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MORRIS, William (1834-1896). The Defense of Guenevere and Other Poems. Hammersmith: Kelmscott Press, 1892.
The first book of Pre-Raphaelite poetry and one of the first issues from William Morris’s renowned Kelmscott Press. Originally published in 1858 by Bell and Daldy, “these are some of the most powerful poems of the mid-century” (Parry). Morris was inspired by Arthurian legend, the paintings of his friend Dante Gabriel Rossetti, and his recent meeting of Jane Burden—the pre-Raphaelite muse whom he would marry a year later. It was a poignant choice for one of the first books to be printed at Kelmscott, as Jane’s longstanding affair with Rossetti had re-enacted in painful detail the Arthur-Guenevere-Lancelot love triangle of legend. One of 300 paper copies. Peterson A5. See Linda Parry, ed., William Morris (1996), p. 45.
Quarto (200 x 138mm). Printed in red and black. Woodcut borders and initials, woodcut Kelmscott device on final text page. Inlaid morocco gilt with red morocco doublures by De Sauty (hinges very neatly repaired).
The first book of Pre-Raphaelite poetry and one of the first issues from William Morris’s renowned Kelmscott Press. Originally published in 1858 by Bell and Daldy, “these are some of the most powerful poems of the mid-century” (Parry). Morris was inspired by Arthurian legend, the paintings of his friend Dante Gabriel Rossetti, and his recent meeting of Jane Burden—the pre-Raphaelite muse whom he would marry a year later. It was a poignant choice for one of the first books to be printed at Kelmscott, as Jane’s longstanding affair with Rossetti had re-enacted in painful detail the Arthur-Guenevere-Lancelot love triangle of legend. One of 300 paper copies. Peterson A5. See Linda Parry, ed., William Morris (1996), p. 45.
Quarto (200 x 138mm). Printed in red and black. Woodcut borders and initials, woodcut Kelmscott device on final text page. Inlaid morocco gilt with red morocco doublures by De Sauty (hinges very neatly repaired).