William Morris: 1834 – 1896

WilliamMorrisAge43
William Morris before his 43rd birthday

A polymath is a person with extraordinary expertise in multiple disciplines. The most remarkable polymath of all time was Leonardo da Vinci, the Italian Renaissance painter, sculptor, inventor, engineer, musician, astronomer, anatomist, biologist, geologist, cartographer, physicist and architect. In addition to painting the Mona Lisa and The Last Supper, Leonardo also conceptualized a flying machine, adding machine, solar power and plate tectonics among many other innovations … in the 16th century.

Any list of polymaths in world history would include:

  • Nicolaus Copernicus: astronomer, lawyer, physician, politician and economist
  • Isaac Newton: mathematician, physicist, theologian, astronomer and philosopher
  • Benjamin Franklin: author, printer, scientist, inventor and statesman
  • Thomas Jefferson: architect, paleontologist, inventor, horticulturalist and politician

It goes without saying that people with such a range of talents are extremely rare. Among the distinguishing attributes of a polymath are boundless curiosity and a facility for encyclopedic knowledge. Additionally, because they have the ability to acquire extensive practical experience in overlapping fields, polymaths are often responsible for inventions, discoveries, breakthroughs and noteworthy creative works.

While it would be an exaggeration to place William Morris—a significant figure of the late 19th century—in the company of the above-mentioned geniuses of human achievement, he was nonetheless a polymath. During his lifetime, William Morris made major contributions to architecture, textile design, decorative arts, poetry, literary fiction, politics, typography and printing.

Early years 

William Morris was born on March 24, 1834 in Walthamstow. He was the third child and oldest son of William Morris and Emma Morris Shelton. His father, who had moved to London from Worcester in the 1820s, became a partner in a stock brokerage firm in the city. His mother was the daughter of Joseph Shelton, a music teacher in Worcester.

In the early 1840s, the elder William Morris became very wealthy from an investment in a copper mining business. The family then moved into a 150-acre estate in Woodford with its own brewery, bakery and buttery and a Governess and housekeeping staff.

Little William Morris was a precocious child and learned to read very early. By the age of four—it is said—he was reading books and familiarizing himself with the Waverly novels. At Woodford, William spent time exploring the outdoors, going fishing and rabbit hunting and he developed a life-long appreciation for animal nature. After William Morris senior died at age 50 in 1847, the Morris family moved back to Walthamstow along with a considerable fortune.

One year later, William Morris was enrolled at Marlborough College where he attended for three years. In a recollection of his experience at Marlborough, Morris said it was “a new and very rough school. As far as my school instruction went, I think I may fairly say I learned next to nothing there, for indeed next to nothing was being taught.” Despite this negative memory, Morris spent time in the school library and developed an interest in archaeology and gothic architecture. He also took long walks in the countryside amid the Neolithic and Bronze Age monuments, stone circles and burial mounds.

Following a rebellion and four-day strike in 1851 by students against the conditions at Marlborough, the Morris family removed William from the college. Determined to prepare him for entry into Oxford, the family arranged a private classical tutor for the seventeen-year-old William. In 1852, William was admitted as a non-resident and unable to dine or sleep in the company of his fellow students, he entered Exeter College, Oxford.

The Brotherhood

It was at Exeter that William made the acquaintance of a student from Birmingham, Edward Burne-Jones, who would become a lifelong friend and collaborator. While the two students had entered the school with the intention of joining the priesthood, they both decided to dedicate themselves to the arts following a trip and tour of the great Gothic cathedrals in Northern France.

William then joined Edward—along with several other undergraduates and friends of Burne-Jones from Birmingham—in a group of intellectuals that called itself “The Brotherhood.” This club, which historians sometimes call the Birmingham Set, began meeting regularly to read theological tracts. This gave way to Shakespeare, the poetry of Tennyson and Browning, the novels of Dickens and then to a secular study of the art and architecture of the middle ages.

