William Morris Unbound

The incredible Morris scholar Tony Pinkney, author of the blog William Morris Unbound, has recently released a book William Morris: The Blog which brings together many of his essays written over the last few years.  Unfailingly, Tony has shown us how William Morris remains relevant today, especially within the realms of politics and society.  Tony, if we were in an English pub (no doubt quaint) I would raise a pint to your success, then ask what you thought Morris would say about the Occupy Movement spreading around the globe.  I can't help but think he would be on the front lines.

The Works of Geoffrey Chaucer

Kelmscott Chaucer (1896)

On display in the Buffalo and Erie County Public Library through January 30, 2011, “The Ideal Book - William Morris and the Kelmscott Press”.  Your chance to see one of the most famous books in the world, regarded by many as the greatest publication ever issued by a modern private press.

An older post about Morris and the private press movement (which he founded) here.

I Write Like.....

 ....H. P. Lovecraft, an American author (1890-1937) of horror, fantasy, and science fiction.  How do I know this?  Because I pasted a sample of my writing into the web site I Write Like and it statistically analyzed my choice of words and writing style and compared them to a data base of famous authors.  I had never heard of H.P. Lovecraft but thought it quite the spooky coincidence given my obvious love of craft.

How reproducible was this result?  I pasted in text from a second blog post and got the same answer.  Then I pasted in the first three paragraphs of a science proposal I am writing and got the same answer again!  (I'm not sure this bodes well for my science proposal.)  At this point I'm really skeptical so I paste in three samples of my father's writing and get three different answers (dad, you write like Dan Brown, Cory Doctorow, and J.R.R. Tolkien---my conclusion, you have a unique writing style/voice).  Then I tested my blurb about Morris from the sidebar.....H. P. Lovecraft, again!  Clearly, all Lovecraft fans should be reading my blog.

Finally, given that Lovecraft was a fantasy writer, the fictional genre invented by William Morris (see post here), I wondered if there was a connection between the two, other than both of the authors being included in the well-known (to people like Tyrion Frost) Ballantine Adult Fantasy Series.  All I could discover was that Lovecraft was heavily influenced by Lord Dunsany, who in turn was strongly influenced by Morris.  My writing style thus appears to have three degrees of separation from the Great One! 


p.s. after finishing this post, the analysis of it on I Write Like, again, was H. P. Lovecraft!

William Morris Notebooks

pages from Merton Abbey Dye Book, 1882-91

Fruit and Daisy

I'd be so happy if my travel notebooks displayed a fraction of the beauty and grace of these "lab" notebooks from Morris & Company.  Does anyone remember this post, my third?  A moleskine inspiration....

The pictures are from Essential William Morris, William Morris by Himself, William Morris and Morris & Co., and William Morris Decor and Design.

Art You Give Your Children

Today is Read Across America Day, held each year on the birthday of Dr. Seuss, aka Theodor Geisel.   How wonderful is the art of our childhood....

 

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

And of course, don't forget Struwwelpeter from last week.  I got a number of emails from friends and family after that post, all saying how much they loved reading Struwwelpeter as kids.  One particularly funny note went: "We also read Struwwelpeter, it was totally engrossing and made you feel tingly and inordinately interested in matches."