This framed black and white photograph shows the library at Kelmscott House, 26 Upper Mall, Hammersmith, William Morris's home from 1878 to 1896, shortly after his death on 3 October 1896. The large manuscript open on the table is The Windmill Psalter, the last book Morris bought. The wallpaper is his Trellis design. A page from one of the Kelmscott Press books is also visible, next to which are Morris’s writing tools and his quill pen. A nineteenth-century print of Botticelli’s Primavera hangs on the wall to the left of the fireplace, which is lined with Morris & Co tiles. A similar, possibly the same, print, hangs in the dining room of 7 Hammersmith Terrace. A Sussex chair manufactured by Morris & Co and an armchair covered in Rose and Thistle printed cotton can also be seen. After attending a lecture given by Emery Walker to the Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society in 1888, in which Walker showed slides of magnified images of type by Nicolas Jenson, a fifteenth-century printer, William Morris was inspired to collaborate with Walker in the design of a new font, ‘the Golden Type’, which he used for his last great artistic project, The Kelmscott Press, founded in 1891. Although Walker refused a commercial partnership in the press, his advice on typography, type design, paper and ink was crucial to its success.

Record ID:00205
Dimensions:width — 19.9cm.
height — 15.3cm.
width — 27.1cm.
height — 22.2cm.
depth — 1.2cm.
height — 22.3cm.
Classification:Pictures
Date:1896
Date:1896