Search Results: Design, Crafts from Georg Schneebeli :: Rare Books & Prints

This speech illustrates Morris's life, craftsmanship and politics. Second edition, following the Doves Press edition of the previous year.
Description: Bound in brown paper covered boards and vellum spine. William Morris printed vertically on the spine. Octavo: 22 × 15 cm; unpaginated, pp. [36]. Printed by the Chiswick Press on Batchelor's Anvil & Hammer handmade paper.
Ref.: Walsdorf 201
Condition: Light toning to the vellum and minor edgewear to the board edges. Front free endpapers and pages are clean and crisp, hinges are sound. A remarkably good and fresh copy.

Lecture IV Architecture and History, pp. 1–33; and Lecture V Westminster Abbey, pp. 35–50. Lecture Architecture and History was first given by Morris as a paper read before the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (SPAB) on July 1. 1884. Westminster Abbey was a paper written for the SPAB in June of 1893.
Description: Pale blue paper over boards, with the title page text reproduced on the upper front cover, cloth spine. Octavo: 21 × 14.5 cm; pp. [2] 50. Printed from 'Golden' type on fine mould-made paper.
Ref.: Walsdorf 77
Condition: Some age toning and soiling to covers (back cover has a slightly larger spot at the bottom), a bit of edgewear and slight sunning to spine. Usual age tanning to one side of free endpapers. Pages are clean and bright, hinges are sound.

A lecture delivered by William Morris at Burslem Town Hall on October 13, 1881. The 2nd of six lectures by Morris published in the same format.
Description: Pale blue paper over boards, with the title page text reproduced on the upper front cover, cloth spine. Octavo: 21 × 14.5 cm; pp. [2] 31. Printed from 'Golden' type on fine mould-made paper.
Inserted: Loosely inserted a printed note from the publisher indicating that the book may not be sold for a discounted price.
Ref.: Walsdorf 68
Condition: Minor age toning to covers. Endpapers and pages are clean and bright, hinges are sound. A very good copy.
Notes: Over the years this lecture has been one of the essays by Morris which has most often been reprinted, with special reference given to his words, "Time was when everybody that made anything made a work of art besides a useful piece of goods, and it gave them pleasure to make it […] if I have any worthy aspiration, it is the hope that I may help to bring about the day when we shall be able to… Read More

First edition of the first published lecture by William Morris. Scarce in this exemplary state.
Description: Sewn as issued in publisher's printed light blue paper wrappers. Duodecimo: 18 × 12 cm; pp. 32.
Condition: Light age toning to edges of covers. Internally clean and free of marks. According to its age a near fine copy.
Notes: In 'The Decorative Arts' Morris first formulated his guiding principle that the decline in the artistic quality of the things around us was the result of the separation of art and craft, and that only a reunion of art and craft could lead to better design. Morris repeated and refined this idea in various lectures he gave between 1877 and 1885. It was also this principle that eventually led to the founding of the Kelmscott Press.

First edition of Gill's final collection of essays outlining his distributist philosophy on the relationship between man and work, industry and art. With an introduction by Mary Gill.
Description: Orig. navy blue cloth, pictorial decoration (St Thomas's Hands, 1935) blocked in silver to front board, titled in silver to spine, orig. dust jacket, lettered in red and black. Duodecimo: 19 × 13 cm; pp. 93, with 5 illustrations by Gill (frontispiece, St Thomas's Hands on title page, 3 illustrations in the text).
Condition: Dust jacket shows some small tears at head and foot, light soiling. Binding and contents in very good condition.
Notes: "Last Essays" contains a collection of essays written by Gill, entitled as follows: Art. Work. Private property. Education for What? Peace and Poverty. Art in Education. FiveHundred Years of Printing. The Leisure State. Secular and Sacred in Modern Industry.
Please note: Due to the low weight, the shipping costs may be lower than indicated. Please inquire with us about… Read More

A masterpiece of Chinese multi-block colour printing, masterfully reprinted, in exactly the same technique as the original and printed on the most magnificent paper.
Description: 4 vols. stab bound with gold speckled, ochre coloured paper wrappers, paper label with calligraphic lettering to front; housed in the original silk brocade folding box with calligraphic paper label and 2 bone clasps. Quarto 31 × 21 cm; unpaginated. With 283 woodblock prints on double-folded leaves (coloured [taoban], black and white, embossed [gonghua]).
Ref.: Cahill, Pictorial Colorprinting in China and Japan; Tschichold, 1970; Wright, Fashioning Biography
Condition: A near fine copy.
Notes: The late Ming/early Qing dynasty publisher Hu Zhengyan (ca. 1584–1674) is one of the most frequently studied figures in the history of Chinese prints. Hu came to Nanjing in 1619 and opened a print shop which he called Shizhuzhai (Ten Bamboo Studio). Hu was a successful publisher and businessman, producing a variety of books, for which… Read More

A lecture delivered by William Morris at the Working Men's College, London on December 10, 1881. The 3rd of six lectures by Morris published in the same format.
Description: Pale blue paper over boards, with the title page text reproduced on the upper front cover, cloth spine. Octavo: 21 × 14.5 cm; pp. [2] 45. Printed from 'Golden' type on fine mould-made paper.
Enclosed: Loosely inserted a printed note from the publisher indicating that the book may not be sold for a discounted price.
Ref.: Walsdorf 73
Condition: Minor age toning to covers, a bit of edgewear. Endpapers and pages are clean and bright, pages are unopened, hinges are sound. A very good copy.
Notes: In this lecture, Morris discusses pattern designing of various materials and predicts the influence and execution of floral and landscape motifs later found in the works of such people as Louis Comfort Tiffany (1848–1943) and the Rookwood Pottery Company (1880–1940).

From the library of Will Carter, founder of the famous Rampant Lions Press.
Description: Sewn as issued in publisher's printed paper wrappers. Duodecimo: 20 × 13 cm; pp.: 21, [1] and 1 illustration (frontispiece) by Denis Tegetmeier.
Provenance: Small rectangular bookplates of Will Carter and Sebastian Carter to front wrapper verso, ownership inscription in pen to front free endpaper recto: Will Carter 1937.
Condition: Covers marked, slightly nicked and browned at the edges. Internally in generally very good condition.
Notes: This pamphlet comes from the library of Will Carter, or rather his son Sebastian (*1941). Will Carter (1910–2001) founded the famous Rampant Lions Press, which supplied Cambridge with all kinds of printing and letterpress work. The Rampant Lions Press has been the leading English private press of the postwar period, following handsomely in the tradition of the Golden Cockerel and Nonesuch Presses. The Rampant Lions location in Cambridge and its close ties to the university… Read More