William Morris:

an annotated bibliography
1986-87
David and Sheila Latham
This bibliography is the fourth in~{:lllllelH of j bicllni:d fe:uure of The jourJldl. Some
items il13dverrenrly omirred from the 1984-85 bibliography 3fe :ldded here. Though
we exclude book reviews. we include reviews of exhibition!> ;b :1 record of rempor;tl
("vems. We give ('.\Ch original entry :1 brief ~lnnor.l[ion mc.lOt to dc!>cribe its suhjc('[
fJrher rh:m c\'alu:ltc its ~lrgumenr.
This re,lf we h;1\'(' .lrranged the bibliogr:lphr inlO "t."VC;'11 "ubic:cr c.Hl'gories. The
enrne!> in Part I include new editions. reprints, :ll1d lram-boons of Morri~::5 own
publications, .lIld are .ufanged :l1ph:lberic:lllr by title. The enrrie!> in Parr 11 include
hoob. p:ullphlers. 3nl...-lc5, exhibition l'.H:llogucs. ,lIld di<,<;errations on Mom . . _
arr~lIlged .tlphabc:ticallr br amhor within e,lCh of the following !lix c,ltl'goril'~:
Hibliographies
General
Lirerature
Decorative Arts
Book Design
Politics

10-13

14-33
34-64
65-94
95-100
101-109

The General caregory includes biographical surveys ~lIld mi~cdlaneol1sdetail~ as well

as studies that bridge twO or more subject!o.. Though we ~till believe rhat each of
Morris's inreresrs is besr lIndersrood in the context of his whole life's work, we hope
that the new format will save the imp::ttienr speci::tlist from having to browse through
descriptions of woven tapestries in search of critiques of '111e Haystack in the Floods'.

PART I: PUBLICATIONS BY MORRIS

I. Aims il1 FOlmdil1g the Kelmscoll Press. London: Cadenza, 1985. 14pp
A reprint uf the 1898 J.:.elmscoll edition.

2. The Collected Letters of William Morris. Vol. 2. Part A: 1881-1884. Part B:

1885-1888. Ed. Norman Kelvin. Princeron: Princeron U.P., 1987. 2 Vols. liii,
921pp.
The Introduction notes how Morris changed from optimism that political ideas
can influence public events to 'disillusiml about the people holding the ideas'.
Morris first defines politics as 'preachiflg the idea/'; but with the corruption of
language by the middle dass, he shifts his attention from the verbal to the visual,
from words to craftsma1lship, cOllduding that 'only when we are out of history
will the (vord become truth again'.
3. A Dream ofjohn Ball London: Journeyman Press, 1987. 80pp
A paperback reprint of the 1888 Reeves & Tumer edition.

4. Die Goldene Maid Ulld Andere Erziihlugen. Trans. Annerre Van Charpenrier.
Bergisch Gladbach: Bastei-Ltibbe, 1986. 189pp.
A Germo1l tra1lslation of stories from The Oxford and Cambridge Magazine.
5. Dos ldeale Buch: Aufsiitu und Vortriige Ober die K,mst Des Schoneren Bitches.
Ed. William S. Peterson. Trans. Norberr Selting. Gottingen: Steidle, 1986. 112pp.
A German translation ofThe Ideal Book (1982).
6. Ktmst Und Die Schonheit der Erde: Vier Vortiige Ober Asthetik. Trans. Jan
Piitzold. Berlin: Stattbuch Verlag, 1986. 157pp.
A German translation of 'Art and the Beauty of the Earth' and three other
lectures.
7. Die Quelle Am Ende Der \Velt. Trans, Annene Van Charpenrier. Bergisch
Gladbach: Bastei-Ltibbe, 1986. 583pp.
A German translation ofThe Well at the World's End.
8. The Story of the Glittering Plain; or, The Land of Living Men. London: Dover,
1987. 177pp.
A reprhlt of the 1894 Kelmscott edition with 23 woodcuts by Waiter Crane.
9. Useful Work Versus Useless Toil. London: Communist Parry of Britain MarxistLeninist, 1986. 28pp.
A reprint of the 1885 Socialist League edition.

PART n: PUBLICATIONS ON MORRJS

BIBLIOGRAPHIES
10. Colbeck, Norman. A Bookman's Catalogue: The Norman Colbeck Collection of
NineteenthCentury and Edwardian Poetry and Belles Le/tres in the Special
Collections of The University of British Columbia. Vancouver: U. British Columbia
P., 1987, vol.11, 578-89.
Colbeck gives detailed a1lnotations for 128 items by or about Morris.
11

11. Felsenstein, Frank. 'William Morris and the Brotherton Collection'. University
of Leeds Review, 28 (1985), 97-113.
The Brotherton Collection at the U"iversity of Leeds includes two incunabula
from Morris's library (with his book label illustrated), tl complete set of Kelmscott
Press volumes, an unpublished manuscript of his trmlslation (with Magmisson) of
'The Story of Olaf the Holy', and Alf Mattison's collection of Socialist pamphlets
and placards.
12. Latham, David and Sheila Latham. 'William Morris: An Annotated
Bibliography 1984-85'. The Journal of the William Morris Society, 7 (Autumn
1987) i-xxiv.
The 189 publications are divided i"to three categories: 11 publications by Morris,
171 publications on Morris, and 7 catalogues o( exhibitions.

