Add MS 45330-45334

WILLIAM MORRIS LITERARY MANUSCRIPTS. Vols. XXXVI-XL. Lectures, addresses, and miscellaneous papers relating mainly to Morris's political activities. Morris's first recorded lecture was delivered 4 Dec. 1877, his last 31 Jan. 1896. Some lectures he is recorded as having delivered on many occasions. Since it is not usually possible to ascertain which of several versions of a lecture was delivered on a specific occasion, or how many times Morris altered such a lecture verbally or in writing, the title of the first recorded occasion of its delivery only is quoted. Alternative titles can be found in Le Mire (see below). The MSS. are divided into those mainly on artistic subjects (45330-45332) and those mainly on political subjects (45333-45334), though the two became progressively less distinguishable in Morris's mind. The principal lectures are printed in C.W., vols. xxii, xxiii. Others are printed by May Morris in Morris, vols. i, ii, together with extensive extracts from previously unpublished material and much information on Morris's public life (passim); her list of principal lectures (pp. 638-640) is, however, inadequate for scholarly purposes. Ten of the most important unpublished MSS. have been printed by Eugene D. Le Mire in The Unpublished Lectures of William Morris (Wayne State University dissertation, 1962), which includes a long Introduction dealing with the difficulties of editing Morris's lectures and a calendar of all the occasions on which Morris is recorded to have spoken publicly, together with a bibliography (Le Mire's references to British Museum MSS. 45330- 45334 are now superseded by the final arrangement and foliation). A less detailed but more accessible work is R. C. H. Briggs, A Handlist of the Public Addresses of William Morris to be found in generally accessible Publications (The William Morris Society, 1961).