Two of the initial words from the Chaucer are used in this book, one at the beginning of each poem. These poems were formerly attributed to Chaucer, but recent scholarship has proved that _The Floure and the Leafe_ is much later than Chaucer, and that _The Cuckow and the Nightingale_ was written by Sir Thomas Clanvowe about A.D. 1405-10.

44. _The Shepheardes Calender: Conteyning Twelve Aeglogues, Proportionable to the Twelve Monethes._ By EDMUND SPENCER. Edited by F. S. Ellis. Medium 4to. Golden type. In black and red. With twelve full page ill.u.s.trations by A. J. Gaskin. 225 on paper at a guinea, 6 on vellum at three guineas.

Dated October 14, issued November 26, 1896. Published at the Kelmscott Press. Bound in half holland.

The ill.u.s.trations in this book were printed from process blocks by Walker & Boutall. By an oversight, the names of author, editor, and artist were omitted from the colophon.

41b. _The Earthly Paradise._ By WILLIAM MORRIS. Volume III. May: _The Story of Cupid and Psyche. The Writing on the Image._ June: _The Love of Alcestis. The Lady of the Land._ Medium 4to. Golden type. In black and red. Borders 30a, 30, 27a, 27, 28a, 28, 29a, and 29. 225 on paper at thirty shillings, 6 on vellum at seven guineas. Dated August 24, issued December 5, 1896. Published at the Kelmscott Press. Bound in limp vellum.

41c. _The Earthly Paradise._ By WILLIAM MORRIS. Volume IV. July: _The Son of Croesus. The Watching of the Falcon._ August: _Pygmalion and the Image.

Ogier the Dane._ Medium 4to. Golden type. In black and red. Borders 31a, 31, 29a, 29, 28a, 28, 30a, and 30. Dated November 25, 1896, issued January 22, 1897. Published at the Kelmscott Press. Bound in limp vellum.

41d. _The Earthly Paradise._ By WILLIAM MORRIS. Volume V. September. _The Death of Paris. The Land East of the Sun and West of the Moon._ October: _The Story of Acontius and Cydippe. The Man Who Never Laughed Again._ Medium 4to. Golden type. In black and red. Borders 29a, 29, 27a, 27, 28a, 28, 31a, and 31. Finished December 24, 1896, issued March 9, 1897.

Published at the Kelmscott Press. Bound in limp vellum.

41e. _The Earthly Paradise._ By WILLIAM MORRIS. Volume VI. November: _The Story of Rhodope. The Lovers of Gudrun._ Medium 4to. Golden type. In black and red. Borders 27a, 27, 30a, and 30. Finished February 18, issued May 11, 1897. Published at the Kelmscott Press. Bound in limp vellum.

41f. _The Earthly Paradise._ By WILLIAM MORRIS. Volume VII. December: _The Golden Apples. The Fostering of Aslaug._ January: _Bellerophon at Argos.

The Ring Given to Venus._ Medium 4to. Golden type. In black and red.

Borders 29a, 29, 31a, 31, 30a, 30, 27a, and 27. Finished March 17, issued July 29, 1897. Published at the Kelmscott Press. Bound in limp vellum.

45. _The Water of the Wondrous Isles._ By WILLIAM MORRIS. Large 4to.

Chaucer type, in double columns, with a few lines in Troy type at the end of each of the seven parts. In black and red. Borders 16a, 17a, 18a, 19, and 19a. 250 on paper at three guineas, 6 on vellum at twelve guineas.

Dated April 1, issued July 29, 1897. Published at the Kelmscott Press.

Bound in limp vellum.

Unlike _The Well at the World's End_, with which it is mainly uniform, this book has red shoulder-notes and no ill.u.s.trations. Mr. Morris began the story in verse on February 4, 1895. A few days later he began it afresh in alternate prose and verse; but he was again dissatisfied, and finally began it a third time in prose alone, as it now stands. It was first announced as in the press in the list of June 1, 1896, at which date the early chapters were in type, although they were not printed until about a month later. The designs for the initial words "Whilom" and "Empty" were begun by William Morris shortly before his death, and were finished by R. Catterson-Smith.

