Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    A Dream of John Ball by William Morris - Delphi Classics (Illustrated)
    A Dream of John Ball by William Morris - Delphi Classics (Illustrated)
    A Dream of John Ball by William Morris - Delphi Classics (Illustrated)
    Ebook153 pages1 hour

    A Dream of John Ball by William Morris - Delphi Classics (Illustrated)

    By William Morris

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    This eBook features the unabridged text of ‘A Dream of John Ball by William Morris - Delphi Classics (Illustrated)’ from the bestselling edition of ‘The Complete Works of William Morris’.

    Having established their name as the leading publisher of classic literature and art, Delphi Classics produce publications that are individually crafted with superior formatting, while introducing many rare texts for the first time in digital print. The Delphi Classics edition of Morris includes original annotations and illustrations relating to the life and works of the author, as well as individual tables of contents, allowing you to navigate eBooks quickly and easily.

    eBook features:
    * The complete unabridged text of ‘A Dream of John Ball by William Morris - Delphi Classics (Illustrated)’
    * Beautifully illustrated with images related to Morris’s works
    * Individual contents table, allowing easy navigation around the eBook
    * Excellent formatting of the textPlease visit www.delphiclassics.com to learn more about our wide range of titles
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPublishdrive
    Release dateJul 17, 2017
    ISBN9781788776936
    A Dream of John Ball by William Morris - Delphi Classics (Illustrated)
    Author

    William Morris

    William Morris (1834-1896) was an accomplished writer, textile designer and artist. A utopian socialist, he was associated with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and the English Arts and Craft Movement, and was a founding member of the Socialist League in Britain. Greatly influenced by the medieval period, Morris helped establish the modern fantasy genre though his works The Defence of Guenevere and Other Poems, A Dream of John Ball, and The Well at the World’s End. Authors like J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis were greatly influenced by works like The House of the Wolfings, The Roots of the Mountains, and The Wood Beyond the World. Morris was also an accomplished publisher, founding the Kelmscott Press in 1891, whose 1896 edition of the Works of Geoffrey Chaucer is considered a masterpiece of book design.

    Read more from William Morris

    Related to A Dream of John Ball by William Morris - Delphi Classics (Illustrated)

    Titles in the series (20)

    View More
    View More

    Related ebooks

    Classics For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      A Brief History Of Trees

      Nov 10, 2021

      A Brief History Of Trees
      9 min read

    • Article

      Crazy For Cider

      Aug 25, 2021

      JAMES CROWDEN is a poet, shepherd and total cider nut. In this, at least his third book on the subject, there is no other drink but that it suffers from his passion for cider, apple brandy and cider’s delicate, sweet sister, perry—and almost no momen

      5 min read

    • Article

      In Pursuit Of The Light

      May 10, 2023

      In Pursuit Of The Light
      6 min read

    • Article

      Giving Lincolnshire Its Due

      Jun 29, 2022

      MAY we play a word-association game? I say ‘Lincolnshire’ and you reply... Yes, you might struggle to find anything to say about the ancient shire of that name. Perhaps ‘cathedral’ and ‘cabbages’ will float up through the mist of memory. I doubt many

      5 min read

    • Article

      A Place Worth Fighting For

      Mar 30, 2022

      Daisy Dunn (Wiedenfeld & Nicolson, £20) ON one of his lighter poetry-writing mornings, Christmas 1944, T. S. Eliot wrote this: Mr Maurice Bowra Gets sourer and sourer,Having been in a hurryTo succeed Gilbert MurrayAnd is now (poor soul) at the bott

      5 min read

    • Article

      Shrines Of Beauty

      Jan 24, 2024

      Shrines Of Beauty
      6 min read

    • Article

      Books & co

      Nov 13, 2020

      Reads to indulge in this winter indoors Edited by Paul Addison & Jeremy A Crang Intriguingly subtitled ‘Home Intelligence and British Morale, September 1940-June 1941’, this book investigates the controversial role of the clandestine intelligence gat

      5 min read

    • Article

      Cathedral Spotting At Its Best

      Nov 3, 2021

      IF Simon Jenkins were a building, what listing would he receive? Certainly Grade I, but I suspect a special super-plus category would be required. Many people would be content with a career as newspaper editor, columnist, National Trust chairman and

      5 min read

    • Article

      The Landscape Was His Mistress

      Feb 9, 2022

      IN 1802, John Constable wrote seven observations and resolutions about art. In them, among other things, he pledged to follow Nature, to make ‘unaffected’ pictures, and to avoid ‘common place people’. He also declared that ‘there is no easy way of be

      5 min read

    • Article

      I Dreamt I Dwelt In Marble Halls

      Sep 15, 2021

      THIS is a deft and stylish exploration of a vast and complex topic. The author, a former Architectural Editor and Editor of COUNTRY LIFE, has visited hundreds of country houses, investigating and understanding their stories, and this naturally inform

      5 min read

    • Article

      Making England

      Oct 20, 2021

      LIKE the Bible, the Revd Gilbert White’s The Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne is never out of print. The comparison is neither invidious, nor sacrilegious. White’s account of the birds and bees of his Hampshire parish, first published in 1

