The Kelmscott Press was established by William Morris, a prominent member of the Arts and Crafts movement. This movement was broadly anti-industrialist in its aims and placed great emphasis on traditional techniques and technologies – Morris, for example, printed his books on a traditional hand press, rather than using a more mechanized press. Kelmscott Press books frequently feature the medieval-style decoration that is also associated with the Arts and Crafts movement, including many illustrations and decorative borders by the late Pre-Raphaelite artist Edward Burne-Jones. The Press's first typeface, the Golden type, was designed and cut in 1889-1890 and the first book printed in 1890. A second typeface, the Troy type, was added in 1892. Morris himself died in 1896, and the Press ceased operations in 1898. The Kelmscott Press is often considered the founding press of the modern fine press movement.

Special Collections has the following items printed at or published by the Kelmscott Press:

• Caxton, William (translator). The History of Reynard the Foxe. Hammersmith: 1893. PT5584.E5 C33 1893
• Chaucer, Geoffrey. The Floure and the Leafe & The Boke of Cupide, God of Love, or, The Cuckow and the Nightingale. Hammersmith: 1896. PR1898 .F4 1896
• Morris, William. A Note by William Morris on His Aims in Founding the Kelmscott Press, Together with a Short description of the Press by S. C. Cockerell, & an Annotated List of the Books Printed Thereat. Hammersmith: 1898. Z232.M87 M83 1898
• Morris, William. Child Christopher & Goldilind the Fair. Hammersmith: 1895. [Single leaf only]. Z232.M87 W55 2006
• Morris, William. Gothic Architecture: A Lecture for the Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society. Hammersmith: 1893. NA440 .M86
• Rossetti, Dante. Ballads and Narrative Poems. Hammersmith: 1893. 828 R73ba
• Rossetti, Dante. Sonnets and Lyrical Poems. Hammersmith: 1894. 828 R73so
• Ruskin, John. The Nature of Gothic: A Chapter of the Stones of Venice. Hammersmith: 1892. NA440 .R8 1892
• Shakespeare, William. The Poems of William Shakespeare, Printed after the Original Copies of Venus and Adonis, 1593; The Rape of Lucrece, 1594; Sonnets, 1609; The Lover’s Complaint. Hammersmith: 1893. PR2841.A2 E4

Special Collections has the following secondary resources relating to the Kelmscott Press:

• Morris, William. A Note by William Morris on His Aims in Founding the Kelmscott Press, Together with a Short description of the Press by S. C. Cockerell, & an Annotated List of the Books Printed Thereat. Dublin: At the Irish University Press, 1969. Z232.M87 M83 1898aa
• Morris, William. Some Thoughts on the Ornamented MSS. of the Middle Ages, Printed on His Albion Hand Press, with an Account of Its Travels from the Closing of the Kelmscott Press to the Present Day, Issued on the One-Hundredth Anniversary of William Morris’ Birth, March 24th 1934. New York: Press of the Woolly Whale, 1934. ND2920 .M6 1934
• Ransom, Will. Kelmscott, Doves and Ashendene: The Private Press Credos. Los Angeles: The Typophiles, 1952. Z231 .R35 1952
• Robinson, Duncan. A Companion Volume to the Kelmscott Chaucer. London: Basilisk Press, 1975. PR1850 1896BR
• Walsdorf, John. On Collecting William Morris: A Memoir; Together with an Original Leaf from the 1895 Kelmscott Edition of Child Christopher & Goldilind the Fair. Kirkwood: The Printery, 2006. Z232.M87 W55 2006
• Walsdorf, John J. William Morris in Private Press and Limited Editions: A Descriptive Bibliography of Books by and about William Morris, 1891-1981. Phoenix: Oryx Press, 1983. Z8595 .W34 1983