High Noon in the Boatyard, Rye

Details

Date: c.1905-1910
Dimensions: 44.2 x 28.5
Object Type: print
Material: paper
Catalogue number: P563
Designer and maker: Forsyth, Gordon M. (1879 - 1952)
Credit notes: Presented by Mrs Jan Kinrade, 1998

This print by Gordon M. Forsythe depicts an allegorical female figure holding flaming sword, with figures of Labour and Motherhood and two children carrying olive wreath, a socialist procession winding around a hill in background. Border with foliage pattern and names of English countryside radicals. Quotation from William Morris’s ‘The Day is Coming’ beneath picture.

The print was found by the donor behind a picture frame. Probably dates from 1905-1910, when Forsyth was working as chief designer at Pilkington’s Royal Lancastrian Pottery at Clifton Junction, Manchester.

Details

Date: 3.1894
Object Type: book
Material: paper
Catalogue number: K25a
Designer: Morris, William, 1834, 1896
Designer: Burne-Jones | Edward Coley | Sir | 1833 | 1898
Publisher: Kelmscott Press | 1891 | 1898
Credit notes: Presented by Mrs J. W. Mackail, 1946

This leaflet advertises the Ancoats Brotherhood, Manchester, printed by the Kelmscott Press. The Ancoats Brotherhood was founded by Charles Rowley in 1882 as the Ancoats Recreation Committee. In 1889, it was reformed as the Ancoats Brotherhood, offering a year-long programme of lectures, musical evenings, concerts, dances, walks, art exhibitions, and social gatherings. Notable guests included William Morris, Walter Crane, and George Bernard Shaw. Morris lectured there annually until 1894.

The leaflet features extracts from Alfred, Lord Tennyson, and John Ruskin, along with wood-engraved initials, borders, and a press device designed by Morris. It includes the illustration When Adam Delved and Eve Span, designed by Edward Burne-Jones with lettering by Morris. This image first appeared as an etched frontispiece in the 1888 Reeves & Turner edition of Morris’s A Dream of John Ball (see K6), which was originally serialized in The Commonweal in 1887.

Details

Date: 3.1894
Object Type: book
Material: paper
Catalogue number: K25
Designer: Morris, William, 1834, 1896
Designer: Burne-Jones | Edward Coley | Sir | 1833 | 1898
Publisher: Kelmscott Press | 1891 | 1898
Credit notes: Presented by Mrs J. W. Mackail, 1946

Details

Date: 4.1884
Dimensions: 20.3 x 25.4
Object Type: book
Material: paper
Catalogue number: K918
Artist: Image, Selwyn, 1849, 1930
Editor: Mackmurdo | Arthur Heygate | 1851 | 1942
Author: Horne, Herbert Percy, 1864, 1916
Publisher: Allen, George
Credit notes: Miss Elinor M. Pugh Bequest, 1963

The magazine received some hostile reviews on its publication most notably in The Academy (1 June 1884 p. 401): “There may reasonably be some difference of opinion as to Mr. Ruskin’s recent utterances. But it has always been possible to gather an idea of that he would be about. There is no imaginable method, however, in the madness of some of his later followers. The affectation of these persons seems to be only commensurate with their ignorance and their conceit with their incapacity.” Having criticised both the content and the appearance of the magazine, the reviewer concluded that ” a long-suffering public could hardly tolerate another instalment of such nonsense.” It was probably largely as a result of such opinions that no further issues appeared until 1886.

The Gallery also has most of the engraved wood blocks and line blocks for printing the headings, tailpieces, initials and other illustrations for this and subsequent issues of the magazine. The majority of these were bequeathed in 1942 by Mackmurdo, the rest being acquired through the bequest of his niece, Miss Pugh in 1963.

Details

Date: 1895
Dimensions: 37.5 x 31.75
Object Type: print
Material: paper
Technique: woodcut
Catalogue number: P300a
Credit notes: Presented by J.W. Mackail?

The illustration was originally produced as an etching for the frontispiece to Morris’ “A Dream of John Ball” (Reeves & Turner 1888); the original drawing for this is in the Gallery’s collection, D75. The motto was in lower case roman letter printed by woodcut.
In this version, the enlarged illustration was printed in the Daily Chronicle as one of 24 illustrations by well-known artists of the day, assembled by Joseph Pennell with the object of furthering the cause of the Reform Party at the LCC elections of 1895; the title of the illustration on this occasion was ‘Labour’ and it was purported that it had been drawn especially for the Daily Chronicle. It is probably from the issue of Monday, 18th February 1895.
The illustration was again used in the Kelmscott Press edition of Morris’ book (Sept. 1892), framed in Morris frame with motto in capitals; both were woodcuts. This was also re-used for the leaflet printed in March 1894 for the Ancoats Brotherhood.
For another copy see P300.

