The Rare Profession of Bookmaking in William Moriss' Example

From the mid-18th century to the early 19th century, as mass production became possible through the industrial revolution, stuffs throughout life began to fill up with cheap, low-quality products produced by machines. Aesthetic values have been averted out among functional objects, and artists have been immersed in their world and devoted to works that are far from the demands of the public. But for human, it’s impossible to live abundantly with only their functions. Beyond simple functions, the need and importance of design to meet the needs of the period and human aesthetics have emerged.

The Arts and Crafts Movement (1810-1910)

The arts and crafts movement has been argued against the fact that mass production of various kinds of machines after the Industrial Revolution has been deteriorating the overall quality of the products used by humans. The mechanical industry lost its aesthetic value and they tried to bring back the handicraft tradition of the medieval artisans. William Morris and his colleagues in the UK actively developed and argued for the revival of handicrafts and established a company to show off beautiful products by hand rather than mass production from interior decoration to furniture.

William Morris

William Morris was distinguished in all areas as a poet, designer, craftsman, bookmaker, and social reformer. But his true worth is a great craft designer. He is a first-class artist and designer with a thousand faces in furniture, stained glass, wallpaper, tile, mural, tapestry, embroidery, and calligraphy printing. Morris's uniqueness is the fact that he was a craftsman and artist who brought art into everyday reality in the lives and lives of ordinary citizens, as demonstrated by his artistic craft movement.

He brought beauty and art into the perimeter of life and everyday living space. But unlike his contemporaries, he was not simply an admirer of 'beauty for beauty'. He aimed for a fusion of beauty and practicality. Above all, Morris is a magician and master of bookmaking. As a young man, he was immensely shocked by the Gothic cathedral and medieval coloring manuscripts. Since then, he has collected manuscripts and started to study printing and woodcutting. The desire to make a book as an artwork became a desire for life and became a prayer. Morris' book aesthetics, which sprouted from the encounter between Gothic cathedral and color manuscripts, is completed at his print studio Cam's Scott Press (Kelmscott Press) The purpose of Morris's workshop was to produce his idealistic book, which he had long dreamed of. He liked books. A booklover Morris liked to make books and enjoyed the joy.

Morris, who wanted to make a book like the Gothic cathedral, wanted to complete the collection of works of the father of English poetry. In June of 1896, he finally completed four months before his death. As soon as the book was published, it was sold out. All of Morris' books are exceptionally rare from birth. The book he has worked on is now the subject of coveting of the bibliophiles, and with the book of Shakespeare, the possession of the books is becoming one of the qualifications as the first-class booksellers and libraries in the UK. Morris, the mastermind of bookmaking, cannot be expected to show up again. Does death mean an eternal separation of what was most precious to live? Where are the immortal collections he made now enjoying that fate? The walls of the first floor of Cam Scott Press, where Morris spent the night making beautiful books, are also marked with the following text: 'William Morris, a poet, a craftsman, a socialist, lived here. 1878 ~ 96”