By Peter Stansky
William Morris (1834-96) was one of the greatest figures of the Victorian age - which, with its man-made ugliness and social injustices, he thoroughly detested. He was an artist and craftsman, whose influence in the sphere of design is as strong now as ever; but he was also a highly successful writer of verse and prose romances, well now in his own day to a large poetry-reading public as 'the author of The Earthly Paradise'.
Morris's fiction celebrated the idea of a vanished golden age, and he designed for the rich and middle classes; yet his ambition was to establish, in the present and for the future, through social and aesthetic revolution, a more beautiful world for everyone. An ardent socialist (calling himself a communist), he was a shaper, mentor and leader of the labour movement, active in the politics of the Left, lecturing and writing extensively and participating in demonstrations and street-corner meetings. His concern for the quality of life, for the place of art in society, his analysis of that society's discontents, his recognition of the modern alienation of labour, place Morris as a thinker in the company of Marx and Ruskin. Friend of Burne-Jones, husband of Rossetti's model (and mistress), Morris lived at the centre of the Pre-Raphaelite movement. But as this book shows, he had remarkably diverse interests, all so energetically pursued that his doctor claimed he died of 'being William Morris'. Peter Stansky presents here, in the context of his age and in all his engaging multiplicity, the life and personality of a man whom a contemporary perceptively described as 'The Earthly Paradox.'
Fine condition. Residue from previous pricing sticker on cover. Some scuffing and bending also on front cover.