John Ruskin in the 1850s
John Ruskin in the 1850s

By 1855, the young men were influenced greatly by the views of John Ruskin and the Pre-Raphaelites who wanted to counter the influence of the industrial revolution upon artistic and cultural expression. Ruskin and his followers believed that art had to be returned to the hand-craftsmanship that had been abandoned beginning with the works of Raphael. Ruskin taught that the separation of the intellectual work of the designer from the manual work of physical construction—a significant feature of mass industrial economy—was socially and esthetically damaging.

The first issue of the “Oxford and Cambridge Magazine”
The first issue of the “Oxford and Cambridge Magazine”

Returning to medieval artistic forms and techniques—and rebelling against what was considered the “barbarity” of contemporary industrial culture—would become a recurring theme of the subsequent works of William Morris. He developed the firm conviction that “without dignified, creative human occupation people became disconnected from life.” Alongside these cultural ideas, Morris and “The Brotherhood” advocated social reform aimed at improving the conditions of misery among the industrial workingmen of Victorian England.

In 1856, the members of “The Brotherhood” published twelve monthly issues of the Oxford and Cambridge Magazine—financed by Morris—which espoused the views of the group. It was out of these ideas, that William Morris, Edward Burne-Jones, Charles Faulkner, Dante Gabriel Rossetti and others would establish what later became known as the Arts and Crafts Movement that spread throughout the world in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Morris’s accomplishments

It is not possible to deal in detail with the many significant accomplishments made by William Morris in so many fields over the next four decades. The following is a brief listing:

Red House where William Morris lived with his wife Jane from 1860 to 1865. It is owned today by the National Trust and is open to the public.
Red House where William Morris lived with his wife Jane from 1860 to 1865. It is owned today by the National Trust and is open to the public.

–       Architecture:

  • He transformed domestic architecture and construction with the Red House built in Kent for Morris and his wife in 1859 with designs by Philip Webb. The house is made of red brick with a steep tiled roof, utilizing all natural materials.
  • Morris founded the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (SPAB) in 1877 dedicated to the repair and preservation of England’s ancient buildings. The society still exists with 8,500 members and operates according to Morris’s original manifesto.

–       Decorative Arts:

  • Founded in 1861 Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co. for the creation of woodcarvings, stained glass, metalwork, paper hangings, printed fabrics and carpets.
  • To this day, the textile designs of William Morris—for furniture, embroidery and wallpaper—remain among the most popular choices for home decor.

–       Literature:

  • Morris wrote several novels—News From Nowhere (1890), The Wood Beyond the World (1894) and The Well at the World’s End (1896)—that were the first works of science fiction fantasy. Morris influenced both C.S. Lewis (The Chronicles of Narnia) and J. R. R. Tolkien (The Lord of the Rings).
  • In 1869, after learning Old Norse language and together with Eirikr Magnusson, Morris published translations of Icelandic mythology and folklore into English. The project eventually became a six-volume library of 9th century Icelandic sagas.

–       Politics:

  • In 1883, Morris became an active member of the Social Democratic Federation and played a prominent role in its political work.
  • Morris was the financier, editor and writer from 1885-1890 for Commonweal an influential English left political magazine.

Kelmscott Press

Toward the end of his life, William Morris turned to the craft of printing and publishing. In 1891, he founded Kelmscott Press along with William Bowden near his home in Hammersmith, London. As with his previous artistic ventures, Morris wanted to shift book design and production back to that of medieval times.

At Kelmscott Press, Morris set out to produce books with traditional methods as much as possible. This meant first of all redesigning typefaces to reflect the look of the fifteenth century and simultaneously eschewing the use of lithographic printing systems. Morris believed strongly that contemporary book production was inferior to that which could be achieved by the craftsmen’s handwork based on strict adherence to fifteenth century techniques.

