Letter from William De Morgan to Morris & Co, 30 March 1904

Details

Date: 30.03.1904
Dimensions: 21.4 x 32
Object Type: archival
Material: pen on paper
Technique: hand-written
Catalogue number: J2201
Author: De Morgan, William (1839 - 1917)
Recipient: Morris & Co.
Credit notes: Gift from the Friends of the William Morris Gallery, 2015

This letter is a response from the ceramicist William De Morgan to an enquiry from Morris and Co. about the use of leadless glazes in his pottery. In the letter, (which he wrote from Florence, Italy) de Morgan describes how ‘twenty five years ago half my men were lead-poisoned in Chelsea and I determined either to put an end to poisonous glazes or to give up business all together‘.

De Morgan expresses some frustration in his letter to ‘the nonsense…being talked on the matter‘ of lead glazes. By the early twentieth century the issue of lead poisoning had become a significant matter of public concern. A wide body of scientific and medical information was produced concerning the danger to factory workers who came into contact with lead, as well as the use of lead paint in homes. This was picked up in the popular press and the health risks associated with lead became more widely known among ordinary people.

Lead glazes allow for a very shiny and transparent finish, which De Morgan’s ceramics were famed for. His relationship with Morris & Co. started in the 1860s when William Morris commissioned his friend to decorate tiles for his decorating firm. Later, Morris & Co. sold a large range of De Morgan’s ceramics which had become highly fashionable.

De Morgan was extremely knowledgeable on the subject of ceramic glazes- studying historic techniques used in the Middle East and Italy and experimenting in his workshop to produce high quality ceramics. In the letter he goes on to explain how he did not give up the use of lead- ‘all I found needful to be done was to make certain that the lead in our(?) mixture should be contained in a completely melted and insoluble glass before pulverizing- In this form it is as non-poisonous as the flint-glass (so called) tumbler or wine-glass out of which the whole world drinks without fear everyday‘. By melting the lead compounds with other materials such as silica to form a glass ‘frit’ or ‘flux’, lead glazes were much safer to use than the previous raw lead compounds since they were less soluble in stomach acids.

Details

Date: c.1871
Object Type: archival
Material: pen on paper
Technique: hand-written
Catalogue number: J2419
Author: Morris | May | 1862 | 1938
Recipient: Morris (née Burden) | Jane | 1839 | 1914
Credit notes: Presented by C.E. Robins, 2007

This letter was written by May Morris to her mother Jane, around 1871. It describes her and her sister Jenny’s visit to stay with their grandmother Emma Morris and their aunt, possibly at Leyton House where Emma lived until July 1871, afterwhich she moved to The Lordship, Much Hadham. In the letter May mentions flowers in Epping Forest, suggesting the letter was written at Leyton as the Forest is nearer to Epping Forest than Much Hadham.

Details

Date: 5 July 1870
Object Type: archival
Material: pen on paper
Technique: hand-written
Catalogue number: J2418
Author: Morris | May | 1862 | 1938
Recipient: Morris (née Burden) | Jane | 1839 | 1914
Credit notes: Presented by C.E. Robins, 2007

This letter was written by May Morris to her mother Jane in 1870 when she was eight years old. It describes her and her sister Jenny’s first visit to Naworth Castle in July 1870. Naworth was the Cumbrian home of George and Rosalind Howard, good friends of the Morris family. During the trip, George Howard sketched May and her older sister Jenny for an oil portrait (now in the collection of Society of Antiquaries, Kelmscott Manor). May also wrote an account of her trip to Naworth, also in the William Morris Gallery’s collection (J2416).

Details

Date: June 1870
Object Type: archival
Material: pen on paper
Technique: hand-written
Catalogue number: J2417
Author: Morris | May | 1862 | 1938
Recipient: Morris (née Burden) | Jane | 1839 | 1914
Credit notes: Presented by C.E. Robins, 2007

This letter was written by May Morris to her mother Jane around 30 June 1870 when she was eight years old. It describes her and her sister Jenny’s first visit to Naworth Castle in June-July 1870. Naworth was the Cumbrian home of George and Rosalind Howard, good friends of the Morris family. During the trip, George Howard sketched May and her older sister Jenny for an oil portrait (now in the collection of Society of Antiquaries, Kelmscott Manor). May also wrote an account of her trip to Naworth, also in the William Morris Gallery’s collection (J2416).

Details

Date: December 1870
Dimensions: 16.4 x 11.2
Object Type: archival
Material: pen on paper
Catalogue number: J2416
Author: Morris | May | 1862 | 1938
Credit notes: Presented by C.E. Robins, 2007

This diary was written by May Morris in December 1870 when she was eight years old. It describes her and her sister Jenny’s first visit to Naworth Castle from 27^th June 1870. Naworth was the Cumbrian home of the Howard family, good friends of the Morris family. In the the first couple of pages May provides a description of her character and appearance:

“Having spent the greater past of last summer amongst the beautiful hills of Cumberland with my sister Jane, I write this short account of our doings for the benefit of our Mamma and in case this little story should fall into the hands of someone that does not know me I shall now present a description of myself. I am a great tomboy but I was not such a great one there because I was afraid of setting the little children we were staying with a bad example. I shall be nine next twenty fifth of March. I am very untidy and always very dirty and sometimes I am ashamed to say very naughty. I have got light curly hair cut on my forehead. My eyes are blue. I am neither fat nor very thin. Now I have described myself I will have my readers judge whether I am pretty or ugly. If I write a long preface I shall have nothing to say in my book. Mary Morris”

The proceeding pages describe May’s explorations of the local countryside and the events that occured during her holiday. Jane Morris refers to this journal in a letter to George Howard 19th December 1870: ‘May, I believe is writing a Journal of all their proceedings at Naworth’. (Howard Collection)

Details

Date: c. 1899-1902
Object Type: archival
Material: pen on paper
Technique: hand-written
Catalogue number: J561iv
Artist: Morris | May | 1862 | 1938
Credit notes: Transferred from the Victoria and Albert Museum, whom presented by Dr. Robert Steele

This lecture note dates from May Morris’s time teaching embroidery at Birmingham Municipal School of Art and the Central School of Arts and Crafts in London. The notes and sketches set out her plans for practical lessons, covering design, technique and materials.

Details

Date: c. 1899-1902
Object Type: archival
Material: pen on paper
Technique: hand-written
Catalogue number: J561xiii
Artist: Morris | May | 1862 | 1938
Credit notes: Transferred from the Victoria and Albert Museum, whom presented by Dr. Robert Steele

Details

Date: c. 1899-1902
Object Type: archival
Material: pen on paper
Technique: hand-written
Catalogue number: J561xii
Artist: Morris | May | 1862 | 1938
Credit notes: Transferred from the Victoria and Albert Museum, whom presented by Dr. Robert Steele

Details

Date: 29/12/1894
Dimensions: 218 x 182
Object Type: archival
Material: pen on paper
Technique: hand-written
Catalogue number: J362
Author: Morris, William, 1834, 1896
Recipient: Thirkell (née Mackail), Angela, Mrs (1890 - 1961)
Credit notes: Presented by Angela Thirkell, 1950

Letter from William Morris to four year old Angela Mackail (granddaughter of Edward Burne-Jones), thanking her for her Christmas gift of a new pen.

Kelmscott House,

Upper Mall,

Hammersmith

Dec: 29^th 1894

My dear Angela

Thank you very much for sending me the pretty pen; I have already written a good deal with it & shall write more.

When are you coming to see me?

Yours affectionately

William Morris

Material: pen on paper

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