International Kelmscott Press Day

On June 26th, 2021, The William Morris Society in the United States is organizing International Kelmscott Press Day, a celebration commemorating the 130th anniversary of the founding of the Kelmscott Press and the 125th anniversary of the publication of the Press’s edition of The Works of Geoffrey Chaucer.

To mark the occasion, libraries, museums, and other institutions across the world will create special digital and in-person displays and host activities such as talks and printing demonstrations.

We also encourage collectors, printers, and anyone who loves the Kelmscott Press to take part. You can follow along and join in the conversation on Twitter using the hashtag #KelmscottPressDay

See below for a schedule of events on and around the day. 

International Kelmscott Press Day is co-sponsored by:

Image: One of the opening pages of the Kelmscott Chaucer. The Kelmscott Press, 1896. British Library, C.43.h.19.

Digital Events

June 23rd

‘The Whole Scheme of the Book’: William Morris and the Kelmscott Press

McMaster University, William Ready Division of Archives & Research Collections

June 23rd, 12.30 pm Eastern 9:30am Pacific

Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

Join Myron Groover (McMaster’s Archives and Rare Books Librarian) for an exploration of the works of the Kelmscott Press. McMaster University holds a number of Kelmscott works in its collections, including a sumptuous pigskin-bound copy of the Kelmscott Chaucer. Sponsored by William Ready Division of Archives & Research Collections and McMaster University Alumni.

More information and registration

June 27th

Celebrating the Kelmscott Press

The William Morris Society in the United States and the Book Club of Washington

June 27th, 5:00 – 6:30pm Eastern, 2:00 – 3:30pm Pacific

Online presentations by Sandra Kroupa, Book Arts and Rare Book Curator, University of Washington, on a brief history of the Kelmscott Press and Mark Samuels Lasner, William Morris Society Board member and Senior Research Fellow at the University of Delaware, and Fran Durako, owner of the Kelmscott Bookshop, on collecting Morris.

Demonstration of the Kelmscott Goudy Press at Rochester Institute of Technology Melbert B. Cary, Jr. Graphic Arts Collection.

More information

Register

June 26th

Medieval Manuscripts and Private Presses: William Morris and his Followers as Collectors and Creators of Books c. 1891-1914

The Institute for English Studies, University of London and The William Morris Society (UK)

June 26th, 2:00 – 3:00 pm local (London, BST)

9:00-10:00am Eastern, 6:00-7:00am Pacific

This lecture by Laura Cleaver, Senior Lecturer in Manuscript Studies at the Institute of English Studies, University of London, will examine the debt of books produced by the Kelmscott Press and other private presses run by Morris’ followers to medieval manuscripts and explore the networks that supported both the acquisition of manuscripts and the creation of private press books from the foundation of the Kelmscott Press to the start of the First World War.

International Kelmscott Day

Arizona State University Distinctive Collections

June 26th, 2 – 4pm Eastern, 11am – 1pm local (Arizona)

Panel featuring Julie Codell, professor of art history, on the friendship between William Morris and longtime collaborator Edward Burne-Jones; ASU alum Jacob Robertson on the influence of Rossetti; and Daniel Mayer, director of Pyracantha Press, on the aesthetic influences of Kelmscott leading to contemporary artists books.

More information and registration

Digital Projects

Exhibitions, videos, and publications

Exhibitions

A Definite Claim to Beauty: the Kelmscott Press and the Aesthetics of the Book

San Francisco, CA, USA

The Book Club of California

June 26th – October 31st

This online exhibition surveys the Sperisen Library’s Kelmscott Press works along with other books from nearly five centuries of printing, looking at early typefaces Morris noted as influential on his own design, and later printers in the fine press tradition. Highlights include the Kelmscott Chaucer, the test-page for the Kelmscott Press’s planned volume of Froissart’s history, a 1917 “The Ideal Book” from the Studio Press, John Henry Nash’s “Life of Dante,” and a broadside printed in 1934 by the Grabhorn Press for the Book Club of California in commemoration of the centenary of Morris’s birth.

View here

The Life and Work of William Morris

Cincinnati, Ohio, USA

Archives and Special Collections, University of Cincinnati

An online exhibition featuring Kelmscott Press books, books from other private presses and designers, and an autograph letter from Morris to Aglaia Coronio.

William Morris in Books and Leaves

Athens, Ohio, USA

Mahn Center for Archives & Special Collections, Ohio University

This online exhibition delves into a few signature items from the Ohio University rare book collection that help us understand the influence of William Morris as book collector on William Morris as creator of extraordinary books.

View online exhibition here

An in-person exhibition will also be on view from August 22nd – December 10th.

