Eight volumes of William Morris’s The Earthly Paradise, printed by The Kelmscott Press and bound in white vellum. Taking the form of a compendium of different narratives, The Earthly Paradise is an epic poem structured as a frame story, similar to Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales. It tells the story of a group of Norsemen who have fled a plague in Europe in search of the mythical earthly paradise. Eventually they come to a land where the inhabitants still worship the ancient Greek gods. They decide to stay here and each month the wanderers and the city elders exchange tales. ‘The Earthly Paradise’ contains the tales from a whole year, comprising twenty-four stories. Through this narrative Morris draws both upon Greek myths and Medieval Romance tales, including Icelandic Eddas and Saga.
Printed on medium quarto size paper in Golden type in red and black, woodcut title, borders and initials. Published by the Kelmscott Press, 1896-97. Bound in original limp vellum, with ties, uncut. Bookplate of Herbert S. Squance.
