The Wood Beyond the World and Morris's Fantasy Romances

A Kelmscott book: what the record shows

The firmest fact about The Wood Beyond the World is institutional. According to the Victoria and Albert Museum, it holds a copy of the work, designed by William Morris, published by the Kelmscott Press in 1894 in England, under a museum number. That gives the book a date, a publisher and an attribution, all from one documented source.

The Kelmscott Press itself is well documented. The V&A records that Morris set it up in 1891, the same year he turned down the Poet Laureateship after the death of Tennyson. The press produced a total of 66 books, printed and bound in a medieval style, with Morris designing their typefaces, initial letters and borders. The Wood Beyond the World is one product of that programme.

What the museum record does not give is a description of the book's contents. The available evidence does not explain what the V&A copy shows in terms of binding, typeface or borders, beyond its attribution and date, and it does not describe the plot. Any account of the story would go beyond the documented record on this page.

The late turn to prose

The Wood Beyond the World sits in the last years of Morris's life. He was born on March 24, 1834, in Walthamstow, near London, and died on October 3, 1896, in Hammersmith, aged 62, according to the Encyclopaedia Britannica.

Towards the end of his career Morris focused increasingly on his writing, publishing a number of prose narratives. The V&A describes News from Nowhere as Morris's most celebrated prose narrative, and records that it is infused with his socialist ideas and romantic utopianism, offering his vision of a simple world in which art or 'work-pleasure' is demanded of and enjoyed by all. A closer look at News From Nowhere is on its own page.

Note the difference in how the sources describe the two books. No source supplied for this page describes The Wood Beyond the World as utopian, or as a fantasy romance, or names its genre at all. The label 'fantasy romances' in the title of this page describes a category the evidence does not yet document for individual works.

What we cannot yet establish

Honesty about gaps matters on a research page. The following points cannot be established from the sources used here, and this page does not guess at them.

Not established by the evidence used for this page:

• The publication history of The Wood Beyond the World before the Kelmscott Press edition of 1894, including when it was written or first published.
• The plot, contents or genre standing of The Wood Beyond the World, and its role among Morris's prose romances.
• Which of Morris's prose works are considered fantasy romances. News from Nowhere is described as utopian, not explicitly as a fantasy romance.
• Any direct quotation from Morris about The Wood Beyond the World or his fantasy romances.
• What the V&A copy of the book shows physically, beyond its attribution to Morris and its 1894 Kelmscott Press publication.

A better institutional source on Morris's literary works would be needed to settle these questions. Until one is added, this page keeps to what the record supports.

A writer of standing

The late prose works came from an established writer. While working on The Earthly Paradise, an epic poem with an anti-industrial message, Morris was established as one of the foremost poets of his day. Morris's poetry, including that long poem, is covered on its own page, [William Morris the Poet: The Earthly Paradise and Other Works](/blogs/william-morris/william-morris-poetry).

His literary life ran alongside his working one. The V&A records that in 1859 Morris married Jane Burden. According to the Encyclopaedia Britannica, in April 1861 the firm of Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Company was founded, with premises in Red Lion Square, its other members being Ford Madox Brown, Rossetti, Webb and Burne-Jones. The V&A records that Morris became sole director of the restructured and renamed Morris & Company in 1875.

That double career is one reason the 1894 Kelmscott edition matters. The same man who ran a decorating firm for decades was also, in his last years, publishing books in a medieval style at a press he had founded, with Morris designing their typefaces, initial letters and borders.