Volume 42, Number 19 · November 30, 1995
The Perfectionist
By Richard Dorment
William Morris: A Life for Our Time
by Fiona MacCarthy
Knopf, 780 pp., $45.00
The Collected Letters of William Morris
edited by Norman Kelvin
Vol. I, 1848–1880
626 pp., $90.00
Vol. II, Part A, 1881–1884
424 pp., $60.00
Vol. II, Part B, 1885–1888
566 pp., $75.00
Vols. III and IV forthcoming
Princeton University Press
William Morris may seem too large and various a character for a single book. It is possible to write about the craftsman (or, rather, the stained-glass, textile, and furniture designer, weaver, calligrapher, illuminator, gilder, and typographer) without saying anything about the poet, novelist, and translator. Then there is Morris the political activist, social reformer, conservationist, and businessman. In this century, dozens of books have dealt with specific aspects of his career, but until now the most comprehensive full biography was still J.W. Mackail's two-volume life, which appeared in 1899.
Review, 4959 words
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