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WILLIAM MORRIS — GOLDEN TYPE LECTURES & ADDRESSESCOMPLETE FIVE-PUBLICATION SERIES • 1898–1901TWO SIGNED ALICE PATTINSON MOROCCO BINDINGS • 1903 & 1905CHISWICK PRESS • MORRIS\'S GOLDEN TYPE
MORRIS, William. A complete group of the five posthumously issued octavo lectures and addresses printed at the Chiswick Press for Longmans between 1898 and 1901 in William Morris\'s Golden Type, preserved together in two early full-morocco bindings by the Arts and Crafts designer-binder Alice Pattinson.
Each volume is signed in gilt on the rear turn-in with Pattinson\'s intertwined AP monogram and individually dated:
1903
1905
A particularly compelling Arts and Crafts ensemble uniting William Morris\'s writings, Morris\'s Golden Type, the Chiswick Press, and two signed contemporary bindings by a pupil of Douglas Cockerell.
THE FIVE GOLDEN TYPE PUBLICATIONS
Together the two volumes contain the complete sequence of five posthumous octavo publications of Morris\'s lectures and addresses issued in this format, comprising seven individual lectures and addresses.
Volume I
An Address Delivered by William Morris at the Distribution of Prizes to Students of the Birmingham Municipal School of Art
London: Chiswick Press for Longmans & Co., April 1898.
Art and the Beauty of the Earth
London: Chiswick Press for Longmans & Co., 1898.
Some Hints on Pattern-Designing
London: Chiswick Press for Longmans & Co., 1899.
Volume II
Architecture and History, and Westminster Abbey
London: Chiswick Press for Longmans & Co., December 1900.
Containing two addresses.
Art and Its Producers, and The Arts & Crafts of Today
London: Chiswick Press for Longmans, Green & Co., April 1901.
Containing two addresses.
PRINTED IN WILLIAM MORRIS\'S GOLDEN TYPE
Although these books were issued after the closure of the Kelmscott Press, they directly continue its typographical tradition.
They were printed at the Chiswick Press using the Golden Type designed by William Morris for the Kelmscott Press.
The Morgan Library records Some Hints on Pattern-Designing in precisely these terms, noting in its colophon that it was printed:
“with the Golden type designed by William Morris for the Kelmscott Press.”
The five publications therefore form an important post-Kelmscott continuation of Morris\'s typographical work.
ALICE PATTINSON
The bindings make this set particularly noteworthy.
Alice Pattinson was an English Arts and Crafts designer-bookbinder who trained under the influential binder and teacher Douglas Cockerell.
After Cockerell left his workshop at 29 Gilbert Street in 1902, Pattinson established her own bindery there.
The present bindings are dated only shortly afterward:
1903 and 1905
placing them in the early period of her independent career.
Both volumes bear Pattinson\'s characteristic gilt intertwined AP monogram on the rear turn-in.
THE PATTINSON BINDINGS
Both volumes are bound in full deep-green morocco leather.
Features include:
- raised spine bands
- gilt spine lettering
- fine gilt rules to the boards
- restrained gilt floral ornaments
- gilt-ruled turn-ins
- untrimmed and deckled text edges
- Pattinson\'s gilt AP monogram
- binding dates 1903 and 1905
The bindings are deliberately restrained in design, relying on excellent leather, proportion, narrow gilt rules and structural clarity rather than elaborate pictorial tooling.
Their simplicity is especially appropriate to Morris\'s own writings on craftsmanship, material, pattern and the relationship between ornament and function.
WILLIAM MORRIS & THE ARTS AND CRAFTS MOVEMENT
The texts address many of Morris\'s central concerns:
- pattern design
- decorative Abbey
- historic education
- labor and production
- beauty in everyday life
- the Arts and Crafts movement
The conjunction is unusually apt: Morris\'s writings on craftsmanship and design, printed in his own type, were bound only a few years later by a designer-binder working directly within the Arts and Crafts tradition.
CONDITION
Very Good overall.
Both bindings remain structurally sound with the boards firmly attached.
The green morocco shows age-appropriate wear, including rubbing to the spine ends, raised bands, joints, corners and board edges, together with scattered surface scuffs and abrasions.
The spines have darkened with age, with visible rubbing and some loss of color around several raised bands and portions of the joints.
Gilt lettering, rules and decorative tools remain clear.
Most importantly, both Alice Pattinson AP signatures and both binding dates, 1903 and 1905, remain clearly legible.
Internally generally clean and bright on substantial paper, with the original untrimmed and deckled edges preserved.
There may be occasional light toning, spotting or minor handling marks.
One front blank bears a short pencil manuscript note concerning the contents.
Please examine all photographs carefully for condition, particularly the spines, joints, raised bands, Pattinson signatures and dates.
DETAILS
Author: William Morris
Publications: Five
Lectures / Addresses: Seven
Volumes: Two
Publication dates: 1898–1901
Printer: Chiswick Press
Publisher: Longmans / Longmans, Green & Co.
Type: William Morris\'s Golden Type
Binding: Full green morocco
Binder: Alice Pattinson
Signed: Gilt AP monogram to both volumes
Binding dates: 1903 and 1905
Edges: Untrimmed / deckled
Movement: Arts and Crafts
An unusually coherent William Morris and Arts and Crafts ensemble: the complete group of Golden Type octavo lectures and addresses, preserved in two signed and dated early bindings by Alice Pattinson.
