AN ADDRESS DELIVERED BY WILLIAM MORRIS AT THE DISTRIBUTION OF PRIZES TO STUDENTS OF THE BIRMINGHAM MUNICIPAL SCHOOL OF ART ON FEB 21, 1894.

First edition, first printing. Publisher's original cloth backed hollande paper covered boards and title in black to the upper board. Publishers slip loosely laid in. Printed in black at the Chiswick Press with the Golden type designed by William Morris for the Kelmscott Press. An excellent better than very good copy, the binding square and firm, with softening to the spine tips and light rubbing to the corners, the boards a little toned and the cloth spine faded. The contents, with a bookplate to the front pastedown and light toning to the front endpaper, are clean and bright throughout.

The Chiswick Press produced four uniform volumes containing William Morris's lectures, with this being the first, followed by 'Art and the Beauty of the Earth' (1898), 'Some Hints on Pattern Designing' (1899) and 'Architecture and History, and Westminster Abbey' (1900). From the library of typographer John Lewis (1912 - 1996) who was a pioneer in the study of printed ephemera and amassed a collection of over 20,000 printed items (now held at the University of Reading) spanning from the 15th Century to 20th Century. He taught at the Royal Collage of Art between 1951 and 1963 and wrote several books on both typography and printed ephemera, including the influential 'Printed Ephemera: the changing uses of type and letterforms in English and American printing.' (1962).