William Morris and the Kelmscott Press in Adelaide

Adelaide, Australia

University of Adelaide Special Collections

The University of Adelaide Library will be hosting physical and online displays of items connected to William Morris, the Kelmscott Press and the Arts and Crafts Movement.

The physical display will be available online via Adelaide Connect, the university’s new online special collections platform. The physical exhibition is visible on Level 1 of the Barr Smith Library outside the Special Collections reading room.

View here

A Book with a Claim to Beauty: Marking the 125th Anniversary of the Kelmscott Chaucer

Newark, DE, USA

University of Delaware Library, Museums and Press

Digital and in-person exhibition featuring two copies of the Kelmscott Chaucer and related materials from Special Collections and the Mark Samuels Lasner Collection.

View the digital exhibition here

University of Delaware students, faculty, and staff can view the exhibition in person from June 15th – July 15th in the Lincoln Exhibition Case, located outside the Special Collections Gallery in Morris Library, Newark, DE. More information.

Kelmscott Press and Victorian Medievalism

Tuscon, AZ, USA

Distinctive Collections, Arizona State University Library

Digital exhibition prepared by three ASU students and the Design Library’s Learning Services manager, highlighting how Kelmscott Press publications represent a rejection of the Victorian era’s industrialization and its turn toward a romanticized understanding of the Middle Ages.

View here

Videos

The Kelmscott Press at the Newberry Library

Chicago, IL, USA

The Newberry Library and the Caxton Club

In this video, Jill Gage, Custodian of the John M. Wing Foundation on the History of Printing and Bibliographer for British Literature and History, talks about the Newberry Library’s collection of Kelmscott Press books with a focus on the Kelmscott Chaucer and the proofs to produce Burne-Jones’s illustrations. Organized by the Caxton Club in celebration of International Kelmscott Press Day.

View here

The Kelmscott Chaucer

Champaign, IL, USA

Rare Book and Manuscript Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

A video conversation about the Kelmscott Chaucer and some associated items in the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Rare Book and Manuscript Library collections.

View here

Blog Posts and Other Publications

130 years of the Kelmscott Press

Sydney, NSW, Australia

State Library of New South Wales

Blog post by Sarah Morley, Curator, Research and Discovery, exploring 130 years of the Kelmscott Press and showing related items in the State Library of New South Wales collection.

Read here

Kelmscott Chaucer Word Search

Leeds, UK

Leeds University Library Galleries

A digital word search themed around the Kelmscott Chaucer to celebrate International Kelmscott Press Day!

Play here

The long influence of William Morris and the Kelmscott Press

Oxford, UK

Bodleian Libraries Conservation & Collection Care and Centre for the Study of the Book

Andrew Honey and Alex Franklin of the Bodleian Library Conservation team and Center for the Study of the Book explore some of the ways that William Morris’s knowledge and love of the book arts has contributed to library collections and expertise, up to the present day.

Read here

International Kelmscott Press Day

Manchester, UK

John Rylands Research Institute and Library

To celebrate International Kelmscott Press Day, Special Collections Librarian, Julie Ramwell, takes a look at the Kelmscott Press publications in the John Rylands Research Institute and Library.

Read here

Celebrating UBC’s Kelmscott Chaucer

Vancouver, BC, Canada

Rare Books and Special Collections, University of British Columbia Library

In this blog post and short video, the University of British Columbia explores their copy of the Kelmscott Press – one of only 48 copies bound in pigskin by the Doves Binder.

View here

Celebrating International Kelmscott Press Day

McMinnville, OR, USA

Philip J. Pirages Rare Books

To celebrate International Kelmscott Press Day, antiquarian bookseller Philip J. Pirages, author of a study on the origins of the Kelmscott Chaucer typeface and the influence of German Incunabular printers on William Morris’ design, has produced a special catalogue of books and materials associated with the Kelmscott Press.

View here

You can also view a previously-recorded video about their limited edition leaf book, “Letters From the 15th Century: On the Origins of the Kelmscott Chaucer Typeface,” here.

International Kelmscott Press Day Blog Post

Carson, CA, USA

International Printing Museum

Blog post about the history of the Kelmscott Press and the International Printing Museum’s related collections, including a variety of Albion Presses and several Kelmscott Press books.

Read here

Kelmscott Press

London, UK

Senate House Library, University of London

Among Senate House Library’s treasures is a full set of books from William Morris’s Kelmscott Press, founded 130 years ago by this trailblazing private press movement to restore craftsmanship to printing and to celebrate “the book beautiful.” Karen Attar, Curator of Rare Books and University Art, writes about and provides images of several titles, including the Kelmscott Chaucer.