The typefaces Golden and Troy designed by William Morris for Kelmscott Press
The typefaces Golden and Troy designed by William Morris for Kelmscott Press

For all 53 books produced by Kelmscott Press, special hand-woven paper was made entirely of linen, natural materials were used for custom-made inks and Morris himself designed the typefaces. Based upon the 1470 type of Nicholas Jenson, Morris developed his Golden type in 1891. Later that year he also designed the gothic Troy font based upon the black letter type printed by Gutenberg in 1450.

Page 60 of “The Works of Geoffrey Chaucer” published by Kelmscott Press in 1896
Page 60 of “The Works of Geoffrey Chaucer” published by Kelmscott Press in 1896

Perhaps Morris’s greatest printing accomplishment was The Works of Geoffrey Chaucer published by Kelmscott in 1896. The magnificent volume established a new standard for book design at the end of the 19th century. Adorned with 87 illustrations and many decorative black borders of acanthus and vine—all designed and produced by Morris’s friend Burne-Jones—there were approximately 425 copies printed.

Morris’s contribution to book design was summed up in a talk that he delivered to the Bibliographic Society in 1893 called “The Ideal Book.” In his presentation, Morris exhibited his considerable knowledge of the technology of book printing as well as the esthetics of typographic design. In poetic style, Morris said,

First, the pages must be clear & easy to read; which
they can hardly be unless,

Secondly, the type is well designed; and

Thirdly, whether the margins be small or big, they
must be in due proportion to the page of letter.

William Morris—the polymath designer, author, social theorist and printer—died on October 3, 1896 at the age of 62. A major figure of the late 19th century and during a time of great technological change, Morris sought solutions to the dilemmas of his time in medieval styles and methods. While one may rightfully question his romanticism and identification of industrial progress with “barbarity,” the positive influence of William Morris lives on today in many more ways than is popularly appreciated or understood.

NAPL report: What is happening to the printing industry?

State of the IndustryLast September, NAPL (National Association for Printing Leadership) published a valuable eleventh edition of a report called “State of the Industry.” The report provides a multi-faceted and insightful look into the condition of the printing industry—the changes, challenges and opportunities faced by printing firms today—based upon a survey of executives and owners from more than 300 companies.

The report is the work of Andrew Paparozzi, NAPL Chief Economist, and Joseph Vincenzino, NAPL Senior Economist. The NAPL economists overlay the survey results upon other general information to develop a depth of understanding about the dynamic forces impacting the industry. A copy of the report is available for NAPL members at no charge and non-members can purchase it on the NAPL web site for $149.95. http://members.napl.org/store_product.asp?prodid=369

A central theme of the survey results and analysis—both quantitative and qualitative—is that print is undergoing a transformation of historic magnitude. The difficulties created by the Great Recession of 2008-2009 that caused business volumes to fall dramatically—and they still remain today some 21% below pre-recession highs—are but one side of the problems created by rapidly evolving print markets.

The report begins with the following: “Business remains a tough grind, with little opportunity for organic growth.” This means that firms competing for “new” business are struggling over a traditional print market pie that is getting smaller; and yet market redistribution is also underway because of the second side of the changing business climate: the fundamental adjustments brought on by digital communications technologies and methods.

As Paparozzi and Vincenzino explain in the Executive Summary, “Getting and staying on the right side of market redistribution is the most significant challenge for everyone in our industry. Market redistribution is structural, not just cyclical. So much of what’s happening in our industry is the result of digitization, the Internet, and profound change in how people communicate, not GDP. Consequently, we have fewer printers but more competition—we’re in a constant battle for market share.”

The NAPL analysis is more than a review and commentary on the condition of the industry (Chapters: “Where We Are” and “Where We Are Headed”); the report also contains an assessment of those firms that are doing well in the current environment. It brings together generalizations (Chapters: “What We Have to Do” and “We May Need to Look Elsewhere”) about the correct way to approach the printing business today (Chapters: “Leaders: A Diverse Group” and “Ideas for Action”). At the same time, the report cautions against any kind of formulaic or “cookie-cutter” solution for every company or situation.

