William Morris

The Kelmscott Press had dominated the last five years of William Morris's life - 52 works, in 66 volumes, were produced, 16 of them being issued after his death in 1896. Morris planned and supervised the production through every detail, designing his own type, ornamental borders, and the layout of text, even the bindings which were made to his own specification. His work was to become the prime example of late nineteenth-century decorative art, and in 1893 he even assumed responsibility for the publishing of the more important of his press books.

Morris considered that 'the only work of art which surpasses a complete Medieval book is a complete Medieval building' (1), a tenet of considerable appeal to Lawrence, who in the production of his subscribers' edition of SP took full account of Morris's design maxims:

'. . . if we think the ornament is ornamentally a part of the book merely because it is printed with it, and bound up with it, we shall be much mistaken. The ornament must form as much a part of the page as the type itself, or it will miss its mark, and in order to succeed, and to be ornament, it must submit to certain limitations, and become architectural'. (2)

'. . . we only occasionally see one page of a book at a time; the two pages making an opening are really the unit of the book; and this was thoroughly understood by the old book producers. I think you will very seldom find a book, produced before the eighteenth century, and which has not been cut down by that enemy of books (and of the human race), the binder, in which this rule is not adhered to: that the binder edge (that which is bound in) must be the smallest member of the margins, the head margin must be larger than this, the fore larger still, and the tail largest of all. I assert that, to the eye of any man who knows what proportion is, this looks satisfactory; and that no other does so look.' (3)

'No definite rules, however, except the avoidance of "rivers" and excess of white, can be given for the spacing, which requires the constant exercise of judgement and taste on the part of the printer'. (4)

'Caslon's type is clear and neat, and fairly well designed . . . The design of the letters of this modern "old style"' [Morris was referring to the Caslon re-cut by Miller & Richard of Edinburgh in about 1850] 'leaves a good deal to be desired, and the whole effect is a little too grey, owing to the thinness of the letters. It must be remembered, however, that most modern printing is done by machinery on soft paper, and not by the hand press, and these somewhat wiry letters are suitable for the machine process, which would not do justice to letters of more generous design.' (5)

1	The Woodcuts of Gothic Books - a paper read before the Society of Arts, 26 January 1892, in May Morris, William Morris, Artist, Writer, Socialist, Vol 1, Blackwell, 1936, p 321
2	The Ideal Book - a paper read before the Bibliographical Society, 19 June 1893, p 317
3	The Ideal Book - a paper read before the Bibliographical Society, 19 June 1893, p 315
4	Arts and Crafts Essays - Printing, 1888, p 258
5	Arts and Crafts Essays - Printing, 1888, p 255

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