Details

Date: c.1866
Dimensions: 15.6 x 22.7
Object Type: print
Material: paper
Technique: woodcut
Catalogue number: K21a
Artist: Burne-Jones | Edward Coley | Sir | 1833 | 1898

This is one of a series of illustrations to ‘The Story of Cupid and Psyche’ for the projected edition of ‘The Earthly Paradise’ begun in September 1865. The illustrations were engraved on wood by Morris and his friends and associates in the Firm. This particular illustration was engraved by Elizabeth Burden, it was the only one she did for the series. Burne-Jones did illustrations for some of the other tales in ‘The Earthly Paradise’, but the Cupid and Psyche wood engravings were the most completed part of the project which was abandoned in 1868 after trial pages, set in Basle and Caslon types at the Chiswick Press, did not prove satisfactory.

In 1881, a few copies of these sets of illustrations were made, apparently by Morris himself, by friction printing. A second series (numbering about 8 sets according to Sydney Cockerell) was pulled for Morris by Emery Walker at his premises at 16 Cliffords Inn during the Kelmscott Press years; all these were on Kelmscott Press paper. One of these sets, given to Cockerell by Jane Morris c.1898, is bound into a single volume (K775) owned by the William Morris Gallery. Other sets are in the Pierpont Morgan Library (Gift of John M. Crawford) and the Fitzwilliam Museum (J.R. Holliday Bequest 1927).

Drawings related to the Cupid and Psyche illustrations and other tales from ‘The Earthly Paradise’ are in the following collections: A volume of 86 preliminary drawings of various sizes executed in pencil, pen and ink or chalk, is now in Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery (648’27). A series of 47 finished designs in pencil on tracing paper was given by Burne-Jones to Ruskin, who presented them to Oxford University in 1875 (now in the Ashmolean). Another volume of 39 drawings formerly in the collection of F.S. Ellis is in the Pierpont Morgan Library, New York; 36 of these are on tracing paper, the remaining 3 on drawing paper; 21 relate to the Cupid and Psyche story though some are variants of scenes which were never engraved on wood; others are for the Story of Pygmalion and The Hill of Venus.

Details

Date: 1919
Dimensions: 37.5 x 43.5
Object Type: print
Material: paper
Technique: etching
Catalogue number: P823
Artist: Brangwyn, Frank, Sir (1867 - 1956)
Credit notes: Gift of Richard and Eileen Smithies

This etching shows the Arrival Procession of the Festa della Madonna della Salute in front of the Basilica di Santa Maria della Salute at the mouth of the Grand Canal in Venice. Sir Frank Brangwyn made multiple images of Venice, including two others showing the church of Santa Maria della Salute that are also in the William Morris Gallery’s Collection. The festival of Santa Maria della Salute is held every year in Venice on 21st November, and comemmorates the end of a plague that devastated Venice bewteen 1630 and 1631.

Details

Date: 1893
Dimensions: 20.3 x 25.4
Object Type: book
Material: paper
Catalogue number: K927
Artist: Image, Selwyn, 1849, 1930
Editor: Mackmurdo | Arthur Heygate | 1851 | 1942
Author: Horne, Herbert Percy, 1864, 1916
Publisher: Allen, George
Credit notes: Miss Elinor M. Pugh Bequest, 1963

The Hobby Horse was founded chiefly to publish the aims and ideas of the Century Guild. With the exception of an article by Florence Marshall on a cantata by Henry Holmes, all the articles and poems in the first number were contributed by Arthur Heygate Mackmurdo, Herbert Horne and Sellwyn Image; the latter was also responsible for the textual illustrations and front cover (repeated as a title page) and the engraved wood block for this is in the Gallery collection (R104).
The magazine received some hostile reviews on its publication most notably in The Academy (1 June 1884 p. 401): “There may reasonably be some difference of opinion as to Mr. Ruskin’s recent utterances. But it has always been possible to gather an idea of that he would be about. There is no imaginable method, however, in the madness of some of his later followers. The affectation of these persons seems to be only commensurate with their ignorance and their conceit with their incapacity.” Having criticised both the content and the appearance of the magazine, the reviewer concluded that ” a long-suffering public could hardly tolerate another instalment of such nonsense.” It was probably largely as a result of such opinions that no further issues appeared until 1886.
The Gallery also has most of the engraved wood blocks and line blocks for printing the headings, tailpieces, initials and other illustrations for this and subsequent issues of the magazine. The majority of these were bequeathed in 1942 by Mackmurdo, the rest being acquired through the bequest of his niece, Miss Pugh in 1963.

Details

Date: 1893
Dimensions: 20.3 x 25.4
Object Type: book
Material: paper
Catalogue number: K92
Artist: Image, Selwyn, 1849, 1930
Editor: Mackmurdo | Arthur Heygate | 1851 | 1942
Author: Horne, Herbert Percy, 1864, 1916
Publisher: Allen, George
Credit notes: Miss Elinor M. Pugh Bequest, 1963

Details

Date: 1885
Object Type: book
Material: paper
Catalogue number: K604
Author: Morris, William, 1834, 1896
Author: Bax, Ernest Belford (1854 - 1926)
Publisher: Socialist League Office
Credit notes: Transfer from Walthamstow Central Library, 1951

Written on New Year’s Day 1885 by William Morris and Ernest Belfort Bax, the Manifesto of the Socialist League sets out the aims of the fledgling political group. After splitting from the Social Democratic Federation, Morris along with Bax, Edward Aveling, Eleanor Marx and others founded the Socialist League as a more radical group that sought ‘the realization of complete revolutionary Socialism’.

