Product details
- ISBN 9780300278644
- Dimensions: 191 x 256mm
- Publication Date: 13 Oct 2026
- Publisher: Yale University Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Hardback
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Exploring the gardens of William Morris—Red House, Kelmscott Manor, Kelmscott House, and his factory garden at Merton Abbey—and the central role they played in his life, his patterns, and work
William Morris (1834–1896) was the preeminent pattern designer of the nineteenth century; his designs in continuous production have become part of the national consciousness. Less attention has been given to the gardens that inspired his patterns, influenced his wider craftwork and writing, and informed his place as a forefather of the environmental movement.
Cultural botanist Gavin Francis Stoneystreet journeys through Morris’s gardens to reveal a lesser-known figure: a tender father, an intuitive artist, a dreamer with a wild sensitivity. Each garden is a unique expression of his life and art in the moment of its making, with his response to the qualities of each place and its vegetal life ever present. His factory garden at Merton Abbey is also unearthed to reveal a radical utopia in the heart of industrial London. Featuring previously unpublished archival material, this book brings to life the ubiquitous “Morris print” and reveals a deeper understanding of the designer’s life’s work.
William Morris & His Gardens forms a sincere example of how to live a creative life in sympathy with nature.
Gavin Francis Stoneystreet is a Cultural Botanist, Writer and Historian. His work explores the ways artists, gardeners and creatives have tended their relationship with the botanical world across time and disciplines. His PhD from the University of Bath focused on artists’ gardens as places of pilgrimage and creative expression.
With a lifelong interest in Arts and Crafts, Gavin has been researching Morris’s gardens for many years. He serves as heritage adviser to the garden at Kelmscott Manor for whom he also compiled the garden’s conservation plan. He lectures widely on Morris, botany in art, and garden history. Gavin is located on untrodden pathways with his vegetal and feathered friends.