As the Executive Summary concludes: “It isn’t enough to know what’s happening and what’s ahead. We have to act on what we know—a game plan for action—taking steps to make the upheaval redefining our industry an opportunity rather than a threat. This report provides several ‘ideas for action’ to do just that.” These actions are summarized as “Hear the voice of our clients more clearly; execute more efficiently and successfully; communicate company direction to employees more effectively; and cultivate new skills across our organization.”

Macro trends

One interesting point that is made deals with the contraction of the industry. It is well know that the number of printing establishments has been declining for the last two decades; since 1992 there were 16,000 fewer companies in the industry (41,012 down to 25,242) by 2012. However, as the report analyses, not only are companies dying off, but there are also new firms being born each year.

Printing Company Births and Deaths

What kind of companies are these businesses? NAPL answers thus: “These companies are coming in with a clean slate—i.e. without legacy equipment, work habits and mindsets that limit flexibility or the troublesome issue of long-term, loyal employees whose skills don’t match the direction in which the company is embarking. Rather they are hiring the skills they at the start, creating a workforce with talents more relevant to our new industry. That they tend to be smaller companies shouldn’t create a false sense of security: Smaller companies grow—and the good ones grow rapidly.”

Another important point the report makes about the overall situation is that a boost in overall economic activity as reflected in GDP is not going to produce a “recovery” in printing. In any event, the very modest economic growth remains lackluster because of “headwinds” such as government cutbacks and the implications of the Affordable Care Act.

NAPL predicts that US printing industry sales will rise .5%-1.5% in 2013 and as much as 1.0%-3.0% in 2014 following an increase of .6% in 2012. While these figures are very modest, the report shows that these results are not projected to be even across all regions of the country. While some regions, such as South Central, have experienced double-digit growth since 2007, others like the Southeast and North Central have seen an overall decline of -.5%.

Print business priorities

The NAPL survey results reveal what company owners and executives consider the most important areas of focus and how they approach them. The following are the business topics and the top responses to the survey:

  • Hearing the Voice of the Customer
    Meeting more frequently on an owner-to-owner/executive-to-executive basis (64%)
  • Client Education
    We offer client education programs and materials (56.4%)
  • Employee Communications
    One-on-one or small group meetings (77%)
  • Execution issues
    Poor follow through. Start off well, but lose focus (39.8%)
  • Strategic Shifts
    We will no longer carry unproductive employees (48.3%)
  • Critical Skills
    Sales (71.3%)
  • What We’d Most Like to Upgrade
    Web-to-print, web storefront, ecommerce (51%)

Sales Industry Leaders

One of the striking results of the survey is that there is an expanding divergence between industry leaders and the rest of the industry. This comes out most obviously on the sales front. It is clear from the foregoing data that understanding customer needs, business development and sales are a top priorities for printing company owners and executives.

In an environment of intense competition, differentiation is key to winning and retaining clients. In order to survive and grow, those companies that have been most successful have absorbed the meaning of the fundamental changes taking place and are offering a complex array of products and services beyond ink on paper. As summed up in the comment of one survey participant, “Successful printers recognize they are part of the communications industry, not the printing industry.”

Where does offset lithography fit?

An important aspect of the NAPL report deals with the state of traditional offset printing. In fact, the report contains a page following the executive summary called, “What About Lithography?” which makes some highly valuable comments about the relationship between the old and the new of the industry.

Offset lithography is still the single biggest source of revenue in the printing industry. At between $40 and $45 billion, this market breaks down as follows:

  • Advertising print: $10.2 billion
  • Magazine/periodical print: $4.9 billion
  • Catalog/directory print: $3.2 billion
  • Miscellaneous other print: $20 billion

Printing Company Revenue Sources

Eighty-eight percent of NAPL survey respondents reported that they get one quarter of their revenue from offset lithography and 70% report that it accounts for at least half. Printing companies cannot afford to “walk away” from this dominant yet traditional source of revenue. “Put simply, once we won by being the best lithographer. Now we win by being the best at putting lithography and every other service that we offer—it’s print-and, not print-or—to work for our clients.” This is a very good summary of where we are as an industry: one foot in the old and one foot in the new era of communications.