13. Schulte, Edvige. 'Morris in Italian Today'. The journal o( the William Morris
SocietY,7 (Spring 1987), 29.
Schulte lists ten works by Morris translated into Italian between the years 1963
and 1985.

GENERAL
14. Dufty, A.R. 'A Benefactor to Kelmscott.' Antiquaries journal, 67, Pt. 2 (1987),
352-54, plate 29.
From his barge 011 the Seine in Paris, Ney Lannes MacMitm bequeathed to
Kelmscott Mallor his collection o( Morris books, letters, and Charles Fair(ax
Murray's death-bed pencil portrait o( Morris.
"15. Henderson, Philip, William Morris: His Li(e Work and Friends. London: Andre
Deursch, 1986. 400pp.
A paperback reprillt o( the 1967 Thames & Hudsoll edition,
16, Hughes, G. 'William Morris Gallery', Arts Review, 23 October 1987,706.
If this '(irst nationally important small museum to be threatened with closure' is
lost, then 'it may set a ghastly precedent (or other local authorities,'
17. Jonsdottir, Gudrull. 'May Morris and Miss Lobb in Iceland', The Journal o( the
William Morris Society, 7 (Autumn 1986), 17-20.
jonsdottir recalls May lodging at her (amily's manse, paiming Icelandic
landscapes in watercolours, and kindly sendi,zg gifts of English books,
18. Kirchhoff, Frederick. 'William Morris', Dictionary of Literary Biography, Vol.
58: Victorian Prose Writers After 1867. Detroit: Gale, 1987, 194-216.
This survey delineates the important stages in Morris's life. The lectures on art and
socialism - 'his most important literary work' - reveal him as a transitional figure
whose dialectical conception of history spiraJIing toward a new order requires the
communion between past and present.
111

19. LeMire, Eugene D. 'The "First" William Morris and the 39 Articles'. The

Joumal of the William Morris Society, 7 (Spring 1987), 9-14.

The effective enforcement of the University Reform Act of Ig54, prohibiting tests,
made it possible for Morris to graduate without either sigtling the 39 Articles or
officially re;ectitlg his religion by declaring himself 'extra Ecclesiam Anglicanam'.

20. Marsh, Jan. 'The Defence of Janey'. The Joumal of the William Morris Society,
7 (Autumn 1987), 18-22.
A loyal friend, an affectionate mother, alld a busy embroiderer who dabbled in
bookbinding and illuminated keepsakes, lalley may be the model in News from
Nowhere for the handsome. graceful homemaker who warmly welcomes the
arrival of the haymakers at the riverside.
21. Marsh, Jan. Jane and May MOrTis,' A Biographical Story 18391938. London
and New York: Pandora, 1986. 328pp.
An intellige1lt, self-educated lover of music and books, lane had a marriage that
survived two love affairs, used her illness to secure a leisurely lifestyle, and in her
old age helped May with details for a biography of Morris. May worked hard to
publish Morris's writings, corresponded with his friends and acquaintances 011
biographical matters, and defended Love Is Enough as the key to all of
Morris's work.
22. Miller, Susan Fisher. 'Hopes and Fears for the Tower; William Morris's Spirit at

Years' Ballylee.' Eire-Ireland, 21 (Summer 1986),43-56.

Morris provided Yeats with a 'reassuring model for an integrated life' in his Tower
at Ballylee where he eujoyed the 'i,Jtersection of visi01lary grandeur and
"popular" life'.
23. MoneH, Charles M. 'Edward Burne-Jones, WiIliam Morris, Dame Rossetti, and
Sir Thomas Malory's "Morre D'Arthur"" California State Library Foundation

Bulletin, 14 Uanuary 1986}, 9-13.

This sketch of Morris and his circle was delivered at the opening of the 1985
Califomia State Library exhibition celebrating the quincentennial of Caxton's
Morre D'Arthur.
24. Morris, Jane and Wilfrid Scawen Blunt. lane Morris to Wilfrid Scawen Blunt:

The Letters of Jane Morris to Wi/fred Scawen Blunt Together with Extracts from
Blunt's Diaries. Ed. Peter Faulkner. Exeter, Devon: U. of Exeter P., 1986. 146pp.
Jane's flattering letters appeal to Blunt's ego, encourage his visits. and reveal her
anxiety about Jenny's epilepsy, her own health, and political events in Ireland and
Egypt. Blunt's unexpurgated diaries infer an intimate relationship, describe a
sympathetic kiss, and state that Morris had no imerest ill women or in
nationalism.
25. 'Museum Protest: The Times, 27 October 1987, 2.
The Waltham Forest Council's proposal to close down the William Morris Gallery

iv

will be protested by art and social historians. This issue sparked a series of letters
to The Times dated 26 November p.13, 12 December p.9, 22 December p.9, alld
29 December p.9.

