William Morris (1834-1896) was an English artist, writer, socialist and activist. He was one of the principal founders of the British arts and crafts movement, best known as a designer of wallpaper and patterned fabrics, a writer of poetry and fiction and a pioneer of the socialist movement in Britain. Morris and his friends formed an artistic movement, the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. They eschewed the tawdry industrial manufacture of decorative arts and architecture and favoured a return to hand-craftsmanship, raising artisans to the status of artists. He espoused the philosophy that art should be affordable and hand-made, and that there should be no hierarchy of artistic mediums. His best-known works are The Defence of Guinevere, and Other Poems (1858), Hopes and Fears for Art (1882), Chants for Socialists (1885), A Dream of John Ball: A King"s Lesson (1888), The House of the Wolfings (1889), Child Christopher and Goldilind the Fair (1895), Old French Romances (1896), The Well at...