Kelmscott Press

This section of the exhibit explores the books of Kelmscott Press found in Special Collections and their “claim to beauty.” Every aspect of these books reflects the intentionality of Morris’s book design: the typography, the woodcut illustrations by Edward Burne-Jones, the textile-inspired borders, the initials, and the page layouts, to name a few. The pursuit of beauty and harmony are at the heart of Morris’s project at the Kelmscott Press. With their creeping ornaments and elaborate borders, each page of Morris’s books takes on a life of its own.

Special Collections houses four books published by Kelmscott Press, each produced in extremely limited quantities. These include:

  • News From Nowhere (1892)
  • Syr Perecyvelle of Gales (1895)
  • A note by William Morris on his aims in founding the Kelmscott Press, together with a short description of the press (1898)
  • Tale of King Coustans and of Over Sea (1894)

Special Collections also has one leaf from Kelmscott Press's 1893 edition of Sidonia the Sorceress (by Wilhelm Meinhold, translated by Francesca Speranza, Lady Wilde) and a facsimile copy of the Kelmscott Chaucer.

Kelmscott Press