      4 min read

    • Article

      Walk Between The Lines

      Jun 1, 2022

      Walk Between The Lines
      5 min read

    • Article

      The Best Books Of The Year

      Dec 13, 2023

      The Best Books Of The Year
      8 min read

    • Article

      The Good, The Bad And The Frankly Awful

      Oct 25, 2023

      Timothy Mowl and Julian Orbach (Stephen Morris, £20) IN his epistolary novel The Expedition of Humphry Clinker (1771), Tobias Smollett, has the comically hypochondriac and irascible—but gradually mellowing—figure of Matthew Bramble, a country squire

      6 min read

    • Article

      Books & co

      Aug 12, 2022

      by Lindsey Fitzharris Many of us have heard of Gillies, the innovative doctor who – beavering away in the secluded grounds of Queen Mary’s Hospital, Sidcup, Kent – revolutionised the surgery undertaken to restore the faces of servicemen horrifically

      5 min read

    • Article

      Touring By The Book

      Nov 9, 2023

      Touring By The Book
      6 min read

    • Article

      An Autumn Choice

      Sep 28, 2022

      An Autumn Choice
      5 min read

    • Article

      The Old Un’s Notes

      May 4, 2022

      * With the Platinum Jubilee upon us, it’s time to look forward to the 70th anniversary of the Young Elizabethan, too. Founded in 1948 as Collins Magazine for Boys & Girls, it was renamed the Young Elizabethan to celebrate the Queen’s Coronation. In 1

      6 min read

    • Article

      BOOKS & PODCASTS

      Nov 23, 2023

      BOOKS & PODCASTS
      2 min read

    • Article

      The Old Un's Notes

      Jan 11, 2023

      Just before Christmas, historian Lady Antonia Fraser composed a verse on confronting that age-old companion to faith – doubt – at Farm Street Church, Mayfair. Nick Downes is one of the most treasured cartoonists at Oldie Towers (see above right for a

      4 min read

    • Article

      New Light On The Dark Ages

      Jun 9, 2022

      New Light On The Dark Ages
      8 min read

    • Article

      Time Makes Ruins Of Us All

      Sep 20, 2023

      Time Makes Ruins Of Us All
      6 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for A Dream of John Ball by William Morris - Delphi Classics (Illustrated)

    0 ratings

    0 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      A Dream of John Ball by William Morris - Delphi Classics (Illustrated) - William Morris

      The Complete Works of

      WILLIAM MORRIS

      VOLUME 1 OF 45

      A Dream of John Ball

      Parts Edition

      By Delphi Classics, 2015

      Version 1

      COPYRIGHT

      ‘A Dream of John Ball’

      William Morris: Parts Edition (in 45 parts)

      First published in the United Kingdom in 2017 by Delphi Classics.

      © Delphi Classics, 2017.

      All rights reserved.  No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form other than that in which it is published.

      ISBN: 978 1 78877 693 6

      Delphi Classics

      is an imprint of

      Delphi Publishing Ltd

      Hastings, East Sussex

      United Kingdom

      Contact: sales@delphiclassics.com

      www.delphiclassics.com

      William Morris: Parts Edition

      This eBook is Part 1 of the Delphi Classics edition of William Morris in 45 Parts. It features the unabridged text of A Dream of John Ball from the bestselling edition of the author’s Complete Works. Having established their name as the leading publisher of classic literature and art, Delphi Classics produce publications that are individually crafted with superior formatting, while introducing many rare texts for the first time in digital print. Our Parts Editions feature original annotations and illustrations relating to the life and works of William Morris, as well as individual tables of contents, allowing you to navigate eBooks quickly and easily.

      Visit here to buy the entire Parts Edition of William Morris or the Complete Works of William Morris in a single eBook.

      Learn more about our Parts Edition, with free downloads, via this link or browse our most popular Parts here.

      WILLIAM MORRIS

      IN 45 VOLUMES

      Parts Edition Contents

      The Novels

      1, A Dream of John Ball

      2, The House of the Wolfings

      3, The Roots of the Mountains

      4, News from Nowhere

      5, The Story of the Glittering Plain

      6, The Wood Beyond the World

      7, Child Christopher and Goldilind the Fair

      8, The Well at the World’s End

      9, The Water of the Wondrous Isles

      10, The Sundering Flood

      11, The Novel on Blue Paper

      The Shorter Fiction

      12, Introduction to the Fantasy Short Stories of Morris

      13, The Hollow Land

      14, A King’s Lesson

      15, Golden Wings and Other Stories

      16, The Folk of the Mountain Door

      The Play

      17, The Tables Turned; Or, Nupkins Awakened

      The Poetry Collections

      18, The Defence of Guenevere, and Other Poems

      19, The Life and Death of Jason

      20, The Earthly Paradise

      21, Love Is Enough

      22, The Story of Sigurd the Volsung and the Fall of the Niblungs

      23, The Pilgrims of Hope

      24, Chants for Socialists

      25, Alfred Linnell, Killed in Trafalgar Square. a Death Song

      26, Poems by the Way

      27, Unpublished Poems and Fragments

      The Translations

      28, Grettis Saga

      29, The Saga of Gunnlaug the Worm-Tongue and Rafn the Skald

      30, Völsung Saga

      31, Three Northern Love Stories, and Other Tales

      32, The Odyssey of Homer Done Into English Verse

      33, The Aeneids of Virgil Done Into English

      34, The Tale of Beowulf Done Out of the Old English Tongue

      35, The Ordination of Knighthood

      36, Old French Romances Done Into English

      The Non-Fiction

      37, Signs of Change

      38, Preface to ‘Arts and Crafts Essays by Members of the Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society’

