The Collected Works of William Morris

This 24-volume set, published 1910–15, reveals the development and scope of a Victorian polymath's literary, aesthetic and political passions.

The poet, designer, translator and socialist William Morris (1834–96) produced a prodigious variety of work in his lifetime. These 24 volumes, edited by his daughter May and published between 1910 and 1915, reveal the development and scope of this Victorian polymath's literary, aesthetic and political passions.A creative titan of the Victorian age, William Morris (1834–96) produced a prodigious variety of literary and artistic work in his lifetime. In addition to his achievements as a versatile designer at the forefront of the arts and crafts movement, Morris distinguished himself as a poet, translated Icelandic sagas and classical epics, wrote a series of influential prose romances, and gave lectures promoting his socialist principles. His collected works, originally published in 24 volumes between 1910 and 1915, were edited by his daughter Mary (May) Morris (1862–1938), whose introductions to each volume chart with insight and sympathy the development of her father's literary, aesthetic and political passions. Volume 1 contains Morris' early verse, including The Defence of Guenevere (1858), as well as prose contributions to the short-lived Oxford and Cambridge Magazine.