Poems by the Way

London: Reeves and Turner, 1891. First edition. Cloth. Very Good. 7.5" by 6". None. A first trade edition copy of William Morris's charming poetry collection 'Poems by the Way'. William Morris was an English designer, craftsman, poet, and early socialist, whose designs for furniture, fabrics, stained glass, wallpaper, and other decorative arts generated the 'Arts and Crafts' movement in England and revolutionized Victorian taste. Whilst in this current day Morris is best known for his fabric designs, he was best known in his lifetime as a poet, with his literary contributions helped to establish the modern fantasy genre. Although this work was the first volume of poetry Morris had published since 1876, he drafted a number of the poems in this work as far back as 1870. This volume contains the following works: From the Upland to the Sea Of the Wooing of Hallbiorn the Strong. Echoes of Love's House. The Burghers' Battle. Hope Dieth: Love Liveth. Error and Loss. The Hall and the Wood. The Day of Days. To the Muse of the NOrth. Of the Three Seekers. Love's Gleaning-Tide. The Message of the March Wind. A Death Song. Iceland First Seen. The Raven and the King's Daughter. Spring's Bedfellow. Meeting in Winter. The Two Sides of the River. Love Fulfilled. The King of Denmark's Sons. On the Edge of the Wilderness. A Garden by the Sea. Mother and Son. Thunder in the Garden. The God of the Poor. Love's Reward. The Folk-Mote by the River. The Voice of Toil. Gunnar's Howe Above the House at Lithend. The Day is Coming. Earth the Healer, Earth the Keeper. All for the Cause. Pain and Time Strive Not. Drawing Near the Light. Verses for Pictures. For the Briar Rose. Another for the Briar-Rose. The Woodpecker. The Lion. The Forest. Pomona. Flora. The Orchard. Tapestry Trees. The Flowering Orchard. The End of May. The Half of Life Gone. Mine and Thine. The Lay of Christine. Hildebrand and Hellelil. The Son's Sorrow. Agnes and the Hill-Man. Knight Aagen and Maiden Else. Hafbur and Signy. Goldilocks and Goldilocks. In the publisher's original cloth binding with gilt title to front board and spine. Externally generally smart, with minor shelfwear to extremities and the odd mark to boards. Slight bumping to head and tail of spine resulting in small splits and slight loss to cloth. Fading to spine and extremities of boards, as usual with this colour binding. Faint offsetting to endpapers. Internally firmly bound. Pages age toned but generally bright and clean with the odd spot, heavier to first and last few pages. Prior owner's ink inscription to half title page. Very Good