Another edition was published by Longmans on October 1, 1897.

41g. _The Earthly Paradise._ By WILLIAM MORRIS. Volume VIII. February: _Bellerophon in Lycia. The Hill of Venus. Epilogue. L'Envoi._ Medium 4to.

Golden type. In black and red. Borders 28a, 28, 29a, and 29. Finished June 10, issued September 27, 1897. Published at the Kelmscott Press.

Bound in limp vellum.

The colophon of this final volume of _The Earthly Paradise_ contains the following note: "The borders in this edition of _The Earthly Paradise_ were designed by William Morris, except those on page 4 of Volumes ii., iii., and iv., afterwards repeated, which were designed to match the opposite borders, under William Morris's direction, by R.

Catterson-Smith, who also finished the initial words 'Whilom' and 'Empty' for _The Water of the Wondrous Isles_. All the other letters, borders, t.i.tle-pages, and ornaments used at the Kelmscott Press, except the Greek type in _Atalanta in Calydon_, were designed by William Morris."

46. Two trial pages of the projected edition of Lord Berners's Translation of Froissart's Chronicles. Folio. Chaucer type, with heading in Troy type.

In black and red. Border 32, containing the shields of France, the Empire, and England, and a half-border containing those of Reginald, Lord Cobham, Sir John Chandos, and Sir Walter Manny. 160 on vellum at a guinea, none on paper. Dated September, issued October 7, 1897. Published at the Kelmscott Press. Not bound.

It was the intention of Mr. Morris to make this edition of what was since his college days almost his favourite book a worthy companion to the Chaucer. It was to have been in two volumes folio, with new cusped initials and heraldic ornament throughout. Each volume was to have had a large frontispiece designed by Sir Edward Burne-Jones; the subject of the first was to have been St. George, that of the second Fame. A trial page was set up in the Troy type soon after it came from the foundry, in January, 1892. Early in 1893 trial pages were set up in the Chaucer type, and in the list for March 9th of that year the book is erroneously stated to be in the press. In the three following lists it is announced as in preparation. In the list dated December 1, 1893, and in the three next lists, it is again announced as in the press, and the number to be printed is given as 150. Meanwhile the printing of the Chaucer had been begun, and as it was not feasible to carry on two folios at the same time, the Froissart again comes under the heading "in preparation" in the lists from December 1, 1894, to June 1, 1896. In the prospectus of _The Shepheardes Calender_, dated November 12, 1896, it is announced as abandoned. At that time about thirty-four pages were in type, but no sheet had been printed. Before the type was broken up, on December 24, 1896, thirty-two copies of sixteen of these pages were printed and given as a memento to personal friends of the poet and printer whose death now made the completion of the book impossible. This suggested the idea of printing two pages for wider distribution. The half-border had been engraved in April, 1894, by W. Spielmeyer, but the large border only existed as a drawing. It was engraved with great skill and spirit by C. E. Keates, and the two pages were printed by Stephen Mowlem, with the help of an apprentice, in a manner worthy of the designs.

47. _Sire Degrevaunt._ Edited by F. S. Ellis after the edition printed by J. O. Halliwell. 8vo. Chaucer type. In black and red. Borders 1a and 1, and a woodcut designed by Sir Edward Burne-Jones. 350 on paper at fifteen shillings, 8 on vellum at four guineas. Dated March 14, 1896, issued November 12, 1897. Published at the Kelmscott Press. Bound in half holland.

This book, subjects from which were painted by Sir Edward Burne-Jones on the walls of the Red House, Upton, Bexley Heath, many years ago, was always a favourite with Mr. Morris. The frontispiece was not printed until October, 1897, eighteen months after the text was finished.

48. _Syr Ysambrace._ Edited by F. S. Ellis after the edition printed by J.