26. Ponzi, Frank. Icelalld a 19 Old. Nilletewth Celltury Icelalld: Artists alld
Odysseys. Reykjavik: Almanna Bokalelagio, 1986. 159pp.
Morris's 1871 and 1873 journeys are included in this study of the European
travellers who verbally and visually documented their impressions of Iceland.

27. Rubens, Godlrey. William Richard Lethaby: His Life alld Work 1857-1931.
London: Archirecrural Press, 1986, 79-80, 109-11, 233-4.
Lethaby was influenced by Morris's fusion of art with politics and theory with
practice, was hired by Morris and Co. to partially decorate Stanmore HaU. and
worked closely with Morris for the Society for the Protection of Ancient
Buildillgs.

28. Swenarton. Mark. 'Morris Under Siege.' Building Design, 13 November 1987,
36-39
The William Morris Gallery was established through dOllatiolls from Edward
Lloyd, Frallk Brallgwyll, A.H. Mackmurdo, alld J. W. Mackait, but is 1I0W
threatened with closure ironically by the Labour council.

29. Tanner Robin. Double Hamess: All Autobiography. London: Impacr Books,
1987,161-63.
Tanner's Morris-inspired philosophy, that since children 'catch standards from us'
their classrooms should 1I0t be ugly, supported the efforts of David Evalls to
develop a successful primary education program based on Morris and the Arts and
Crafts Movement.

30. Tanner, Robin. 'Whar William Morris Means to Me.' The ]oumal of the
William Morris Society, 7 (Aurumn 1987), 3-17.
This appreciation of Morris imagines his responses to the modern political and
ecological scene, with such comparisons as the original Merton Abbey chintzes
with the 'shallow and untrue' modern reprints.

31. Thisrlewood, David. 'A.]. Penry (1875-1937) and rhe Legacy 01 19rh-Cenrury
Architecture.' Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, 46 (December

1987),327-41.
Penty was an architect and social reformer whose medievalism and Guild Socialist
movement were inspired by his devotion to Morris.

32. Valiance, Aymer. The Life alld Work of William Morris. London: Srudio
Edirions, 1986. 462pp.
A reprillt of the 1897 G. Bell editioll.
33. Walsdorl, John. 'How to Build a Poor Man's William Morris Library.' AB:

Bookman's Weekly, 22 September 1986, 1017-22.

From his perspective as a collector of Morrisseana (or twenty years, Walsdorf
explains how to choose a subject, to research it in libraries, to hunt through
bookshops, and to study catalogues.

LITERATURE
34. Birch, Dinah. 'MOllis and Myth: A Romantic Heritage.' The Journal of the
William Morris Society, 7 (Autumn 1986),5-11.
The romantic myths of The Earthly Paradise, emphasizing courage, endurance,
valour, and reverence for nature, combine 'Years's dream of natural happiness
with a Keatsian melancholy.
J

35. Boos, Florence S. 'The SltUClUte of Mortis' Tales fOtthe Oxford and Cambridge
Magazine.' Victorian Periodicals Review, 20 (Spring 1987), 2-12.
Morris's sympathetic and detached development of the multiple narrators who
transcend death and change as well as their own narrative (rames, is exemplified
in the essay 'Shadow of Amiens', its fictional companion 'The Story of the
Unknown Church', and fA Dream', all early prose that 'hovers between fiction,
descriptive essay, and stylized autobiography'.
36. Bright, Michael. 'Metaphors of Revivalism.' Victorian Poetry, 24 (Autumn
1986),245-60.
Considering the poetry of Tennyson, Arnold, Morris, and Swinburne, Victorian
critics used metaphors of organic grafting, fashionable masquerading, and
industrial galvanizing for deciding whether an animated spirit could make the old
bones of classical and medieval literature live.
37. Chapman, Raymond. The Seme of the Past in Victorian Literature. London:
Groom Helm, 1986, 68, 142, 173-75.
Morris is the most realistic medievalist; his view of the past is contrasted with
Thackeray's and his view of the future is contrasted with fefferies' in After
London.

38. Coleman, Stephen. 'A Rejoinder to Barbara Gribble.' The Journal of the William
Morris Society, 7 (Autumn 1986), 36-39.
A rebuttal to Gribble's arguments IJWMS 6 [Summer 1985 J) that Morris regarded
Nowhere as a negative example of what socialism could be like documents the
value of books and education in Nowhere and concludes that'critics should not
attribute their own misgivings about socialism to William Morris'.

39. Cranny-Franeis, Anne. 'The Education of Desite: Late Nineteenth-Centuty

Utopian Fiction and Its Influence on Twentieth-Century Feminist Fantasy'. In The
Nameless Wood: Victorian Fantasists - Their Achievement and Influence:
Proceedings of the 2nd Annual Conference of the Inner Ring: the Mythopoeic
Literature Society of Australia. Ed. 1.S. Ryan. St. Lucia, Queensland: Mythopoeic

vi

Literature Society, 1986,282-95.

