A COMPLETE COLLECTION OF THE KELMSCOTT PRESS BRUCE MARSHALL RARE BOOKS Bruce Marshall Rare Books Foyers,20 Gretton Road,Gotherington, Cheltenham,Glos.GL52 9QU,England,UK Tel:+44 (0)1242 672997 e-mail: [email protected] website:www.marshallrarebooks.com ALTHOUGH ALMOST ALL OF THE TITLES ARE BEAUTIFULLY PRINTED A COMPLETE COLLECTION OF THE BOOKS PUBLISHED BY THE AND ILLUSTRATED, IT IS THE KELMSCOTT CHAUCER THAT SET A NEW KELMSCOTT PRESS, INCLUDING ORIGINAL ART, DESIGNS, PROOFS AND BENCHMARK FOR BOOK DESIGN AT THE END OF THE 19TH CENTURY. EPHEMERA BY WILLIAM MORRIS, EDWARD BURNE JONES, ROBERT IT WAS ALSO THE LAST GREAT PROJECT OF MORRIS’S LIFE, BRINGING CATTERSON-SMITH AND OTHERS. EACH TITLE HOUSED IN A HALF TOGETHER TWO OF HIS PASSIONS. FIRST, HIS LOVE OF MEDIAEVAL VELLUM GILT CASE. LITERATURE, WHICH INSPIRED THE SUBJECTS AND STYLE OF MUCH THE KELMSCOTT PRESS WAS THE FINEST OF THE VICTORIAN OF HIS OWN WRITING. SECOND, HIS SOCIALIST PHILOSOPHY, WHICH PRINTING HOUSES WITH SOME OF THE MOST BEAUTIFUL DESIGNS LOOKED BACK TO A TIME BEFORE MECHANISATION AND DIVISION OF AND TYPE FACES DISPLAYED IN ANY PRINTED BOOK. LABOUR HAD DESTROYED, AS HE SAW IT, THE PERSONAL FULFILMENT AND SOCIAL FUNCTION OF MEANINGFUL WORK. WILLIAM MORRIS FOUNDED THE KELMSCOTT PRESS TOWARDS THE THE BOOK WAS EXCEPTIONAL IN ITS AMBITIOUS NUMBER OF END OF HIS LIFE IN 1891. HE WANTED TO REVIVE THE SKILLS OF ILLUSTRATIONS AND RICH DECORATIVE BORDERS. “IF WE LIVE TO HAND PRINTING, WHICH MECHANISATION HAD DESTROYED, AND FINISH IT,” BURNE-JONES WROTE, “IT WILL BE LIKE A POCKET RESTORE THE QUALITY ACHIEVED BY THE PIONEERS OF PRINTING IN CATHEDRAL – SO FULL OF DESIGN AND I THINK MORRIS THE THE 15TH CENTURY. GREATEST MASTER OF ORNAMENT IN THE WORLD.” WILLIAM MORRIS WAS BORN INTO A PROSPEROUS MIDDLE- MEANWHILE, EDWARD BURNE-JONES SPENT EVERY SUNDAY ON CLASS FAMILY IN WALTHAMSTOW, THEN A VILLAGE JUST OUTSIDE THE BOOK’S 87 ILLUSTRATIONS, WORKING LONG HOURS IN FEAR LONDON, IN 1834. HE WENT UP TO OXFORD UNIVERSITY TO THAT MORRIS MIGHT DIE BEFORE THE PROJECT WAS FINISHED. HIS STUDY THEOLOGY, BUT LOST HIS FAITH AND LEFT BEFORE TAKING PENCIL DRAWINGS WERE PAINTED OVER IN CHINESE WHITE AND HIS DEGREE. AT OXFORD, HOWEVER, HE MET EDWARD BURNE- INDIAN INK BY R. CATTERSON-SMITH, WHOSE INTERPRETIVE ROLE JONES, AND BOTH JOINED A GROUP OF YOUNG MEN