12/05/2026
The only Kelmscott Press edition to have hand-lettered title on the spine: The Defence of Guenevere (1892).
When the young William Morris first brought his poems to the public, The Defence of Guenevere was the first book of Pre-Raphaelite poetry to be published - and accordingly, it was criticised by the critical establishment for affectation. But younger readers liked their Romantic impulse, and later, this poetry was admired by Swinburne, Gerald Manley Hopkins, Ezra Pound, and W..B. Yeats, among many others.
The Kelmscott Press edition of 1892, in which Morris finally gives his poems an appropriately beautiful presentation, was published in an edition of 310 copies. This is one of the copies printed on the ‘Flower’ paper that was made for Morris by Joseph Batchelor. It is bound in limp vellum with yapp edges and light green silk ties, and the lettering on the spine was done by H.M. Ellis, the son of F.S. Ellis, who was Morris’s friend, literary associate and executor.
This copy is now available from us. Please consult our webpage for details or contact us with any enquiries!