As a satiric. obverse' of contemporary Victorian society, News from Nowhere
scrutinizes reason and reality as arbitrary concepts, and thus anticipates Ursula Le
Cuin and Samuel De/any.
40. Dodds, Andrcw. 'A Structural Approach to The Wood Beyond the World.' The
Joumal of the William Morris Society, 7 (Spring 1987), 26-28.
Morris's story supports Lelli~Strauss's theory that myths reconcile contradictions
in human experience as the characters of Mistress, King's SOtt, Maiden, and
Golden \Valter pair orf in relationships that resolve the conflict between sexual
lust and spirituality.
41. Faldet, David Sreven. 'Visual Art and the Poetics of Rosserti, Morris, and Years.'
Diss. V. of Iowa, 1986.
Morris emphasized pattern in his poetry and was sensitive to the 'physical
presence of the artist',
42. Hodgson, Amanda. The Romances of William Morris. Cambridge: Cambridge
V.P., 1987. 219pp.
In his stories about the unattainable and the process of change from The Oxford
and Cambridge Magazine and The Earthly Paradise, Morris explores the i,,(luence
of the past and the problems of preserving fluid time by fixing it into art. Sigurd
and the prose romances show how Icelandic mythology, philological research,
and socialism made Morris realize that the antiquated form of the romance, with
its heroic quest, was the natural medium for his views.
43. Hunt, Stephen. 'An Icelandic Source for an Incident in Wllliam Morris's The
Glittering Plain.' Notes a>ld Queries, N.S. 33 Uune 1986), 172.
After referring the reader to G. W. Dasent's translation ofthe Icelandic Gisli Saga,
Morris directly borrows from the tale in his description of a brotherhood pact
ritual.

44. Keane, Robert N. 'Ut Pictura Poesis: Rossetti and Morris: Paintings into Poetry.'
The Journal of Pre-Raphae/ite Studies, 7 (May 1987),75-79.
Contrary to Horace, a comparison of Rossetti's paimings and Morris's poems
entitled 'The Blue Closet' and 'The Tune of Seven Towers' shows that Rossetti's
'artistic motives are not paraI/e/ ta Morris's purposes as a writer:
45. Kirchhoff, Frederick. 'Terrors of the Third Dimension: WiIliam Morris and the
Limits of Representation.' The ]oumal of Pre-Raphae/ite and Aesthetic Studies, 1
(Fall 1987),77-82.
The Earthly Paradise reveals not diffusion but the concentrated control of twodimensional art which frees the artist {ram a fixed relationship to his work; its
tales contrast mural omamentatiolJ with the three-dimensional statuary
associated with self-co'lscious obsession with a single image.
vii

46. Kirchhoff, Frederick. 'William Morris's Ami-Books: The Kelmscoct Press and
the Late Prose Romances.' In Forms of the Fantastic. Ed. Jan Hokenson and Howard
Pearce. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood, 1986, 93-100.
Resistant to conventional reading habits. Kelmscott Press books restore artistic
experience to the act of reading; resistant to the conventions of realism, the prose
romances foreground the distinction between the fictional and the real world.
47. Kirchhoff, Frederick. 'William Morris's Body: Schematizations of Self.'
Victorians Institutes]oumal, 14 (1986), 21-33.
A psychological reading of the body image in Morris's early and later work
illustrates, according to Palll Schilder's 'body schema' theory. the difficulty which
Morris had il1 conceptualizing the human body and human sexuality.
48. Kramer, Leonie. 'Utopia as Metaphor.' In Utopias: Papers from the Annual
Symposium of the Australian Academy of the Humanities. Ed. Eugene Kamenka.
Melbourne: Oxford V.P., 1987, 133-43.
Characterized by aestheticism, faith in the perfectibility of mall. and benign
anarchism, Morris's utopia is a Garden of Eden much 'like a modem
reconstruction ofan historical site - homogenized and sterilized'.
49. Latham, David. 'Paradise Lost: Morris's Re-Writing'. The Journal of PreRaphaelite and Aesthetic Studies, 1 (Fall 1987), 67-76.
A study of the chronology of the omitted tales of The Earthly Paradise and an
analysis of their revisions demonstrate the artist exploring the relationship
between personal vision and cultural tradition as the means to rediscover our lost
paradise.
50. Lewis, Miles. 'Architectural Utopias.' In Utopias: Papers from the Annual
Symposium of the Australian Academy of the Humanities. Ed. Eugene Kamenka.
Melbourne: Oxford V.P., 1987, 110-32.
Morris's utopia foJJows the historicizing influence of Pugin and in turn influenced
Frank Lloyd Wright's Usonian City.
51. Lewis, Roger C. 'News from Nowhere: Arcadia or Utopia?' The Journal of the
William Morris Society, 7 (Spring 1987), 15-25.
Avoiding both the satiric denial of the utopian genre and the elegiac evasion of the
arcadiall genre. Morris presents in News from Nowhere the constructive literary
vision fOrlnd in the Roma1ltic idyll as defined by Schiller.
52. Liberman, Michael. 'Major Textual Changes in William Morris's News from
Nowhere.' Nineteenth-Century Literature, 41 (December 1986), 349-56.
The revisions of News from owhere from its serialization in Commonweal to its
book form a year later address matters co,zceming physical labour, international
relations. Socialist factions. and the delay of the revolution by forty years.
53. Nielsen, Torben H\'iid. 'Udviklingens eller Moralens Realisme: Om Fremskridret
Vllt

