Morris’s life-long interest in the Middle Ages is clearly reflected in his design work and in his association with artists such as Edward Burne-Jones and Dante Gabriel Rossetti. He founded the Press in 1891 to carry through some of his ideas about the book arts, emphasizing type design (he created his own typefaces, Golden, Troy, and Chaucer); handmade linen paper (made by J. Batchelor & Sons, Kent, in 4 sizes); careful illustration and decoration (Morris designed all the Kelmscott borders and initials himself); and hand production.

Morris’s medievalism is reflected in both the list of books published and in their design. Many of the books were edited by Frederick S. Ellis, and Morris and Ellis sometimes clashed over the latter’s desire to include more scholarly apparatus with the medieval texts.

I  began  printing  books  with  the  hope  of  producing  some  which would  have  a  definite  claim  to  beauty,  while  at  the  same  time they  should  be  easy  to  read  and  should  not  dazzle  the  eye,  or trouble  the  intellect  of  the  reader  by  eccentricity  of  form  in  the letters.  I  have  always  been  a  great  admirer  of  the  calligraphy  of the  Middle  Ages,  and  of  the  earlier  printing  which  took  its place...  And  it  was  the  essence  of  my  undertaking  to  produce books  which  it  would  be  a  pleasure  to  look  upon  as  pieces  of printing  and  arrangement  of  type.

(William Morris, A Note on His Aims in Founding the Kelmscott Press)

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