Hammersmith: The Kelmscott Press, 1894. First edition. One of 300 copies printed on paper (seven were done on vellum). Bound by Zaehndorf in full olive, crushed morocco in the "Fanfare" style. Binding dated 1900 and with the Zaehnsdorf oval exhibition stamp on the rear end paper. Full leather and gilt doublures, leather end papers, all edges gilt. Binding just slightly toned at the spine, otherwise a Fine copy overall. A stunning binding by one of the premier UK binderies of the last century. Bookplate of Matthew Chaloner Durfee Borden (1842 - 1912) on the verso of the front end paper. Borden, a banker and textile manufacturer, sold his collection of private press and fine bindings in 1913 through the American Art Association Galleries. Housed in a cloth slipcase.

William Morris was perhaps the most prominent designer of the British Arts and Crafts movement, though during his life he also achieved fame for his writings and poetry. He founded the Kelmscott Press in his late 50s, ultimately as a way to revive what he believed were the decaying standards of book printing, and to recover the beauty of early, hand printed, incunabula. The present work, printed by him and finely bound by Zaehndorf, ensures that John Keats' main poetic concerns about lasting beauty are represented through the book's physicality.

"A thing of beauty is a joy forever: Its loveliness increases, it will never pass into nothingness." The creator of some of the most famous lines in English verse, Keats' works are odes to the timelessness of the idea of beauty, even as its reality fades. Among his core themes are the tension between man's mortality and the immortality of his muse, and the role art plays in assisting the creation of a lasting legacy. Fine (Item #5391)