i Edward Bellamys og William Morris' Socialuropier.' Arbog for Arbe;derbevaegelsens Historie (leeland), 16 (1986),57-82.
The approaches of Bellamy and Morris to morality and historic progress are
contrasted.
54. Philmus, Robert M. 'A Story of the Days to Come and News from Nowhere:
H.G. Wells as a Writet of Anti-Utopian Fiction.' English Literature in Transition,
1880-1920,30, No. 4 (1987), 450-55.
Days to Come is a dystopian 'IOvel which 'defines itself against' Morris's News
from Nowhere.
55. Rupperr, Peter. Reader ;', a Strange Land: The Activity of Reading Literary
Utopias. Athens, Ga.: U. of Georgia P., 1986, 76-7.
Morris's News from Nowhere is a dialectical reading of Bellamy's Looking
Backwatd: 2000-1887.
56. Seeber, Hans Ulrich. 'The English Pastoral in the Nineteenth Century.' REAL:
The Yearbook of Research in English and America" Literature, 4 (1986), 67-96.
While john Clare. \VilIiam Bames, and Alfred Te,myson use the pastoral tradition
to defend the social order mId local culture, Morris, in News from Nowhere, uses
it to attack the process of modernization.
57. Shaw, W. David. The Lucid Veil: Poetic Truth in the Victorian Age. London:
Athlone Press, 1987, 110, 170-74,277.
The re;ection of Platonic rmiversals allows Morris in 'The Chapel in Lyoness' and
'The Defence of Guenevere' to compose a two-dimensional pictorial pattern, 'a
way of saying everythi,zg about nothing.'
58. Silver, Ca role. ' "East of the Sun and West of the Moon": Victorians and Fairy
Books.' Tulsa Swdies in Women's Literature, 6 {Fall 1987),283-98.
Compared with Bronte's Jane Eyre, Morris made the fairy bride respectable in his
tale from The Earthly Paradise by presenting her as sexually passive and an
zmwilling deserter.
59. Skoblow,Jeffrey David. 'Forgetting and Remembering: William Morris and The
Earthly Paradise.' Diss. Johns Hopkins, 1986.
The Earthly Paradise at onu sustains the escapist conceit of the idle singer and
exposes his inevitable failure in a world more Victorian than medieval.
60. Sternberg, Ellen \VI. 'Verbal and Visual Seduction in "The Defence of
Guenevete".' The Jourl/al of Pre-Raphaelite Stl/dies, 6 (May 1986),45-52.
After reviewing Guenevere's logic, Sternberg analyzes her rheloric, elaborating on
jonathall Post's article (VP 17 [Winter 1979}) to show how Guellevere exploits
the beauty and passion of art to seduce her audience.
61. Sussman, Herberr. 'The Language of the Future in Victorian Science Fiction.' In
ix

Hard Science Fiction. Ed. George Slu~sen. Carbondale, Ill.: Southern Illinois V.P.,
1986,121-30.
As a work of science fiction, News from Nowhere fuses soft elements (the
romance and a metaphoric style) with hard elements (the necessity of political
<action in the hard world of human history'.)

62. T albot, Norman. 'Heroine as Hero: Morris's Case against Quest Romance in
The Water of the Wondrous Isles.' In The Nameless Wood: Victorian Fantasists Their Achievement and Influence: Proceedings of the 2nd Annual Conference of the
Inner Ring: the Mythopoeic Literature Society of Australia. Ed. J.S. Ryan. St. Lucia,
Queensland: Mythopoeic Literature Sociery, 1986, 65-81.
Birdalone's escape from the repressive Castle COflventions and French diction to a
natural life and northern diction represents Morris's feminist challenge to the
traditionally masculine quest-romance.
63. Timo, Helen A. "An Icelandic Tale Re-Told: William Morris's The Sundering
Flood." The Journal of the William Morris Society, 7 (Autumn 1986), 12-16.
The source for The Sundering Flood may have been J6n Thoroddsen's Icelandic
novel Piltur og Stulka (1850).
64. Travers, Josephine Koster. "The Deep Still Land of Colours'; Calor Imagery in
The Defence of Guenevere and Other Poems." Studies in Philosophy, 84 (Spring
1987),180-93.
While Morris did not intend to paint symbolic pictures, he manipulates the
reader's emotions with varying shades ofgold for spiritual matters, red for matters
of the heart, green for irony, destroyed hope, or betrayal, and grey for the absence
of spirit or emotion.

DECORATIVE ARTS
65. Anscombe, Isabelle. "The Search for Visual Democracy." Journal of Decorative
and Propaganda Arts, 4 (Spring 1987), 6-15.
The democratic design of Morris's Arts and Crafts movement encouraged social
reform.
66. Bayley, Stephen. "The New British Design: The Gallery Man." Blueprint, 28
Gune 1986), 30-l.
Reputed to be a founding father of British desig11, Morris is a cultural regurgitator
responsible "for Britain's a1lti-industrial, anti-urban culture," and is somehow
likened to salesmen who "tell you about their scuba holidays in Florida...
67. Boris, Eileen. Art and Labor: Ruskin, Morris, and the Craftsman Ideal In
America. Philadelphia: Temple V.P., 1986. 261 pp.
As the leading exponent of the Arts and Crafts movement which "promised to
maintain traditions of art until the time when true craftsmanship and social
production would be indistinguishable," Morris was the inspiration for similar
movements in the United States.