O. Halliwell from the MS, in the Library of Lincoln Cathedral, with some corrections. 8vo. Chaucer type. In black and red. Borders 4a and 4, and a woodcut designed by Sir Edward Burne-Jones. 350 on paper at twelve shillings, 8 on vellum at four guineas. Dated July 14, issued November 11, 1897. Published at the Kelmscott Press. Bound in half holland.

This is the third and last of the reprints from the Camden Society's volume of Thornton Romances. The text was all set up and partly printed by June, 1896, at which time it was intended to include _Sir Eglamour_ in the same volume.

49. _Some German Woodcuts of the Fifteenth Century. Being thirty-five reproductions from books that were in the library of the late William Morris._ Edited, with a list of the princ.i.p.al woodcut books in that library, by S. C. c.o.c.kerell. Large 4to. Golden type. In red and black. 225 on paper at thirty shillings, 8 on vellum at five guineas. Dated December 15, 1897, issued January 6, 1898. Published at the Kelmscott Press. Bound in half holland.

Of these thirty-five reproductions twenty-nine were all that were done of a series chosen by Mr. Morris to ill.u.s.trate a catalogue of his library, and the other six were prepared by him for an article in the fourth number of _Bibliographical_ part of which is reprinted as an introduction to the book. The process blocks (with one exception) were made by Walker & Boutall, and are of the same size as the original cuts.

50. _The Story of Sigurd the Volsung and the Fall of the Niblungs._ By WILLIAM MORRIS. Small folio. Chaucer type, with t.i.tle and headings to the four books in Troy type. In black and red. Borders 33a and 33, and two ill.u.s.trations designed by Sir Edward Burne-Jones and engraved by W. H.

Hooper. 160 on paper at six guineas, 6 on vellum at twenty guineas. Dated January 19, issued February 25, 1898. Published at the Kelmscott Press.

Bound in limp vellum, with blue silk ties.

The two borders used in this book were almost the last that Mr. Morris designed. They were intended for an edition of _The Hill of Venus_, which was to have been written in prose by him and ill.u.s.trated by Sir Edward Burne-Jones. The foliage was suggested by the ornament in two Psalters of the last half of the thirteenth century in the library at Kelmscott House. The initial A at the beginning of the third book was designed in March, 1893, for the Froissart, and does not appear elsewhere.

An edition of _Sigurd the Volsung_, which Mr. Morris justly considered his masterpiece, was contemplated early in the history of the Kelmscott Press. An announcement appears in a proof of the first list, dated April, 1892, but it was excluded from the list as issued in May.

It did not reappear until the list of November 26, 1895, in which, the Chaucer being near its completion, _Sigurd_ comes under the heading "in preparation," as a folio in Troy type, "with about twenty-five ill.u.s.trations by Sir Edward Burne-Jones." In the list of June 1, 1896, it is finally announced as "In the press," the number of ill.u.s.trations is increased to forty, and other particulars are given. Four borders had then been designed for it, two of which were used on pages 470 and 471 of the Chaucer. The other two have not been used, though one of them has been engraved. Two pages only were in type, thirty-two copies of which were struck off on January 11, 1897, and given to friends, with the sixteen pages of Froissart mentioned above.

51. _The Sundering Flood._ Written by WILLIAM MORRIS. Overseen for the press by May Morris. 8vo. Chaucer type. In black and red. Border 10, and a map. 300 on paper at two guineas. Dated November 15, 1897, issued February 25, 1898. Published at the Kelmscott Press. Bound in half holland.

This was the last romance by William Morris. He began to write it on December 21, 1895, and dictated the final words on September 8, 1896.

The map pasted into the cover was drawn by H. Cribb for Walker & Boutall, who prepared the block. In the edition that Longmans are about to issue the bands of robbers called in the Kelmscott edition Red and Black Skinners appear correctly as Red and Black Skimmers. The name was probably suggested by that of the pirates called "esc.u.mours of the sea" on page 154 of _G.o.dfrey of Boloyne_.

