The Books Of William Morris

Winner of the Wolfson History Prize, the essential biography of the father of the Arts and Crafts movement. The author, Fiona MacCarthy, is the curator of the National Portrait Gallery's 2014-15 exhibition Anarchy and Beauty: William Morris and His Legacy.'One of the finest biographies ever published in this country' A. S. Byatt Since his death in 1896, William Morris has come to be regarded as one of the giants of the Victorian era. But his genius was so many-sided and so profound that its full extent has rarely been grasped. Many people may find it hard to believe that the greatest English designer of his time, possibly of all time, could also be internationally renowned as a founder of the socialist movement, and could have been ranked as a poet together with Tennyson and Browning.With penetrating insight, Fiona MacCarthy has managed to encompass all the different facets of Morris's complex character, shedding light on his immense creative powers as artist and designer of furniture, fabrics, wallpaper, stained glass, tapestry and books, and as a poet, novelist and translator; his psychology and his emotional life; his frenetic activities as polemicist and reformer; and his remarkable circle of friends, literary, artistic and political, including Dante Gabriel Rossetti and Edward Burne-Jones. Fiona MacCarthy's skilful drawing together of these disparate elements makes for a comprehensive and compelling biography.

There are 111 illustrations of bindings, title pages, type, and decorations, as well as a very extensive bibliography.

This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1982.

Michael Rosen argues that Morris' socialist poetry was part of a long tradition of protest writing and a signpost for future struggles. This volume includes work that has not been published since first appearing as propaganda in The Commonweal, the paper of Morris' Socialist League. It also includes the complete Chants for Socialists. Although poetry was a small part of his enormous written output, it is integral to understanding the level of commitment to change that William Morris felt. The poems also inspire and encourage those who want to create a better society.

A miniature edition of William Morris designs.

The popularity and influence of William Morris cannot be underestimated – a man of many talents, he was a poet, writer, social campaigner, artist, designer and, with his Kelmscott Press, a fine book printer and publisher. A hugely important figure of the Arts and Crafts movement, he is best known for his superior wallpaper and textile designs, intricately weaving together natural motifs in highly stylized two-dimensional patterns with medieval influences. Organized into five sections – Life, Inspiration & Influences, Media & Techniques, Politics & Society and Arts & Crafts – The World’s Greatest Art: William Morris enables the reader to consider Morris from different angles and contexts, providing a broader understanding of this great artist.