68. Burke, Diane Bolger et. al. In Pursuit of Beauty: Americans and the Aesthetic
Movement. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1986, 455-57.
A summary of Morris's achievements is followed by a list of a dozen nineteemhce11tury reviews, articles, and exhibition catalogues on 41orris's decorative arts.
69. Burrows, John. "William Morris: His Place in American design." Victorian
Homes, 5 (Spring 1986), 70-75.
Morris introduced his abstract, flat floral patterns when America was dominated
by the natural, succulent Rococo patterns of French designers; his work is now
recognized as adaptable to rustic country as well as austere modern furnishings.
70. Cooper, Jeremy. "Morris and Company," Victoria" & Edwardian Furniture &
Interiors: From Gothic Revival to Art Nouveau. London: Thames and Hudson,

1987,153-78.
With choice details and illustrations, Cooper surveys the Morris firm from its
early pedestrian designs to the later commercial compromises of George Jack and
the Smith brothers.

71. Darley, Gillian. "The Flowering 01 Ornament." Country Living (U.K.), 15

(March 1987),32-8.
This well-illustrated survey of the Arts and Crafts movement traces Morris's
influence as the founder whose presence co,ztinues today at Sanderson's and
Liberty's.

72. Davis, Marcie. "William Morris: Master Glazier." Stained Glass, 80 (Winter
1985),352-54.
The Morris firm strove for a purity of colour and lead-line, from Webb's thick
rods and crisp, methodical design to Burne~Jones's pictorial motion in long,
flowing li"es, all in collaboration with Morris as the splendid colourist.

73. Dulty, A. R. "Kelmscott: Exoticism and a Philip Webb Chair." Antiquaries

journal, 66, Pt. 1 (1986), 116-20, plates 22-26.
A chair designed by Webb was exhibited by the Morris firm at the 1862
Internati01lal Exhibition in the Medieval Court though it is an assimilation of
Egyptian and japanese styles.
74. Durant. Sruart. "The Arts and Crafts Movement." Ornament: From the
Industrial Revolution to Today. Woodstock. N.Y.: Overlook Press, 1986, 213-37.
Morris's thinking (not Ruskin's) dominated "the theory and practise of the Arts
and Crafts movement during its apogee, .. and influenced such designers as George
jack, W.R. Lethaby, and c.P.A. Voysey.

75. Faulkner, Peter. "A Morris and Company Weaver." The journal of the William
Morris Society, 7 (Spring 1987), 30-1.
Frederick Reed's fulfilling experience as a tapestry weaver at the damp Merton
Abbey from 1922 to 1938 is recalled and his Kingfisher tapestry is illustrated.
XI

76. George, ]. Anne and Susie Campbell. "The Role of Embroidery in Victorian
Culture and the Pre-Raphaelite Circle." The Journal of Pre-Raphaelite Studies, 7
(May 1987),55-67.
111 an age that considered embroidery as typifying feminine purity and docility,
Morris preferred men for the artistic work, Janey showed scant respect for the
medium or her tale,rt, while the enlightened May considered it a true artform
practised best by female artists.
77. Harvey, Charles and Jon Press. "William Morris and the Marketing of Art."
Bllsiness History (U.K.), 28 (Octobet 1986), 337-53.
Morris was <la businessman of great ability and merit" who understood his
markets and created the 'Iew business concept of the "complete interior
decorating service" using strategies, products, technologies, and managerial
behavior that were unorthodox but effective in terms of his ideals mrd goals.
78. lanes, Peter BlundeU. "Masters of Building: Red House." Architects' fournal, 15
Januaty 1986,36-56.
\Vebb's desig,rs for Red House (including those for the unconstructed wing) show
the influence of Pugin's "true prhlciples" of practical design, Ruskin's
"ideological impetus of the poetic kind," Street's Gothic revivalism, and
Butterfield's functional layout and roof plans.
79. Kaplan, Wendy. "The Art that is Life", The Arts & Crafts Movement in
America, 1875-1920. Boston: Museum of Fine ArtS, 1987.410 pp.
Catalogue of the March-May 1987 Boston exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts
credits Morris's far-reaching influence on American design with reference to
furniture, printing, and textiles.
80. Kritzwiswer, Kay. "Morris in Vancouver: Collector Profile." Canadian
Collector, 22 Uanuary-February 1987), 10-11.
Windows designed by Burne-fones and maybe Morris in 1894-5 for London's
Holy Trinity Church now enhance Vancouver's Christ Church Cathedral, while
other Morris & Co. windows designed in the 1930s are in Vancouver Memorial
Library.
81. Levy, Mervyn. The Liberty Style, The Classic Years: 1898-1910. New York:
Rizzoli, 1986. 160 pp.
The Liberty style evolved in reaction to the conflict between riotous aestheticism
and sentimental philistinism, between exotic English aestheticism and erotic
Fre,rch decadence.
82. Lanes, Wolfgang. "William Morris und die Erneuerung des Kunsthandwerks."
In Wie ein Goldener Traum: Die Rezeption des Mittelalters in der Kunst der
PraraffaeIiten. Munchen: W. Fink, 1984, 156-200.
Morris's revival of arts and crafts is discussed in relation to his precursors, his
training in architecture, and to his work as a painter, designer, and printer.
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83. Lynn, Catherine. "Reforming America." American Craft, 47 Uune-July 1987),