Aldus Manutius: 1449/1450 – 1515

The great cultural movement called the Renaissance (rebirth) spanned the fourteenth to the seventeenth centuries. This places Johannes Gutenberg’s 1450 invention of printing early in that era. As is widely acknowledged by historians, printing was not only the most important technological achievement of the Renaissance; it was also its greatest catalyst.

Aldus Manutius
Aldus Manutius: 1449/1450 – 1515

Along with the expansion of world trade and the circumnavigation of the globe—combined with enthusiasm for Gutenberg’s innovation—printing spread rapidly from Germany to destinations across Europe and elsewhere. And, as the business and products of “mechanical writing” proliferated, the knowledge that came along with it multiplied exponentially.

Eventually, like so many printing press pebbles tossed into the global pond, the ripple waves of literacy and democracy spread and connected with one another. By the eighteenth century, the achievements of the Renaissance led to the age of Enlightenment. And so, one of the most remarkable end results of this technical and cultural transformation was the American Revolution of 1776 … but that takes us a long way from the subject of this review.

The Renaissance, especially in Italy, was shaped by humanist teachings, i.e. the notion that citizens should be educated in the humanities (language, literature, philosophy, religion and the arts). Florence, Naples, Rome, Venice and Genoa were among the centers of Italian humanism. Great collections of antique hand written manuscripts and also printed books were assembled in libraries and made available for study primarily for those of wealth and means.

It was within this environment that Aldo Manuzio (Aldus Manutius is Latinized) was born in Bassiano, Italy about 100 kilometers south of Rome. The precise date of his birth is not known. It has been surmised that he was born in 1449 or 1450 from the preface to a book published by Aldus’ grandson, Aldus, The Younger, in 1597.

Very little is known about Aldus’ early life. In his The Rudiments of Latin Grammar published in 1501, Aldus mentions he was trained in Latin at a young age. This information—along with the fact that he had an ancestor that was a Bishop—indicates that his family was well off.

Aldus left Bassiano for Rome, perhaps as young as 15 years of age, to be educated as a humanist scholar. His classical studies in Latin continued in Rome for eight years at which time he moved to Ferrara to conduct studies in Greek. Sometime around 1479 or 1480, having established himself as a scholar of the highest quality, the King of Carpi hired Aldus to become the teacher of his nephews. It was during his time in Carpi that Aldus developed his interest in publishing and printing.

By the 1400s, Venice was a center of world commerce much like New York City might be considered today; everything important was happening there. And so, it was to this Italian center of so many things that Aldus, at the time in his late 30s, decided to relocate and start a publishing enterprise.

There is almost no information available about Aldus’ activity during his first five years in Venice. It has been deduced that he spent this time preparing and setting up a viable publishing business—learning the book market and printing technique—in a very competitive environment. Printing arrived in Venice by way of Germany twenty years earlier and there were well-known firms already operating by the time Aldus launched his enterprise.

A page from Aldus printing of Aristotle
A page from one of the 5 volume set of “Aristotle” published by Aldus between 1495 and 1499

Aldus’ initial activity—and this would prove to be his most important accomplishment—was to edit and republish authoritative editions of the classics of literature. The initial project, a reissue of the Greek Grammar of Constantine Liscaris in 1495, was the first volume to be published under Aldus’ name although Andrea Torresani’s press likely did the printing.

A big breakthrough came in that same year with the publication in Greek of the first of a five-volume folio edition of the works of Aristotle. It would take four years to complete the project. This work has been referred to as the “greatest scholarly and printing achievement of the fifteenth century.” Aldus then went on to edit and publish Thucydides, Sophocles and Herodotus in 1502, Xenophon’s Hellenics and Euripides in 1503 and Demosthenes in 1504. In the decade before his death, Aldus also published editions of Latin and Italian classics. 

