Art and the Beauty of the Earth.

Chiswick Press for Longmans & Co., London, 1898

A lecture delivered by William Morris at Burslem Town Hall on October 13, 1881. The 2nd of six lectures by Morris published in the same series format. First edition.

Description: Pale blue paper over boards, with the title page text reproduced on the upper front cover, cloth spine. Octavo: 21 × 14.5 cm; pp. [2] 31. Printed with Morris’s Golden type on fine mould-made paper.

Inserted: Loosely inserted a printed note from the publisher indicating that the book may not be sold for a discounted price.

Ref.: Walsdorf 68

Condition: Minor age toning to covers. Endpapers and pages are clean and bright, hinges are sound. A very good copy.

Notes: Over the years this lecture has been one of the essays by Morris which has most often been reprinted, with special reference given to his words, “Time was when everybody that made anything made a work of art besides a useful piece of goods, and it gave them pleasure to make it […] if I have any worthy aspiration, it is the hope that I may help to bring about the day when we shall be able to say, So it was once, so it is now.”