40-49,72,74.
Review of Kap/an's 1987 Boston exhibition of the Arts and Crafts movement;'1
America.
84. MacDonald t Sally and Michael Harrison. "For 'Swine of Discretion': Design for
Living: 1884." Museums Journal (December 1986), 123-29.
Objecting to palliative measures. and "aghast at the cost at' his own fumiture
productiotrs. Morris reluctantly assisted Manchester philanthropist Thomas
Horsfall in his efforts to i1z{luence the common workman's taste with an exhibit of
a decorated small house for the Manchester Art Museum.
85. Marsh, Jan. Pre-Raphaelite Women: Images of Feminity. New York: Harmony
Books, 1987, 99-106.
Morris's paint;'lgs and designs - including a sideboard (depicting St. George
rescuing a princess from a dragon), an easel painting ("La Belle Iseult"), and a
stai1,ed glass window ("The Recognition of Sir Tristram ") - typify the PreRaphaelite woman as weak and passive in contrast to valiant men.
86. Marsh, Jan. "William Morris's Painting and Drawing." Burlington Magazine,
128 (August 1986),569-75.
Morris's interest in painting lasted longer than once thought. Marsh pursues the
mysterious history of Morris's first oil, discovers from pencil studies that the
painted scenes on a settle at Red House are Morris's work, and proves with the
brachet on the bed and with lane's letters and labels, that the Tate's misnamed
"Queen Guinevere" is indeed "La Belle Iseult."
87. Morris, Barbara. Inspiration for Design: The Influence of the Victorian a"d
Albert. London: Victoria and Alben Museum, 1986,39-40,94106,117-22.
Topics discussed include Morris's use of the Museum's collections as a source of
inspiration for his textile designs, the decoration of the Green Dining Room. and
the revival of embroidery for domestic and church use.
88. Morris, Barbara. William Morris a"d the South Kensillgton Museum. Kelmscorr
Lecture 1985. London: William Morris Society, 1987. 23 pp.
While the Museum's textile collection inspired his own designs, Morris in him
developed the collection as all Art Referee (1884-96), alld personally contributed
mOTe to the designs fOT the Green Dining Room than has been acknowledged.
89. Nevins, Deborah. "Morris, Ruskin, and [he English Flower Garden. "Antiques,
129 Gune 1986), 1256-65.
With his garden at Red House, his stories and wallpaper designs. and his lechtre
"Making the Best of It," Morris helped to revive the popularity of the oldfashioned flower garden and, with Ruskin. helped to articulate the relationship
between landscape design and art.
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90. Parry, Linda. "William Morris's Early Church Embroideries." Embroidery, 37

(Autumn 1986), 90-l.

The embroideries that G.F. Bodley commissioned for St. Martill-on-the-Hill
church in Scarborough may be the first of Morris's commercial textiles. Includes
five illustrations.
91. Parry, Linda. Wil/iam Morris, Textilkunst. Trans. Jutea Fanurakis. Herford:

Busse Seewald, 1987. 191 pp.

A German translation of the 1983 Weidenfeld and Nicholson edition.
92. Ponder, Stephen. "The Morris and De Morgan Collections at Wighrwick

Manor." The Journal of the William Morris Society, 7 (Spring 1987),1-8.

Originally furnished with a mixture of antiques and Morris & Co. wallpapers,
furniture, and metalwork, Wightwick Manor now holds one of the largest existing
collections of Morris mId De Morgml art and memorabilia.

93. Ponder, Stephen. Wightwick Manor: The Morris and De Morgan Colleetiotls.
Wolverhampton: National Trust, n.d. 20 pp.
Introductions to Morris, De Morgan, and Wightwick Manor are followed by a
descriptive tour of the richly decorated rooms of the Manor.
94. Press, 10n and Charles Harvey. "William Morris, WaringtOn Taylor and the

Firm." The Journal of the William Morris Society, 7 (Autumn 1986), 41-44.
Contrary to popular opinion that Warington Taylor was responsible for the firm's
commercial success, Taylor had limited commercial knowledge and imagination,
while Morris, the competent businessman, "well understood the rules of capitalist
enterprise. "

BOOK DESIGN
95. Beckwith, Alice H.R.H. Victorian Bibliomania: The IIIumillated Book ill 19thCentury Britain. Providence: Rhode island School of Design, 1987. 83 pp.
Catalogue of the January-March 1987 Providence exhibition at the Rhode Island
School of Design includes illuminated ornament from Blake to Morris that affirms
the value of human work and chivalric values during the Industrial Revolution.
96. Franklin, Colin. Priming and the Mind of Morris. Cambridge: Rampant Lions

Press, 1986. 58 pp.