52. _Love is Enough, or the Freeing of Pharamond; A Morality._ Written by William Morris. Large 4to. Troy type, with stage directions in Chaucer type. In black, red, and blue. Borders 6a and 7, and two ill.u.s.trations designed by Sir Edward Burne-Jones. 300 on paper at two guineas, 8 on vellum at ten guineas. Dated December 11, 1897, issued March 24, 1898.

Published at the Kelmscott Press. Bound in limp vellum.

This was the second book printed in three colours at the Kelmscott Press. As explained in the colophon, the final picture was not designed for this particular edition.

53. _A Note by William Morris on his Aims in Founding the Kelmscott Press.

Together with a Short Description of the Press_, by S. C. c.o.c.kERELL. And an Annotated List of the Books Printed Thereat. Octavo. Golden type, with five pages in the Troy and Chaucer types. In black and red. Borders 4a and 4, and a woodcut designed by Sir E. Burne-Jones. 525 on paper at ten shillings, 12 on vellum at two guineas. Dated March 4, issued March 24, 1898. Published at the Kelmscott Press. Bound in half holland.

Various Lists, Leaflets, and Announcements Printed at the Kelmscott Press:

Eighteen lists of the books printed or in preparation at the Kelmscott Press were issued to booksellers and subscribers. The dates of these are May, July, and December, 1892; March 9, May 20, May 27, August 1, and December 1, 1893; March 31, April 21, July 2, October 1 (a leaflet), and December 1, 1894; July 1 and November 26, 1895; June 1, 1896; February 16 and July 28, 1897. The three lists for 1892, and some copies of that for March 9, 1893, were printed on Whatman paper, the last of the stock bought for the first edition of _The Roots of the Mountains_. Besides these, twenty-nine announcements, relating mainly to individual books, were issued; and eight leaflets, containing extracts from the lists, were printed for distribution by Messrs. Morris & Co. The following items, as having a more permanent interest than most of these announcements, merit a full description:

1. Two forms of invitation to the annual gatherings of the Hammersmith Socialist Society on January 30, 1892, and February 11, 1893. Golden type.

2. A four-page leaflet for the Ancoats Brotherhood, with the frontispiece from the Kelmscott Press edition of _A Dream of John Ball_ on the first page. March, 189 Golden type. 2500 copies.

3. An address to Sir Lowthian Bell, Bart., from his employees, dated 30th June, 1894. Eight pages. Golden type. 250 on paper and 2 on vellum.

4. A leaflet, with fly-leaf, headed _An American Memorial to Keats_, together with a form of invitation to the unveiling of his bust in Hampstead Parish Church on July 16, 1894. Golden type. 750 copies.

5. A slip giving the text of a memorial tablet to Dr. Thomas Sadler, for distribution at the unveiling of it in Rosslyn Hill Chapel, Hampstead.

November, 1894. Golden type. 450 copies.

6. Scholarship certificates for the technical Education Board of the London County Council, printed in the oblong borders designed for the pictures in Chaucer's Works. One of these borders was not used in the book, and this is its only appearance. The first certificate was printed in November, 1894, and was followed in January, 1896, by eleven certificates; in January, 1897, by six certificates; and in February, 1898, by eleven certificates, all differently worded. Golden type. The numbers varied from 12 to 2500 copies.

7. Programmes of the Kelmscott Press annual _Wayzgoose_ for the years 1892-95. These were printed without supervision from Mr. Morris.

8. Specimen showing the three types used at the Press for insertion in the first edition of Strange's _Alphabets_ March, 1895. 2000 ordinary copies and 60 on large paper.

9. Cards for a.s.sociates of the Deaconess Inst.i.tution for the Diocese of Rochester. One side of this card is printed in Chaucer type; on the other there is a prayer in the Troy type enclosed in a small border which was not used elsewhere. It was designed for the ill.u.s.trations of a projected edition of _The House of the Wolfings_, April, 1897. 250 copies.