Ernest Belfort Bax was a barrister and historian described by May Morris, William’s younger daughter, as ‘the learned and distinguished philosopher’. Bax taught Morris economics and Marxism in regular sessions that Morris referred to as ‘compulsory Baxination’.

The Socialist League logo featured on this pamphlet was designed by Walter Crane. Crane also produced illustrations for membership cards, invitations and posters for the group. His monochrome illustrations and engravings came to define socialist and trade union imagery for the next thirty years.

Details

Date: 1891
Dimensions: 20.6 x 14 (closed)
Object Type: book
Material: paper
Catalogue number: K967
Author: Morris, William, 1834, 1896
Publisher: Reeves & Turner
Owner: Morris, Jenny (1861 - 1935)
Credit notes: Miss E. M. Pugh Bequest, 1963

Morris’s ‘News From Nowhere’ was first published in serial form in Commonweal in 1890. In 1891 it was reprinted in book form by Reeves and Turner. It was from this later edition with a few corrections that the text for the Kelmscott Press edition was set up. The illustrated frontispiece, designed by Charles Gere, shows the entrance to Kelmscott Manor, Morris’s country home in Oxfordshire.

Details

Date: May 1870
Object Type: book
Material: paper
Catalogue number: K61
Author: Magnusson, Eirikr (1833 - 1913)
Author: Morris, William, 1834, 1896
Publisher: Ellis, Frederick Startridge (1830 - 1901)
Designer: Webb | Philip | 1831 | 1915
Credit notes: Transfer from Walthamstow Reference Library, 1951

‘The Story of the Volsungs and Niblungs’ is a translation of The Völsunga saga (often referred to in English as the Volsunga Saga or Saga of the Völsungs). This legendary saga is a late 13th-century poetic rendition in Old Norse of the origin and decline of the Völsung clan. It was translated for the first time into English by William Morris and Eirikr Magnusson in 1870. Morris wrote: “This is the great story of the North, which should be to all our race what the Tale of Troy was to the Greeks”. This first edition of the Crown octavo book has green cloth binding with stamped gold pattern designed by Philip Webb. Rossetti wrote on 7 May 1870 “His binding for the Volsungs is most lovely- quite perfect”. 750 copies of the book were printed.

Details

Date: 1885-1886
Object Type: book
Material: paper
Catalogue number: K405
Editor: Morris, William, 1834, 1896
Publisher: Socialist League Office
Credit notes: Presented, 1950

The Commonweal was first published in February 1885 with Morris as Editor and one of the principal contributors, both journalistically and financially. He also designed the journal’s headline title. He remained Editor until May 1890, when the paper fell into the hands of the Socialist League’s Anarchist faction. This volume contains issue No.1-50, Feb 1885-25 Dec 1886.

Details

Date: 1883
Dimensions: 24 x 17.3
Object Type: book
Material: paper
Catalogue number: K935
Artist: Mackmurdo | Arthur Heygate | 1851 | 1942
Printer: Hazell, Watson & Viney Ltd., London
Publisher: Allen, George
Credit notes: Miss E.M. Pugh Bequest, 1963

Arthur Heygate Mackmurdo and William Morris met through their involvement in the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings. This book was published to increase appreciation for the work of seventeenth-century architect Christopher Wren, but it was the title-page that caused the greatest stir. The print on the cover show sinuous, undulating leaves and flowers through which a streamer bearing the title winds, it is flanked at either side by the attenuated form of a peacock.

This edition is smaller edition is in the octavo format and does not feature the Century Guild’s stamp which is seen on the front cover of the larger, quarto editions.

Details

Dimensions: 86.4 x 76.2
Object Type: design
Material: paper
Catalogue number: A305
Designer: Morris, William, 1834, 1896
Credit notes: WMG purchase, 1960

Morris’s connection with Christianity was as much aesthetic and historic as spiritual. Originally planning to join the clergy, his contribution to religious life instead came through preserving historic churches and supplying interior decoration such as stained glass windows and textiles. This design, delicately rendered in pencil and watercolour, forms part of the repeat pattern of an embroidered frontal, a cloth used to decorate the altar during services. The grape and vine is a popular motif in ecclesiastical textiles, a reference to the wine that signifies the blood of Christ in the Christian service. This embroidered frontal was advertised in the Morris & Co. catalogue as “a festival altar frontal, 9 ft. wide (capable of being extended) worked in Morris floss silks and gold on ivory satin” and sold for £125.

Details

Date: c. 1912
Dimensions: 27.7 x 22.7
Object Type: archival
Material: paper
Technique: lithograph
Catalogue number: J2169
Credit notes: Presented by Mrs Kathleen Wells, 1957

Material: paper

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