The Routledge Companion to William Morris

"Morris was such a polymath that one of his early 20th-century biographers, the aristocratic socialist Countess of Warwick stated that the word ‘reformer’ best described him because he was at once an artist, craftsman and manufacturer, major poet, translator, writer of utopias and romances, political leader and theorist! The Companion is an outstanding and extraordinary guide to all aspects of the reformer’s life and work, animated by the recognition that because of Morris’s versatile activities, no single scholar could ever attempt to research all aspects of the man. It has 22 chapters in over 600 pages with very fresh and fascinating visual material, including over 120 mostly unpublished images. These include archival images of Morris’s homes, manuscripts, significant locations for the development of his ideology and new material about his design practice. The first section offers essays about Morris’s life, biographies and his physical environment. It includes perspectives on the significance of his business practices, his portrayal of women, and his Icelandic travels. I contributed an essay about Morris’s tenure of Kelmscott Manor, investigating its previously unacknowledged role as an important site of his artistic and literary work, and challenging many misconceptions about this iconic house. A second section deals with his art, looking at his design practice and also commitment to the preservation of historic buildings. Interestingly, this looks at current appropriations of Morris in popular culture by contemporary artists such as Jeremy Deller , David Mabb and Kehinde Wiley . Still other sections deal with Morris’s literary works, his politics and activism, and his lifelong interest in books, including collecting books and the making of Arts and Crafts books via the Kelmscott Press . “You might say that in Britain the movement sprung up in an effort to counter the effects of the Industrial Revolution by championing handiwork” The section on his art includes an illuminating essay by Margaretta S. Frederick, the curator of the Bancroft Collection at the Delaware Museum, about Morris as a pioneer of professional interior design, arguing that his original approach to creating holistic interiors was arguably even more important than his contribution to individual branches of craft. There’s also a great essay by Jim Cheshire about Morris’s stained glass, the evolution of the iconography of stained glass, and about the techniques used to create it, with a practical guide on how to read and interpret a Morris’s stained glass window. A superb chapter by Chris Miele concerns Morris’s architectural projects – mainly the decoration of Gothic Revival churches. This demonstrates how the nature of his work evolved hand in hand with his changing views and his foundation of the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings and departure and separation from Victorian restoration work in favour of renovation. Another fascinating essay about the contents of Morris’s library by Yuri Cowan analyses the philosophy which propelled his antiquarian interests. I could go on, but the key thing is that each essay highlights the relevance of Morris today. The whole concept of the Routledge Companion is to show that Morris’s vision is still very much alive. The author Florence Boos is also editor of the William Morris Archive , an incredible online resource which includes different editions of Morris’s literary and political works as well as scans of Kelmscott Press publications, and a really fine selection of examples of Morris’s work in the book arts, with commentary by leading contemporary scholars. It was Boos who, with her outstanding international specialism in Morris’s literary work, has given us a better understanding of The Earthly Paradise and of his activism. Some years back she discovered the manuscript of his socialist diary and brought it to light. It is no wonder that The Routledge Companion to William Morris is unrivalled on literature and politics, an integral part of the Arts and Crafts movement given his publication of books, however much we might regard it primarily in visual terms. These aspects of his work and convictions are all interconnected."