Defence of Guenevere

The Kelmscott Press, Upper Mall, Hammersmith, 1892, one of 300 copies on paper, of a total edition of 310 (10 on vellum), [2], 169,1 pp., woodcut initials and borders designed by William Morris, numerous woodcut initials, somelines in red, Golden type on Batchelor hand-made paper with (the first verison of) the Primrose watermark, 8vo (205 x 146 mm), original limp vellum, green silk ties, Gothic calligraphic title on spine.

The first book by William Morris, first published in 1858 and then reprinted by his Kelmscott Press in 1892. It is the first Kelmscott edition to be issued in the signature limp vellum.

‘The Defence of Guenevere’, was inspired by Robert Browning’s psychological dramatic monologues and is told from the perspective of Queen Guenevere as she recounts her affair with Sir Launcelot in a long speech of self-vindication. Its prominence within the collection led to Morris’s only surviving easel painting, ‘La Belle Iseult’.Peterson A5.