WHO CALLED IS OFTEN OVERLOOKED. THE BLACK-AND-WHITE DESIGNS WERE THEN THEMSELVES THE PRE-RAPHAELITES AND CIRCLED AROUND THE TRANSFERRED TO WOODEN BLOCKS AND ENGRAVED BY WILLIAM CHARISMATIC FIGURE OF GABRIEL DANTE ROSSETTI, POET AND HARCOURT HOOPER. ON SEEING THE FIRST COPY, BURNE-JONES ARTIST. WROTE: “WHEN MORRIS AND I WERE LITTLE CHAPS AT OXFORD, IF FRUSTRATED BY THE DECLINING STANDARD OF PRINTED BOOK, SUCH A BOOK HAD COME OUT THEN WE SHOULD HAVE JUST GONE MORRIS SET UP HIS OWN PRESS “WITH THE HOPE OF PRODUCING OFF OUR HEADS, BUT WE HAVE MADE AT THE END OF OUR DAYS THE SOME WHICH WOULD HAVE A DEFINITE CLAIM TO BEAUTY.FOR HIS VERY THING WE WOULD HAVE MADE THEN IF WE COULD.” BURNE- BOOK MAKING HE LOOKED BACK TO THE EARLIEST DAYS OF PRINTING JONES PENNED A HUMOROUS CARTOON TO MARK THE OCCASION, IN THE 15TH CENTURY. AT THE BEGINNING OF 1891, PREMISES WERE SHOWING HIMSELF AND MORRIS EMBRACED BY THE GHOST OF FOUND AT 16 UPPER MALL, HAMMERSMITH. WILLIAM BOWDEN WAS CHAUCER, WHO PRONOUNCES A GRATEFUL BENEDICTION: “BLESS YE ENGAGED AS MASTER-PRINTER TO RUN THE PRACTICAL SIDE OF THE MY CHILDREN.” BUSINESS. MORRIS NAMED THE PRESS AFTER KELMSCOTT MANOR, INCLUDED IN THIS COLLECTION ARE SOME OF THE WORKING HIS BELOVED COUNTRY HOUSE IN WILTSHIRE. DESIGNS THAT CATTERSON-SMITH AND BURNE-JONES USED FOR THE CHAUCER, LOVE IS ENOUGH, SYR YSEMBRACE AND SIRE DEGREVAUNT. 1. MORRIS, WILLIAM. T S G P. W . MORRIS, WILLIAM. P W. W W H B A C L L M A M. T K P, U M, H, . U. W W M. T K P, U M, H, . O , ( ). . . ; . [] + . G B O , ( ). - ( ) P . . . ; . [] + . G B - . F- , ( ) P . ; - . O F- , . ; . P A . O ; . P A . THE WORK INCLUDES SOME NEW POEMS BY MORRIS AND SOME THAT APPEARED T K P IN MAGAZINES. .W C M ’ . BLUNT, WILFRID SCAWEN. T L-L S 4. RUSKIN, JOHN. THE NATURE OF GOTHIC. A CHAPTER OF THE P W S B L-S STONES OF VENICE. BY JOHN RUSKIN. THE KELMSCOTT PRESS, UPPER MALL, P S A N R T F T HAMMERSMITH, 1892. M S O E E. L MDCCCXCII. T K P, U M, H, . ONE OF 500 COPIES ON PAPER (NO VELLUM COPIES). 20.8 X 14.8 X 2.3 CM; PP. (4) + V + 128. GOLDEN TYPE ON BATCHELOR HAND-MADE PAPER. ONE FULL PAGE WOODCUT BORDER, AND NUMEROUS WOODCUT INITIALS. ORIGINAL FULL ONE OF 300 COPIES ON PAPER (NO VELLUM COPIES). 