William Morris: Artist, Writer, Socialist

A tireless champion of her father William, and a gifted designer and craftswoman in her own right, Mary (May) Morris (1862–1938) had a unique insight into his extraordinary career and creativity. It was she who undertook the exacting task of editing the twenty-four volumes of her father's collected works (also reissued in the Cambridge Library Collection). In 1936, towards the end of her life, she published this supplementary two-volume work, which includes further writings and sympathetic commentary, revealing 'the development of a mind which was singularly of one piece, however many-sided'. Volume 1 addresses William Morris' artistic and literary achievements. It contains May's introductory remarks and chapters of analysis, nearly fifty miscellaneous pieces by Morris on arts and crafts, items of verse juvenilia, several poems of the Earthly Paradise period, two translations from Icelandic, and several letters.