Private book collectio1'lS developed by Sanford Berger and Arnold Yates provide
the illspiration for a study of Morris's books primed by Bell & Daldy, Reeves &
Turner, F. S. Ellis, LOllgman, H. Buxton Formall and at the Kelmscott Press by
Morris himself

97. Harrop, Dorothy. Sir Emery Walker 1851-1933. London: Nine Elms, 1986.
36 pp.
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Walker learned pri1lting at the Typographic Etching Company, was active in the
Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society, joined CockereJl and Cobdell-Sanderson at the
Doves Press, and founded his own firm Emery Walker Ltd.

98. Honon, Margarer. "Bound in Crimson Morocco." The Journal of the WiJliam
Morris Society, 7 (Autumn 1986), 21-24.
May Morris lent to Alfred Fairbank for several years Morris's morocco-bound
copy of four Renaissance Writing Malluals.
99. Smith, Virginia. "Longevity and legibility: Two Types from the DeVinne Press
and How They Have Fared." Printing History, 8, No. 1 (1986), 13-21.
Morris i11f1uenced Theodore DeVillne. the foremost American commercial printer
who designed the still popular Century type and the Morris-inspired Renner type.

100. Woudhuysen, H.R. "Sales of Books and Manuscripts." Times Literary

Supplement,21 February 1986, 204.
Kelmscott Press books are rising again in value as Sotheby's sold a Kelmscott
Chaucer for 6,000, some Froissart specimen pages for 1,075, and a copy of The
Earthly Paradise inscribed by Jane to W.S. Blunt for 1,265.

POLITICS
101. Abramson, Elliott M. "William Morris and the Law as a System of Justice: An
Outsider's View." Syracuse Law Review, 37, No. 3 (1986), 851-97.
Keenly aware of the (laws in the English legal system of the 19th century, Morris
objected to "the inadequacy of Parliamentary reform, the repressing of dissent,
the insufficiency of legal equality, the deficiency of the workplace, the unfairness
of private property ownership, aNd the destruction of the enviroNment...

102. Boos, Florence and William Boos. "The Utopian Communism of William
Morris." History of Political Thought, 7 (Winter 1986), 489-510.
Comparisons of Morris's communism with that of his contemporaries - Marx and
Kropotkin - and with that of our contemporaries - Raymond WilJiams and
Rudolf Bahro - show him as an orthodox Marxist before he studied Marx. but
then anticipating WilJiams and Bahro by further ennobling au ethic of work as a
form of feJJowship while complementing "anarchist beliefs in self-determiNation n.

103. Casement, William. "William Morris on Labour and Pleasure." Social Theory
and Practice, 12 (Fall 1986), 351-82.
A f~social theorist," Morris believed that labour should bring pleasure either
through artistic fulfillment or a contribution to the community; otherwise it
should be assigned to machines or avoided. even at the loss of beneficial products.
104. Clamp, Peter. "William Morris: A Claim for Education." Journal of
Educational Thought, 21 (April 1987), 40-53.

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Proclaiming the 20th century to be "The Century of Education," Morris hoped

that all children would receive a "child-centred" form of education presellted
through a kind of apprenticeship designed to teach basic skills (cooking mId
carpentry), ellcourage individual aptitudes, promote knowledge of art and
outdoor pursuits (swimming), and serve the general good of the community.

105. Hillgarmer, Riidiger. "Gebrauschwerk and niitzliche Arbeit-William Morris'

Beitrag III einer axiologisch begriindeten Kulrunheorie." Englisch Amerika,zische
Studien, 7, No. 1 (1985), 128-36.
Centring his lectures on the opposition between useful work and useless toil,
Morris suggests an alternative culture and an axiological turn in cultural theory.
106. Kissunko, W. "William Morris-Denker uncl Kiinsrler." Kunst zmd Literatur
Sow;etwissenschaften, 33, No. 3 (1985),402-12.
A German translation of the Russian" article published in Iskussrvo, 9 (1984), 3549, on Morris's effort to combat capitalist technocracy by reviving the English
artistic tradition.
107. Kumar, Krishan. "Utopia as Socialism: Edward Bellamy and Looking
Backward. Utopia and Anti-Utopia in Modern Times. Oxford: Basil Blackwell,
1987,161-66.
Morris denounced the "mechanical soullessness" of Bel/amy's utopia.
108. Lowy, Michael. "The Romantic and the Marxist Critique of Modern
Civilization." Theory and Society, 16 (November 1987), 891-904.
Morris typifies the late 19th-century effort to unite Marx with an earlier Romantic
anti-capitalist tradition to inspire a "warm stream" of revolution which is
culminathlg in the late 20th century.

109. Morton, A.L. "Morris, Marx and Engels." The Journal of the William
Morris Society, 7 (Autumn 1986), 45-54. Rpt. from Zeitschrift fur Anglistik ulld
Amerikallistick, 33, No. 2 (l985), 145-52.
Indebted to the best of Marx's writings but misunderstood by E"gels, Morris
"was the first to use Socialism and Communism as names for two stages" in the
process of reorganizing society.

xvi