The Arts and Crafts movement had its origins in Britain around 1880 and within a short period

spread across Europe and America and eventually Japan. It was a movement with high ideals,

motivated by concern about the impact of industrialisation not just on traditional craft skills but

also on the common man and woman. The movement derived its name from the Arts & Crafts

Exhibition Society founded in 1887 and was a well established and recognised term by 1905 when

T.J. Cobden-Sanderson published his book The Arts and Crafts Movement. The movement

embraced a wide range of societies, guilds, manufacturers and workshops, as well as a host of

architects, artists and craftspeople, as well as art critics and craft philosophers who either

acknowledged their allegiance to the cause or were influenced by it. The acknowledged

godfathers of the movement were the John Ruskin and William Morris and it was largely due to

these two towering figures in the nineteenth century art scene, that the Arts and Crafts

movement established such a foothold not just in Britain but internationally.

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This catalogue contains a selection from the wealth of literature that has been written about the

Arts and Crafts movement. Among highlights of the catalogue are both editions of M.H. Baillie

Scott's Houses and Gardens (1906 and 1933); The English House, the first full English translation

of Hermann Muthesius's Das Englische Haus (1904-05); The Manual of the Guild and School of

Handicraft. (1892) Edited by C.R. Ashbee; The Arts and Crafts Movement (1905) by T.J. Cobden-

Sanderson; History of the Merton Abbey Tapestry Works Founded by William Morris (1927) by

H.C. Marillier; A Note on the Morris Stained Glass Work (1913) published by Morris & Co.; two

volumes of The Century Guild Hobby Horse (1888 and 1889); several catalogue of the exhibitions

of the Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society; and the Art Workers'; Quarterly vols.1-5 (1902-1906),

plus the two rare special issues (1908).