News from Nowhere

'News from Nowhere', a literature/craft project which took place at Kelmscott Manor in 2010, was inspired by Morris’ achievements in literature, publishing and design.

The project featured creative workshops and the development of a teacher’s information pack and educational resources.

Morris had long aspired to printing and publishing his own works and in 1891 he established the ‘Kelmscott Press’ – named after his much-loved summer home Kelmscott Manor.  Of a total 66 Kelmscott Press titles published, more than a third, 23, were Morris’ own works.

Concertina book
Fafnir collage
Dragon book
Bird book-marks
Illuminated letter

     “I began printing books with the hope of producing some which would have a
definite claim to beauty, while at the same time they should be easy to
read and should not dazzle the eye, or trouble the intellect of the
reader by eccentricity of form in the letters.  I have always been a
great admirer of the calligraphy of the Middle Ages, and of the earlier
printing which took its place.  As to the fifteenth century books, I had
noticed that they were always beautiful by force of the mere
typography, even without the added ornament, with which many of them are
so lavishly supplied.  And it was the essence of my undertaking to
produce books which it would be a pleasure to look upon as pieces of
printing and arrangement of type.  Looking at my adventure from this
point of view then, I found I had to consider chiefly the following
things: the paper, the form of the type, the relative spacing of the
letters, the words, and the lines and lastly the position of the printed
matter on the page….”
 

A note by William Morris on his aims in founding the Kelmscott Press.  Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith.  Nov 11, 1895