ABSTRACT
Business is perhaps the least studied and, for many, least interesting facet of the multi-faceted career of William Morris. In this chapter, the authors suggest that business, contrary to the impression conveyed in much of the literature, was fundamental to the creative life of William Morris. The contrary viewpoint, portraying Morris as a reluctant business leader who succeeded mainly by virtue of creative talent rather than entrepreneurial ability, stems from his first biographer, J. W. Mackail. In a brochure of the early 1880s, the firm announced that interior design would henceforth "be under the special supervision of Mr WILLIAM MORRIS, who will personally advise Customers as to the best method and style of Decoration to be used in each case". Personal visits from Morris became social talking points; Walter Bagehot, the lawyer and constitutionalist, remarked in 1875, "the great man himself, William Morris, is composing [my] drawing room, as he would an ode".
