An Endeavor Towards the Teaching of John Ruskin and William Morris

The Arts and Crafts Movement of the 19th and early 20th centuries sought to create new and more beautiful environments in the face of the bleak industrialization then sweeping Europe and the United States. While stressing fine craftsmanship wrought with honest, naturally attractive building materials, proponents of the movement looked to the teachings of Ruskin and English designer William Morris, who both stressed the virtues of handcraft over machine production. Influenced by Ruskin and Morris, English designer and Arts and Crafts pioneer C.R. Ashbee founded the Guild and School of Handicraft, an East London cooperative that aimed to "seek not only to set a higher standard of craftsmanship, but at the same time, and in so doing, to protect the status of the craftsman." In this beautifully decorated volume, C.R. Ashbee provides a brief history of the organization and explains the influence of the two great 19th-century aesthetic thinkers.