Kelmscott Press

The Kelmscott Press, perhaps the most famous of all private presses, was founded by William Morris at Hammersmith in January 1891. Between then and 1898, the press produced 53 books (totalling some 18,000 copies). The Kelmscott Press books were medieval in design, modelled on the incunabula of the 15th century.

Morris took great care with all aspects of production, incuding the paper, the form of type, the spacing of the letters, and the position of the printed matter on the page. Kelmscott books re-awakened the ideals of book design and inspired better standards of production at a time when the printed page was generally at its poorest.

The ideals and achievements of the Kelmscott Press inspired the foundation of many other private press, including the Doves, Eragny, Ashendene and Vale Presses.