#Talwin Morris

[uwmspeccoll]

It’s Fine Press Friday! 

Today we’re leaning into the drama with a 1910 edition of Poems from notorious bohemian and (unofficial) Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (PRB) member Christina Rossetti (1830-1894). This vellum covered, gilt stamped, 369-page tome was printed on Unbleached Arnold paper by the Villafield Press in Glasgow and published in limited run of 350 copies in London by Blackie & Son under the art direction of Talwin Morris. It features a praiseful yet cutting introduction from fellow poet, critic, and suffragist Alice Meynell (1847-1922) along with a wealth of illustrations (70 plates) by Florence Harrison (1877–1955) , an Australian illustrator of poetry and children’s books who worked extensively with Blackie & Son. Harrison’s style was inspired by the Romantic Era and the nature-worshipping, hedonistic values of the Art Nouveau and Pre-Raphaelite movements of the time. Fittingly, she also illustrated the works of fellow PRB poets William Morris (1834-1896) and Alfred Tennyson (1809-1892).   

While many of the poems included are overtly devotional and express themes of purity, motifs of romantic love, limerence, melancholy, and death permeate the mood of the text as a whole. The Rossetti family, particularly Christina’s brother Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828-1882) (poet, illustrator, painter, translator, and co-founder of the PRB) and Elizabeth Siddal (1829-1862) (artist, iconic art model, poet, and Dante’s longtime partner, muse, and eventual wife), are known for their exploits, excesses, creative legacy and influence on the culture of the era. Christina published her first poem at only 16, and Siddal posed for Millais's Ophelia at 19. The radical, passionate nature of the philosophies and lifestyle they embodied was as much a product of the intensity and privilege of their youth as of the Renaissance ideals and Victorian mores they rebelled against.   

For a deeper dive on the Rossettis and their generation, check out this recent exhibition at the Tate Modern.  

View another Christina Rossetti post

View another Dante Gabriel Rossetti post

View another Pre-Raphaelite post

View more Art Nouveau posts

--Ana, Special Collections Graduate Intern

[thefugitivesaint]

Carton Moore-Park (1877-1956), ''Old Friends and New Fables'' by Alice Talwin Morris, 1916 Source

[thebeautifulbook]

SUSAN, A STORY FOR CHILDREN by Amy Walton. Cover design by Talwin Morris.

[michaelmoonsbookshop]

The Book of the Home

Gresham Publishing Co. Cover design by Talwin Morris

[furtho]

Cover of Talwin Morris’ Poems And Sonnets Of William Shakespeare, c1900 (via here)

[heaveninawildflower]

Art Nouveau book cover (undated) for 'The Songs, Poems and Sonnets of William Shakespeare', designed by Talwin Morris for Mudie's Select Library.

From Glasgow School of Art Library.

Wikimedia.

[cair--paravel]

Books designed by Talwin Morris, late 19th-early 20th century.

[collectorsweekly]

Art Nouveau book covers and endpapers designed by Talwin Morris, circa late 19th and early 20th centuries.

[salonduthe]

Talwin Morris book design

[gsalibrary]

John Keats, “Poems.”

London: Gresham, 1909.

Bookbinding and design by Talwin Morris.

https://capitadiscovery.co.uk/gsa/items/eds/cat03982a/GSA.222354

[nobrashfestivity]

Frances Macdonald, Margaret Macdonald, and James Herbert McNair (designers). Poster for The Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts, ca. 1895. Lithographic print on four joined sheets of paper, 10 x 46 3/8 x 3/4 in. framed. Glasgow Museums: Given by Mrs. Alice Talwin Morris, 1939. © CSG CIC Glasgow Museums Collection. Courtesy American Federation of Arts

[indigodreams]

Talwin Morris (1865-1911), designer of binding 1899 Hutchinson's The Reign of the Princess Naska Source: Euler, The Glasgow Style

[frontispieces]

Another Day in A Life

Another Day in A Life

For regular readers, and I know there are one or two ( thank you very much), this might be a bit repetitive – more on the life of an ordinary Oxfam bookshop.

And some days it feels a bit like that for me too, but then you have those days when you stumble across all sorts of weird and wonderful books.

So here is what I found at the bottom – it always is at the bottom – of a box:

Well, well, I…

[thebeautifulbook]

THE TROUBLES OF TATTERS by Alice Talwin Morris (London, Glasgow, Dublin: Blackie & Sons, 1895). Illustrated by Alice B. Woodward

[michaelmoonsbookshop]

Poems of Longfellow

Blackie and Son Limited [Glasgow] Red Letter Library 

Publisher’s deluxe vellum binding - cover design by Talwin Morris

[Private Collection]

[vladtheunfollower]

Selections from the Poems of Christina Rossetti

Gresham Publishing Company Limited c1905 - design by Talwin Morris