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| A page from the Kelmscott Chaucer |
The Works of Geoffrey Chaucer, Now Newly Imprinted is an 1896 edition of the classic tales printed by William Morris at the Kelmscott Press. It is now known simply as the Kelmscott Chaucer.
Morris was a perfectionist. He oversaw every aspect of bookmaking in its entirety – from choosing the ‘perfect’ paper made a particular way, to choosing a specific type-font, specifying exactly how much space would exist between characters, and words etc. This was characteristic of all of his endeavours in design, and not surprisingly, his books were created with a hand press.
His attention to detail probably stemmed from his personal fascination with medieval illumination and calligraphy. He claimed to admire their beauty of typography, and wished to replicate this in his own designs:
“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.” (Morris, 1895)
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| A page from the Kelmscott Chaucer |
It is difficult to see this preoccupation in the finished product however. Although the pages consisting of just text (with the odd decorative initial) are relatively easy to read, and correspond with Morris’ concern for the “arrangement of type”, the decorated pages are another story. The designs on these pages are balanced, consisting of heavily patterned and decorated borders (or frames), a woodcut illustration by Edward Burne-Jones, a large, decorative initial, and two columns of text. However, the density of the patterned background, combined with the black and white format (of which there appears to be an equal amount of each colour) detracts heavily from the text. The beautiful illustrations are also unfortunately less striking for this reason. This is strange considering that Morris was supposedly concerned with creating books that were “easy to read and should not dazzle the eye.” (Morris, 1895)
If the Kelmscott Chaucer is considered as less of a book, and more of an artwork, however, its appeal is clear. Text, image, and decoration are in perfect visual harmony, the designs are sophisticated and striking, and Burne-Jones’ illustrations tie in extremely well with the overall work. For this reason, I admire Morris’ work as an example of excellent design, and although it is still functional as a book, I would argue that it is less effective in this role.
Sources:
Morris, W., "A Note by William Morris on His Aims in Founding the Kelmscott Press", 1895. Accessed April, 2011: http://web.archive.org/web/20060829233147/http://www.english.umd.edu/englfac/WPeterson/MFP/documents/9.html
Cockerell, S., "A Short History and Description of the Kelmscott Press", 1898. Accessed April, 2011: http://web.archive.org/web/20060829233026/www.english.umd.edu/englfac/WPeterson/MFP/documents/18.html
