Talwin Morris Rare Book Exhibition: Home

Talwin Morris at the University of Manitoba Libraries

This site contains an electronic catalogue of 60 images of designs executed by Morris for the publishers Blackie and Son and Gresham around the turn of the last century, along with relevant bibliographic information. Twenty-four of these images are of books held by the University of Manitoba Libraries; the rest belong to a private collection.

This site aims for two goals: to identify some historically significant books held by the UM Libraries; and to supplement previous work about Talwin Morris and his designs. An individual Web page provides a larger image, notes, call numbers, pointers to copies held in some other libraries, and bibliographic information about each book in the catalogue. All books included in this catalogue are attributed to Morris in published articles or books. The individual book pages contain citations to these sources. This site was created in 2004 by Lyle Ford, University of Manitoba, during a research leave. An article about Talwin Morris, written during the same research leave, will be published in Amphora, The Alcuin Society's quarterly journal: "Art for the masses: the
Art Nouveau book designs of Talwin Morris." Amphora 135 (2004).

Talwin Morris

In 1893, Talwin Morris (1865-1911) moved from London to Glasgow to become Art Director for the publisher Blackie and Son. He later took on additional work with the publisher Gresham. These were very successful publishers, producing reference books and books for schools, among other types of publications. Morris worked for both publishers up to the time of his death. During his tenure as a book designer, he associated with Charles Rennie Mackintosh and other proponents of the Glasgow Style. Morris’ designs incorporate many aspects of the Glasgow Style. For a more detailed biography of Talwin Morris, click here.

Navigation

The site breaks into four main categories:

• Bibliography - An annotated list of books and articles about Talwin Morris and his designs.
• Image Gallery - A series of pages showing small images of Morris book designs along with bibliographic information, listed alphabetically by title. Clicking on the small image loads a page with a larger image and more detailed bibliographic information.
• Links - An annotated list of select Web sites dedicated to the book designs of Talwin Morris.
• Talwin Morris Biography - A short biography and overview of Morris' life and career as a book designer.