20.9 X 14.7 X 3 CM; PP. [4] STIFF VELLUM; TITLE GILT ON SPINE. PETERSON A4. + VIII + 252. GOLDEN TYPE ON BATCHELOR HAND-MADE PAPER WITH (THE FIRST THE NATURE OF GOTHIC...A CHAPTER FROM ‘THE STONES OF VENICE’... VERSION OF) THE PRIMROSE WATERMARK. TWO FULL-PAGE WOODCUT BORDERS, MORRIS, WHO WROTE THE PREFACE PRAISING THE BOOK, HAD BEEN GREATLY AND NUMEROUS WOODCUT INITIALS; SHOULDER-TITLES INITITALS, STANZA AND INSPIRED BY RUSKIN WHOSE WRITINGS INFLUENCED THE ARTS AND CRAFTS SONNET NUMBERS, AND SOME LINES IN RED. ORIGINAL FULL STIFF VELLUM, TITLE MOVEMENT BY ENCOURAGING THE REVIVAL OF GOTHIC ART AND ARCHITECTURE. GILT ON SPINE. PETERSON A3. BLUNT STYLED HIMSELF AS PROTEUS AND INTENDED TO INCLUDE A NEW POEM ‘NATALIA’S RESURRECTION’, BUT THIS WAS WITHDRAWN DUE TO A LETTER FROM MARGARET TALBOT CONCERNED ABOUT THE POEM AND HER HUSBAND DISCOVERING THROUGH THE POEM HER RELATIONSHIP WITH BLUNT. 5. MORRIS, WILLIAM. THE DEFENCE OF GUENEVERE, AND OTHER 6. MORRIS,WILLIAM. A DREAM OF JOHN BALL AND A KING’S LESSON. POEMS. BY WILLIAM MORRIS. THE KELMSCOTT PRESS, UPPER MALL, BY WILLIAM MORRIS. THE KELMSCOTT PRESS, UPPER MALL, HAMMERSMITH, HAMMERSMITH, 1892. 1892. ONE OF 300 COPIES ON PAPER, OF A TOTAL EDITION OF 310 (10 ON VELLUM). 21 ONE OF 300 COPIES ON PAPER, OF A TOTAL EDITION OF 311 (11 ON VELLUM). X 15 X 2 CM; PP. [4] + 172. GOLDEN TYPE ON BATCHELOR HAND-MADE PAPER 20.9 X 15.1 X 1.5 CM; PP. [8] + 124. GOLDEN TYPE ON BATCHELOR HAND-MADE WITH (THE FIRST VERSION OF) THE PRIMROSE WATERMARK. TWO FULL-PAGE PAPER WITH (THE FIRST VERSION OF) THE PRIMROSE WATERMARK. WOODCUT WOODCUT CORNER BORDERS, AND NUMEROUS WOODCUT INITIALS; SHOULDER- FRONTISPIECE (BY EDWARD BURNE-JONES) AND TITLE, THREE FULL-PAGE TITLES AND NOTES, SPEAKERS’ NAMES, AND SOME LINES IN RED. ORIGINAL FULL WOODCUT BORDERS, AND NUMEROUS WOODCUT INITIALS; SHOULDER-TITLES AND LIMP VELLUM; GOTHIC CALLIGRAPHIC TITLE ON SPINE. PETERSON A5. A FEW LINES IN RED. ORIGINAL FULL LIMP VELLUM, WITH RED SILK TIES; TITLE ‘THE DEFENCE OF GUENEVERE’, WAS INSPIRED BY ROBERT BROWNING’S GILT ON SPINE. PETERSON A6. PSYCHOLOGICAL DRAMATIC MONOLOGUES AND IS TOLD FROM THE PERSPECTIVE A DREAM OF JOHN BALL IS ABOUT THE GREAT REVOLT OF 1381, OF QUEEN GUENEVERE AS SHE RECOUNTS HER AFFAIR WITH SIR LAUNCELOT IN CONVENTIONALLY, BUT INCORRECTLY, CALLED “THE PEASANTS’ REVOLT”, SINCE A LONG SPEECH OF SELF-VINDICATION. ITS PROMINENCE WITHIN THE COLLECTION FEW OF THE PARTICIPANTS WERE ACTUAL PEASANTS. IT FEATURES THE REBEL LED TO MORRIS’S ONLY SURVIVING EASEL PAINTING, ‘LA BELLE ISEULT’. PRIEST JOHN BALL, WHO WAS ACCUSED OF BEING A LOLLARD. HE IS FAMED FOR HIS QUESTION “WHEN ADAM DELVED AND EVE SPAN, WHO WAS THEN THE GENTLEMAN? 