William Morris is perhaps best known today for the beautiful textile designs he created under the banner of Morris & Co, which continue to decorate homes around the globe. As one of the leading lights of British socialism, however, he is less well known, and this series of Morris’s Manifestos seeks to highlight his extraordinary contribution to the literary canon on subjects socialist and artistic.

The second in the Morris’s Manifestos series, The Decorative Arts is a passionate argument against the homogenisation of production, and a cry for art to make itself seen in design – ‘art will make our streets as beautiful as the woods, as elevating as the mountainsides.’

This edition also includes The Manifesto of the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings, the society founded by William Morris and his architect friend Philip Webb, which sought to oppose the ‘destructive restoration’ that was going on in ancient buildings at the time.