Nice stuff at the John Rylands Library

King Florus and the Fair Jehane is a medieval French Romance telling the take of a woman's virtue and marriage. It was translated from old French to English by William Morris and printed at his Kelmscott Press in 1893. James and Mary Lee Tregaskis, noteworthy London booksellers, bought 75 unbound sets of the work out of the 350 printed. They sent then to 26 countries to be bound in traditional style for a 1894 exhibition of bookbinding from craftsmen all over the world. Being a big fan of William Morris, in addition to her full set of Kelmscott Press publications, Enriqueta Rylands bought the exhibition in its entirety, for the library on Deansgate she built in memory of her late husband. These books signify the Victorian rebellion against the machine made, the fin de siècle notions of Imperialism and Colonialism; the need to define and appropriate a cultural reaction to Empire. More over, they are quite simply exquisite books. Just need to turn that into 12000 words and I'll have a dissertation!