MS 9

Inspiration for Morris’s use of large, intricate borders in his books can be seen in manuscripts like this one, Tufts University MS 9. The script, decoration, and binding for this Book of Hours were completed in North Holland while the miniatures were painted at Leiden. This manuscript is notable for its three historiated initials, crisp penwork initials, and intricately drawn floral borders detailed with gold leaf. Most of Kelmscott Press's books were not hand-decorated like this codex, but Morris still sought to bring a similar attention to detail and uniqueness into his own bookmaking practice at Kelmscott. 

Morris’s page layouts also mimic the manuscript in some ways; the margin size increases around the page, from the inner margin near the spine, to the top of the page, to the outer margin, to the bottom of the page.