Selections from the Poems of William Morris - Standard State

This publication is issued under the Suntup Press imprint with no rights attached.

William Morris (1834–1896) was an important cultural figure of the nineteenth century whose long and complex career was shaped by his deep affection for the aesthetic and political world of the Middle Ages. His founding of the Kelmscott Press in 1891 revolutionized fine printing and established principles of craftsmanship and design that continue to influence fine press publishing today.

In his extraordinarily varied life as an artist, designer, writer, and printer, he was always haunted by echoes of an earlier, pre-modern era that shaped his understanding of the Victorian age. Because his activities were so wide-ranging, it is easy to forget that Morris continued to write verse until his final years and saw it as an essential element in his attempt to recreate a largely vanished culture of the English countryside. The poems in this volume, with their powerful medieval overtones, offer a fascinating record of his commitment to that distant rural world.

STANDARD EDITION

• 7¼ × 11 inches.
• Edited by William S. Peterson, leading scholar on William Morris and the history of fine printing and design.
• Designed by Jerry Kelly.
• Printed by Juan Pascoe at Taller Martín Pescador, Tacámbaro, Mexico.
• Two-color printing throughout, on dampened Velké Losiny handmade paper, using an Ostrander Seymour hand press—reflecting Morris’s principles of craftsmanship.
• Text handset in hot-metal Monotype Poliphilus and Blado, cast by Bradley Hutchinson (Austin, Texas); display type set in foundry-cast Gilgengart.
• Frontispiece portrait of William Morris drawn by Hermann Zapf in 1948 and hand-engraved in lead by August Rosenberger; printed from the original metal electrotype plate used in 1949.
• Includes a previously unpublished pencil drawing of Morris by Dante Gabriel Rossetti, reproduced courtesy of the Mark Samuels Lasner Collection, University of Delaware Library.
• Seventy-seven Standard state copies, designated 1–77, are handbound by the printer.
• Press-numbered and signed by William S. Peterson and Juan Pascoe.
• Sewn onto exposed vellum tapes laced into stiff handmade paper covers, using stock made specially for this edition at the De Ponte mill in Tlalnepantla de Baz, Mexico.
• The blue wrappers pay homage to the tradition Morris established with his own publications, which featured distinctive blue paper covers that became a hallmark of his work.
• This design choice echoes Morris’s aesthetic sensibilities, creating a subtle yet powerful tribute to the craftsmanship and timeless elegance of his publications.
• The edition is housed in a cloth-covered clamshell enclosure with velour-lined trays and a letterpress printed spine label.