Tale of King Coustans and of Over Sea

A new acquisition in Special Collections, this book was printed at the Kelmscott Press and soon after rebound in Ulwar, India by Qari Abdurrahman’s Sons who performed some of the finest bindings in India during the later decades of the 19^th century. This book shows an intriguing fusion of the English Arts and Crafts movement with Indian art and motifs. This is also reflected in Morris’s textile patterns, which take inspiration from South Asian textile techniques. Morris took inspiration from many global cultures, but this often occurred without credit or was mediated through the art and writing of other white, Western European men. In turn, this Indian binding might be seen as a reappropriation of the South Asian art traditions which Morris drew on. This book uses the Chaucer type.