View here

In-Person Events

June 25th

Celebrating the Kelmscott Press

Tacoma, WA

Collins Library, University of Puget Sound

June 25th, 11:00am – 1:00pm

Display of unique materials associated with Morris and the Kelmscott Press, as well as the opportunity to visit the new Book Arts/Printing Press Studio.

Collins Librarian Jane Carlin will be giving short presentations on Morris and his books at 11:00 and 11:45.

More information

To comply with social distancing, if you would like to join one of the presentations, please email Jane directly at: jcarlin@pugetsound.edu

International Kelmscott Day Celebration

Tempe, Arizona

Arizona State University Distinctive Collections

June 25th, 11am – 1pm

Exploration of a selection from the library’s complete collection of 53 works printed by the Kelmscott Press and brief presentations on bookmaking, biophilia, and illustrations.

Hayden Library Wurzburger Reading Room.

More information and registration

June 26th

International Kelmscott Press Day Open House

Winter Springs, FL, USA

Rollins College Master of Liberal Arts Program

June 26th, 12:00 – 6:00 pm

Book display with brief remarks and letterpress printing demonstrations at 1 pm, 3 pm, and 5 pm.

Private event. For more information contact Beppy Landrum Owen, bowen@rollins.edu

The Kelmscott Chaucer

Los Angeles, CA, USA

Program in the History of Medicine, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center

June 26, 3:00 pm

Private event.

Display of the Kelmscott Chaucer and a discussion of its provenance and of William Morris’s founding of the Press.

For more information, contact Leon Fine: leon.fine@cshs.org

In-Person Exhibitions

Kelmscott Chaucer Display at Wightwick Manor

Wolverhampton, UK

Wightwick Manor, National Trust

June – November

The Kelmscott Chaucer is the centrepiece of a new exhibition to commemorate International Kelmscott Press Day. On display also are eight eight Kelmscott Press books – six of which were donated to Sir Geoffrey Mander by his friend Sir Sydney Cockerell, who was Morris’s Private Secretary and later his Literary executor.

More information on visiting Wightwick Manor

The Kelmscott Chaucer

London, UK

The William Morris Society (UK), Hammersmith

June 12th – December 31st

The William Morris Society (UK)’s copy of the Kelmscott Chaucer displayed for the first time in a dedicated case, next to one of Morris’s original Albion presses (believed to be have been used to pull proof prints of the Chaucer).

More information (Opening times and Society details. Display is part of the Society’s general exhibition space.)

The 125th Anniversary of the Finest Book Ever Printed

Buffalo, NY, USA

Special Collections, Buffalo and Erie County Public Library

June 15th – July 15th

Grosvenor Room, Special Collections, Central Library of the Buffalo and Erie County Public Library, Buffalo, NY

Showcasing the Kelmscott Chaucer and the rare specimen leaves for the projected Kelmscott edition of Froissart’s Chronicles, this display marks the anniversary of the Press’s greatest achievement and lets viewers consider what could have been if the Froissart came to fruition.

More information

William Morris and the Kelmscott Press in Adelaide

Adelaide, Australia

University of Adelaide Special Collections

June 26 – August 31

The University of Adelaide Library will be hosting physical and online displays of items connected to William Morris, the Kelmscott Press and the Arts and Crafts Movement.

The physical exhibition is visible on Level 1 of the Barr Smith Library outside the Special Collections reading room.

The digital version of the exhibition can be viewed here (launching June 26)

Our Most Beautiful …: Highlights of English Letterpress Art

Mainz, Germany

Gutenberg Museum

May 28th – September 24th

“Unique monuments of book art were created in the 19th century by the British book artist William Morris (1834-1896) in his private printing house “Kelmscott Press”. A very special book is the “Kelmscott Chaucer”, an edition of the complete works of the late medieval author Geoffrey Chaucer (c. 1342/43-1400), artistically decorated with numerous ornaments. This and other exceptional books from the “Kelmscott Press” are on display in the exhibition. Tours on June 26 (Kelmscott Chaucer), July 24 (Atalanta in Calydon), and September 8 (More’s Utopia) — registration required.”

More information

A Book with a Claim to Beauty: Marking the 125th Anniversary of the Kelmscott Chaucer

Newark, DE, USA

University of Delaware Library, Museums and Press

June 15th – July 15th

Digital and in-person exhibition featuring two copies of the Kelmscott Chaucer and related materials from Special Collections and the Mark Samuels Lasner Collection.

University of Delaware students, faculty, and staff can view the exhibition in person from June 15th – July 15th in the Lincoln Exhibition Case, located outside the Special Collections Gallery in Morris Library, Newark, DE. More information.

View the digital exhibition here