Aldine Press printers mark
The Aldine Press trademark symbolizing the adage “Festina lente” (Make haste slowly)

By 1496, had his own printing operation and began using various forms of “at Aldo’s” to signify the source of his publications as what later became known as the Aldine Press. In 1498, Aldus began using the Aldine Press trademark—the emblem of the dolphin wrapped around the anchor that symbolized the Latin phrase “Festina lente” (Make haste slowly)—on all of his works. At this point Aldus turned his attention to innovations in the forms of print, the first big contribution being in typography.

The typography of print as it arrived from Germany was in the Gothic form of heavy, “gross” lettering as seen in the Gutenberg bible. By 1470, Nicholas Jenson—who had come to Venice from France—had transformed the printed word and created the Renaissance book with his slender roman typeface and capital letters.

Title page from Virgil Opera with italics
Title page from Virgil’s Opera, the first book published in the Aldine italic typeface

Aldus began with Jenson’s typeface and reworked it into his own style for the Greek classics. His desire was to make the fonts look like the work of human handwriting. This effort would ultimately lead to the development of the “italics” that emulated cursive writing and also became known at times as the Aldino typeface. Francesco Griffo, to whom Aldus later paid tribute, performed the actual artistry of cutting the slanted italic. The first book that contained Aldus’ italic font was the 1501 Aldine Press edition of Virgil’s Opera.

The early period of printing—from 1450 to 1500—is often referred to as the “incunabula” or cradle of printing. At that time, most books were printed in folio format, i.e. page sizes of approximately 14.5” by 20” (the pages in the Gutenberg bible are approximately 17” x 24.5”). These were very large books that could be read wherever they were located; they were not portable.

This is when Aldus made another historic advancement. As explained by Helen Barolini in her Aldus and his Dream Book, “The real revolution, the moment of true divulgation of the printed word that impelled Western society … came when Aldus brought out his edition of Virgil’s Georgics in elegant, octavo format that was to become the staple of the Aldine press and Aldus’ trademark.”

Comparison of folio to octavo book dimensions
A comparison of folio and octavo book dimensions, courtesy ILAB.
Aldus created the first octavo book.  

The octavo format is approximately 7.25” x 10,” something very close to what would be found today in a bookstore. Aldus produced the very first modern book that was small enough and inexpensive enough for someone to take with them almost anywhere.

Aldus’ other innovations included a unique method for bookbinding sometimes referred to as “binding in the Greek style” and advancements in punctuation such as the creation of the semicolon and the modern comma.

Aldus Manutius married Maria, the daughter of Andrea Torresani—the owner of a printing firm with whom he had worked early on in Venice—in 1505. Aldus died on February 6, 1515. His brothers-law took over the Aldine press and ran it until 1533 when Aldus’ third son Paulus Manutius assumed control of the business. It is believed that the Aldine Press published more than 1,000 titles in the hundred years that ended in 1595.

The scholar, humanist, publisher and printer Aldus Manutius was a monumental figure of the Renaissance. He was a force for the expansion of literacy and knowledge for everyone. Fortunately, his books have survived and there is a substantial record of his work including his own words that were often printed in the preface of Aldine Press books. In the Thesaurus Cornucopiae of 1496, Aldus wrote:

“My only consolation is the assurance that my labors are helpful to all … so that even the ‘book-buriers’ are now bringing their books out of their cellars and offering them for sale. This is just what I predicted years ago, when I was not able to get a single copy from anyone on loan, not even for one hour. Now I have got what I wanted: Greek volumes are made available to me from many sources … I do hope that, if there should be people of such spirit that they are against the sharing of literature as a common good, they may either burst of envy, become worn out in wretchedness, or hang themselves.”