      39, Hopes and Fears for Art

      40, Preface to ‘Mediaeval Lore from Bartholomew Anglicus’

      41, The Art and Craft of Printing

      Designs

      42, Morris & Co. Textile Designs

      43, Morris & Co. Stained Glass Designs

      44, Oil Painting

      The Biography

      45, The Life of William Morris by John William Mackail

      www.delphiclassics.com

      A Dream of John Ball

      Originally serialised in The Commonweal from November 1886 to January 1887, this novel was first published in book form in 1888. It concerns the peasants’ revolt of 1381. The novel presents the real historical figure of John Ball, a rebel priest, as an early follower of the socialist principles that were hotly debated in the late nineteenth century, and to which Morris was deeply committed. Ball is famous for posing the question: When Adam delved and Eve span, who was then the gentleman?

      As with Morris’ more famous News from Nowhere, the book employs an encounter across time as a device for political commentary. In this case, a time traveller, in a dream, tells Ball of the demise of feudalism and the rise of the Industrial Revolution – yet Ball realises that the nineteenth-century’s dreams of a more egalitarian society have not yet been fulfilled. Although denouncing feudalism, the novel is in keeping with Morris’ (and the nineteenth century’s) depiction of mediaeval England as a golden age in which peasants could work for themselves in peace and contentment, enjoying protection from guilds – a contrast to the division of labour and consequent mechanisation of the workforce characteristic of industrial societies.

      The first edition

      Title page of the first book edition

      Portrait of William Morris by George Frederic Watts, 1870

      CONTENTS

      CHAPTER I

      CHAPTER II

      CHAPTER III

      CHAPTER IV

      CHAPTER V

      CHAPTER VI

      CHAPTER VII

      CHAPTER VIII

      CHAPTER IX

      CHAPTER X

      CHAPTER XI

      CHAPTER XII

      Frontispiece of the first book edition

      Medieval illustration of John Ball encouraging Wat Tyler's rebels

      CHAPTER I

      THE MEN OF KENT

      Sometimes I am rewarded for fretting myself so much about present matters by a quite unasked-for pleasant dream. I mean when I am asleep. This dream is as it were a present of an architectural peep-show. I see some beautiful and noble building new made, as it were for the occasion, as clearly as if I were awake; not vaguely or absurdly, as often happens in dreams, but with all the detail clear and reasonable. Some Elizabethan house with its scrap of earlier fourteenth-century building, and its later degradations of Queen Anne and Silly Billy and Victoria, marring but not destroying it, in an old village once a clearing amid the sandy woodlands of Sussex. Or an old and unusually curious church, much churchwardened, and beside it a fragment of fifteenth-century domestic architecture amongst the not unpicturesque lath and plaster of an Essex farm, and looking natural enough among the sleepy elms and the meditative hens scratching about in the litter of the farmyard, whose trodden yellow straw comes up to the very jambs of the richly carved Norman doorway of the church. Or sometimes ’tis a splendid collegiate church, untouched by restoring parson and architect, standing amid an island of shapely trees and flower-beset cottages of thatched grey stone and cob, amidst the narrow stretch of bright green water-meadows that wind between the sweeping Wiltshire downs, so well beloved of William Cobbett. Or some new-seen and yet familiar cluster of houses in a grey village of the upper Thames overtopped by the delicate tracery of a fourteenth-century church; or even sometimes the very buildings of the past untouched by the degradation of the sordid utilitarianism that cares not and knows not of beauty and history: as once, when I was journeying (in a dream of the night) down the well-remembered reaches of the Thames betwixt Streatley and Wallingford, where the foothills of the White Horse fall back from the broad stream, I came upon a clear-seen mediaeval town standing up with roof and tower and spire within its walls, grey and ancient, but untouched from the days of its builders of old. All this I have seen in the dreams of the night clearer than I can force myself to see them in dreams of the day. So that it would have been nothing new to me the other night to fall into an architectural dream if that were all, and yet I have to tell of things strange and new that befell me after I had fallen asleep. I had begun my sojourn in the Land of Nod by a very confused attempt to conclude that it was all right for me to have an engagement to lecture at Manchester and Mitcham Fair Green at half-past eleven at night on one and the same Sunday, and that I could manage pretty well. And then I had gone on to try to make the best of addressing a large open-air audience in the costume I was really then wearing — to wit, my night-shirt, reinforced for the dream occasion by a pair of braceless trousers. The consciousness of this fact so bothered me, that the earnest faces of

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1