The Quest, Volume No. 2, No. 6 (July 1896) **Birmingham Guild of Handicraft**

Soft cover periodical, single issue, in green-grey printed paper wraps, quarto, (7-1/2 x 9-1/2 inches), the cover with engraved decoration to front printed in black. Contains 10 full page black and white illustrations by various artists of the Guild, including Edmund Hort New, Sydney Meteyard, C. M. Gere, Inglis Sheldon Williams, E.H. New, G.T. Tarling and E. G. Treglown, each preceded by a title sheet. Also, three partial page illustrations, two borders, 1 footer and 18 decorative initial caps. An index of the three issues comprising Vol. 2 appears as well. (Numbering is continuous from prior issue.) Thus: [2], [blank], [2], [blank], 95-144pp., [1], [blank], [1], [blank], [1], [blank], [5pp., vol. index and ads].**CONDITION: Very Good. Sound and clean, although with moderate folding which affects the margin of each page. Edges of the yapp-edged wraps have a few some minor (1/4 or less) tears and rumple, as seen. Very light browning at the spine. **Contents: British architect, preservationist, art historian and friend of William Morris, William Lethaby (1857-1931) provides an article entitled "Art, the Crafts, and the Function of Guilds." The onetime Surveyor for Westminster Abbey, Lethaby was responsible for the cleaning and preservation of the fabric of the building in the from 1906- 1928. Additionally, he was principal of London's Central School of Arts and Crafts, Professor of Design at the Royal College of Art and on the Committee for the Preservation of Ancient Buildings. Between 1894 and 1900 he had two building projects in Birmingham, which no doubt brought him into contact with the the work of the Guild. As an early friend of William Morris, he was also involved in the very early meetings of the Kelmscott Press, and later, as a defender of Morris's aims in the period after World War One when his work went somewhat out of favor. ( L. Parry, p. 21; Peterson, History, p. 290)** A portion of Robert Browning's 1852 narrative poem "Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came" is illustrated here by the English-born artist Inglis Sheldon Williams (1870-1940). The poem has been described as having moody, quest-like theme. Williams emigrated to Saskatchewan, Canada for a time, returning to London to study at the Slade School of Art, later traveling extensively and becoming an official war artist for the Canadians during the First World War. (Nat. Portrait Gallery) **A selection from William Caxton's "The Golden Legend," the Story of Seynt Kenelme, also appears in this issue. The text is presumably taken from William Morris and F.S. Ellis's three-volume Kelmscott edition of 1892, and there is certainly some fun to be had comparing the two sets of texts and noting the minor similarities and differences. However, the significant differences are found in the new illustrations and overall page design provided by the BGH artists, consisting of Meteyard's headpiece, the fancy initial capitals by H.A. Payne, as well as Tarling and Tregown's new full page illustrations of this story of the martyrdom of the ninth century King Kenelme, who was murdered by his sister Quyndrede and her lover Askeberd in an attempt to usurp power in the Welch Marches. Picturesque details of the tale provide ample fodder for the detail of these new drawings. (William Caxton, responsible for the printing of England's earliest books, had famously translated this book of saint's histories known as "The Golden Legend" from the original Latin version compiled by the medieval Bishop of Genoa, Jacobus de Voragine, published by Caxton in 1483.) Following this section are more items relating to the Kenelme story, including W.H. Bidlake's "A Note on Clent Church," and C.M. Gere's illustration of the same. [It is interesting to note that some of the art here was used in later editions of the "Golden Legend," cf. C.M. Gere's illustration in G.V. O'Neill's "The Golden Legend, Lives of the Saints" ( Cambridge, University Press, 1914.)] REFS: DNB, Linda Parry, edit. "William Morr. …