTERDISCIPLINARY READING OF WILLIAM MORRIS’S WOOD BEYOND THE WORLD by LAURA GOLOBISH BA, Austin Peay State University, 2008 A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of The University of Georgia in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree MASTER OF ARTS ATHENS, GEORGIA 2010 © 2010 Laura Golobish All Rights Reserved BUILDING AND TRAVERSING A POCKET CATHEDRAL: AN INTERDISCIPLINARY READING OF WILLIAM MORRIS’S WOOD BEYOND THE WORLD by LAURA GOLOBISH Major Professor: Nell Andrew Committee: Asen Kirin Janice Simon Electronic Version Approved: Maureen Grasso Dean of the Graduate School The University of Georgia August 2010 iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This thesis would not have been possible without the support of several people. I am grateful to my mom for supporting me through all of my educational endeavors. I wish to express my sincere thanks to my advisor, Dr. Nell Andrew, for helping me develop the confidence to believe in my own work, helping me focus, and for reading and editing drafts at various stages of this project. Thank you, Brooke and Brian for helping me maintain my sanity outside of the academic environment. Last, but not least, I would like to thank the librarians in the University of Georgia’s Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Collection for allowing me to use copy of Wood Beyond the World from the original Kelmscott Press print edition. This project may not have been possible without access to such a valuable primary source. v TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS........................................................................................................... iv LIST OF FIGURES ....................................................................................................................... vi CHAPTER 1 Building and Traversing a Pocket Cathedral: an Interdisciplinary Reading of William Morris’s Wood Beyond the World .................................................................................1 Introduction..............................................................................................................1 Morris, the Arts and Crafts Movement, and Their Roots in the Gothic Revival.....5 Nineteenth Century Printing and the Revival of Gothic and Old Style Typography………................................................................................................10 The Decorative Book .............................................................................................15 Constructing Space and Building a Typographic Foundation…………………...21 Wood Beyond the World: an Interdisciplinary Reading………………………….29 Transhistorical Content and Dreams......................................................................43 Conclusion .............................................................................................................47 REFERENCES ..............................................................................................................................50 APPENDICES Figures ...............................................................................................................................56 vi LIST OF FIGURES Page Figure 1: Edward Burne-Jones. Wood Beyond the World, frontispiece. .......................................56 Figure 2: William Morris, Edward Burne-Jones and Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Chair from 17 Red Lion Square........................................................................................................................57 Figure 3: Type specimen sheets comparing Modern with Old Style.............................................58 Figure 4: William Morris, The Defense of Guenevere and Other Poems (1858), 2—3................59 Figure 5: Emery Walker, photograph of a page of Nicolaus Jenson’s Historiae Florentini populi (1476)…….........................................................................................................................60 Figure 6: William Morris, preliminary designs for Golden font ...................................................61 Figure 7: William Morris, preliminary designs for the Troy font .................................................62 Figure 8: Wood Beyond the World, 4—5 (spread with floriated border in the gutter) and detail of illuminated capital measuring 6 lines high ........................................................................63 Figure 9: Type specimen sheets comparing Old Style fonts with rotunda blackletter fonts. ........64 Figure 10: Sandro Botticelli. La Primavera ..................................................................................65 Figure 11: Wood, 6—7...................................................................................................................66 Figure 12: Wood, 8—9...................................................................................................................67 Figure 13: Wood, 12—13...............................................................................................................68 Figure 14: Wood, 20—21...............................................................................................................69 Figure 15: Wood, 22—23...............................................................................................................70 Figure 16: Wood, 25—26...............................................................................................................71 Figure 17: Wood, 28—29...............................................................................................................72 Figure 18: Wood, 48—49...............................................................................................................73 vii Figure 19: Wood, 50—51...............................................................................................................74 Figure 20: Wood, 52—53...............................................................................................................75 Figure 21: Wood, 55—57...............................................................................................................76 Figure 22: Wood 64—65................................................................................................................77 Figure 23: Wood, 82—83...............................................................................................................78 Figure 24: Wood, 92—93...............................................................................................................79 Figure 25: Wood 94—95 & 96—97…………………………………………………………..….80 Figure 26: Wood, 106—107……………………………………………………………...………82 Figure 27: Wood, 128—29.............................................................................................................83 Figure 28: Wood, 160—61.............................................................................................................84 Figure 29: Wood, 184—85 & 186—87..........................................................................................85 Figure 30: Wood, 188.....................................................................................................................86 Figure 31: Wood, 189—90.............................................................................................................87 Figure 32: Wood, 237.....................................................................................................................88 Figure 33: Wood, 238—39.............................................................................................................89 Figure 34: Wood, 240.....................................................................................................................90 Figure 35: Wood, 246.....................................................................................................................91 1 CHAPTER 1 Building and Traversing a Pocket Cathedral: an Interdisciplinary Reading of William Morris’s