The Flowers of William Morris book (Victoria and Albert Museum) - Thames & Hudson
Attractive editions of books
SKU: THANDSON- 9780500480458
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Description
William Morris (1834–1896), a passionate advocate of craftsmanship over mass production, designed a vast variety of objects, but it is his highly original patterns for carpets, fabrics, and wallpapers that continue to inspire and influence decorative art. Morris is credited with approximately 600 such designs, the vast majority of which are based on natural forms, including trees, plants, and flowers.
This beautifully designed, affordable gift book offers a wealth of Morris patterns, with a floral theme at its core, combining not only ready-made designs but also sketches in pen and watercolor, as well as examples of his pear, floral pattern blocks. It also explores the sources that inspired Morris’s floral designs: his own gardens at Red House in Kent, Kelmscott Manor in Oxfordshire, and elsewhere; herbs from the 16th and 17th centuries; illuminated medieval manuscripts; late medieval and Renaissance tapestries; and a range of decorated objects, particularly from the Islamic world, which Morris studied at South Kensington Museum (now V&A). The author: Rowan Bain, curator at the William Morris Gallery in Walthamstow, North London, and richly illustrated with nearly 100 color images, this excellent book will both inform and delight.
The Thames & Hudson publishing house was founded in 1949 by Walter and Eva Neurath. Their greatest passion and mission was to create a “museum without walls” and to make the world of art, as well as the research of leading scholars, accessible to a broad audience. To reflect international perspectives, the company’s name combined the rivers flowing through London and New York, represented in its logo by two dolphins symbolizing friendship and intelligence, one facing east, the other west, suggesting a connection between the Old World and the New.
Today, still an independent, family-run publisher, Thames & Hudson is one of the leading publishers of illustrated books worldwide, with over 2,000 titles printed. It publishes high-quality collectible books across all areas of visual creativity: arts (fine arts, applied arts, decorative arts, performing arts), architecture, design, photography, fashion, film, and music, as well as archaeology, history, and popular culture. It is also expanding its list of children’s books. Headquartered in London with a sister company in New York and branches in Melbourne, Singapore, and Hong Kong. In Paris, another subsidiary, Interart, distributes English-language books in France.
History of the Thames & Hudson brand
Walter Neurath was born in Vienna in 1903. In 1938, he left his hometown—where he ran an art gallery and published illustrated books—for London. Initially, he worked as a production director at Adprint, a company founded by Viennese émigré Wolfgang Foges. Neurath and Foges developed a pioneering concept now known as book packaging (or co-publishing), where book ideas are developed, ordered, produced, and sold to publishers operating in different markets and languages to create large editions, thereby reducing unit production costs. Neurath’s concept was the first of many innovations introduced to the publishing world through Thames & Hudson.
Seeking to continue book packaging in his second edition and recognizing the need to amortize the high costs of producing illustrated books, Neurath established his own publishing house, with offices in London and New York, in the autumn of 1949. Eva Neurath, who arrived in London from Berlin in 1939, was a co-founder.
Of the ten titles published on the first list by Thames & Hudson in 1950, *English Cathedrals*, with photographs by Martin Hürlimann, were the first and most successful. The strong conviction of {brand|company} from the very beginning regarding the longevity of books remained in print until 1971. In the first year of publication, Albert Einstein’s *Out of My Later Years* also appeared, an early indicator of the program’s breadth. As the list gradually expanded—growing from ten titles in 1950 to 144 in 1955—the company moved its offices to High Holborn and in 1956 relocated to a Georgian townhouse at 30 Bloomsbury Street, near Bedford Square, becoming the epicenter of book publishing in London. The manufacturing remained at this address, eventually expanding to five houses by 1999, when it returned to High Holborn.In 1958, Thames and Hudson launched one of the most renowned series, *World of Art*, which became the foundation of a highly diverse list. Characterized by pocket-sized formats and black spines, the series expanded in just seven years to include 49 titles. Almost 60 years later, the series boasts over 300 titles, which, according to Christopher Frayling, are “splattered with paint copies” in every art school across the country.
Other significant series that added depth and prestige to the list include *Ancient People and Places*, edited by Glyn Daniel, who from the 1950s contributed to pioneering interest in archaeology, both in book form and television. Over 34 titles were published in this series over 34 years. The large-format *Great Civilizations* series, published in 1961, featured contributions from esteemed scholars such as Alan Bullock, Asa Briggs, Hugh Trevor-Roper, A. J. P. Taylor, and John Julius Norwich.
After building one of the most important publishing houses in Europe in less than two decades, Walter Neurath died in 1967 at the age of 63. Sculptor Henry Moore wrote that “his death was a loss to our cultural life.” Sir Herbert Read noted that Neurath “more than anyone else was responsible for the revolution in art publishing” and was “one of those rare entrepreneurs who successfully combine business acumen with idealism.” Eva Neurath became chairwoman. Walter’s son, Thomas, who joined the company in 1961 along with his sister Constance, became managing director; Constance later served as artistic director for several decades. Both Thomas and Constance remain on the Thames & Hudson board, as do Thomas’s daughters, Johanna and Susanna.
From producing the first commercial edition of *The Book of Kells* to the triumphant publication of the six-volume *Vincent van Gogh - Letters*, from innovations like “French folds” to the controversial documentation of graffiti art in *Subway Art*, Thames & Hudson has always been at the forefront, both culturally and technically.
The year 2016 marked a remarkable new chapter for the company, announcing publishing partnerships with two of the world’s most important museums: the British Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum.
Thus, the world of art and scholarship remains at the heart of Thames & Hudson’s publishing program, which remains true to its core principle: providing a “museum without walls.”
Today, Thames & Hudson is a recognizable international brand, a symbol of British publishing. They offer thousands of engaging book titles, many of which are exclusive collector’s editions.
Attributes / Details
| SKU | THANDSON- 9780500480458 |
| Manufacturer | Thames and Hudson |
| Model | 9780500480458 |
| Author | Rowan Bain |
| Number of pages | 144 |
| Tongue | English |
| Year of release | 12 September 2019 |
| Size | 19.0 x 17.0 cm |
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