7. VORAGINE, JACOBUS DE. THE GOLDEN LEGEND. [3 VOLS.] THE 8 LEFEVRE, RAOUL. THE RECUYELL OF THE HISTORYES OF TROYE. [3 KELMSCOTT PRESS, UPPER MALL, HAMMERSMITH, 1892. BOOKS IN 2 VOLS.] THE KELMSCOTT PRESS, UPPER MALL, HAMMERSMITH, 1892. ONE OF 500 COPIES ON PAPER (NO VELLUM COPIES). VOL. 1: 30.1 X 21.4 X 5.6 CM; PP. XIV + 470. VOL. 2: 30 X 21.5 X 4 CM; PP. [4] + 400. VOL. 3: 30 X ONE OF 300 COPIES ON PAPER, OF A TOTAL EDITION OF 305 (5 ON VELLUM). 21.5 X 4.7 CM; PP. [4] + 424. GOLDEN TYPE ON BATCHELOR HAND-MADE PAPER VOL. 1: 29.9 X 21.2 X 3.4 CM; PP. XVI + 296. VOL. 2: 29.8 X 21.5 X 4.3 CM; WITH THE PRIMROSE WATERMARK. TWO WOODCUT ILLUSTRATIONS (IN VOL. 1, BY PP. 428. TROY TYPE (TABLE OF CONTENTS AND GLOSSARY IN CHAUCER TYPE) ON EDWARD BURNE-JONES) AND TITLE, SIX FULL-PAGE WOODCUT BORDERS (IN VOL. BATCHELOR HAND-MADE PAPER WITH (THE SECOND VERSION OF) THE PRIMROSE 1), WOODCUT CORNER BORDERS, AND NUMEROUS WOODCUT INITIALS. ORIGINAL WATERMARK. WOODCUT TITLE, AND TWO FULL-PAGE WOODCUT BORDERS IN VOL. HOLLAND-BACKED BLUE PAPER BOARDS, TITLE PRINTED ON PAPER SPINE LABEL, 1, ONE IN VOL. 2; HALF, SIDE, AND CORNER WOODCUT BORDERS, AND NUMEROUS SPINES A LITTLE WORN, PETERSON A7. WOODCUT INITIALS; CHAPTER TITLES, ONE POEM, AND EXPLICITS OF THE FIRST ‘THE GOLDEN LEGEND, A MEDIAEVAL COLLECTION OF SAINTS LIVES, HELD GREAT TWO BOOKS IN RED. ORIGINAL FULL LIMP VELLUM, TITLE GILT ON SPINE. APPEAL FOR MORRIS. ELLIS WROTE ‘ AMONG THE BOOKS WHICH SERVE TO PETERSON A8. ILLUSTRATE THE RELIGIOUS LIFE AND MODE OF THOUGHT THAT PREVAILED IN ‘WRITTEN AT THE END OF THE MIDDLE AGES AND DEALING WITH CLASSICAL THE MIDDLE AGES, NONE HOLDS A MORE IMPORTANT PLACE THAN THE ‘LEGEND MYTHOLOGY, IT HAS IN IT NO TOKEN OF THE COMING ‘RENAISSANCE’ BUT IS AUREA.’ PETERSON PURELY MEDIAEVAL. IT IS THE LAST ISSUE OF THAT STORY OF TROY WHICH HAD SUCH A HOLD ON MEN’S IMAGINATIONS; THE STORY BUIT UP FROM RUMOUR OF THE CYCLIC POETS, OF THE HEROIC CITY OF TROY, DEFENDED BY PRIAM, WITH HIS GALLANT SONS, LED BY HECTOR....SURELY THIS IS WELL WORTH READING IF AS ONLY A PIECE OF UNDILUTED MEDIAEVALISM.’MORRIS.