"In the land of the Upmeads, King Peter's sons thirst for adventure and the King agrees that all except Ralph, the youngest, may go forth. But Ralph secretly makes his way to Wulstead, and here learns about the Well at the World's End, beginning a journey which will eventually lead him there. Along the way, our hero encounters adventure, travails, and romance. A must-read for fans of classic quest stories."The Well at the World's End is a fantasy novel by the British artist, poet, and author William Morris. It was first published in 1896 and has been reprinted a number of times since, most notably in two parts as the 20th and 21st volumes of the Ballantine Adult Fantasy series, in August and September 1970. It is also available in one volume along with a similar Morris tale, The Wood Beyond the World (1894), in On the Lines of Morris' Romances: Two Books that Inspired J. R. R. Tolkien.Using language with elements of the medieval tales which were his models, Morris tells the story of Peter, King of Upmeads, and his four sons, Blaise, Hugh, Gregory, and Ralph. These four sons decide one day that they would like to explore the world, so their father gives them permission. From that point on, the plot centers on the youngest son, Ralph.On its publication, The Well at the World's End was praised by H. G. Wells, who compared the book to Malory and admired its writing style: "all the workmanship of the book is stout oaken stuff, that must needs endure and preserve the memory of one of the stoutest, cleanest lives that has been lived in these latter days".Although the novel is relatively obscure by today's standards, it has had a significant influence on many notable fantasy authors. C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien both seem to have found inspiration in The Well at the World's End: ancient tables of stone, a "King Peter", and a quick, white horse named "Silverfax," an obvious inspiration for "Shadowfax," are only a few. Lewis was sufficiently enamored with Morris that he wrote an essay on that author, first read to an undergraduate society at Oxford University called the Martlets and later published in the collection of essays called Rehabilitations.

The novel describes a dream and time travel encounter between the medieval and modern worlds, thus contrasting the ethics of medieval and contemporary culture. A time-traveller tells Ball of the decline of feudalism and the rise of the Industrial Revolution.

Child Christopher and Goldilind the Fair, set in the forested land of Oakenrealm, was Morris' reimagining and recasting of the medieval Lay of Havelock the Dane, with his displaced royal heirs Christopher and Goldilind standing in for the original story's Havelock and Goldborough.

Stolen as a child and raised in the wood of Evilshaw as servant to a witch, Birdalone ultimately escapes in her captress's magical boat, in which she travels to a succession of strange and wonderful islands. Among these is the Isle of Increase Unsought, an island cursed with boundless production, which Morris intended as a parable of contemporary Britain and a vehicle for his socialistic beliefs. Equally radical, during much of the first quarter of the novel, Birdalone is naked, a highly unusual detail in Victorian fiction. She is occasionally assisted out of jams by Habundia, her lookalike fairy godmother. She encounters three maidens who are held prisoner by another witch. They await deliverance by their lovers, the three paladins of the Castle of the Quest. Birdalone is clad by the maidens and seeks out their heroes, and the story goes into high gear as they set out to rescue the women. Ultimately, one lady is reunited with her knight, another finds a new love when her knight is killed, and the last is left to mourn as her champion throws her over for Birdalone.

When the wife of Golden Walter betrays him for another man, he leaves home on a trading voyage to avoid the necessity of a feud with her family. However, his efforts are fruitless, as word comes to him en route that his wife's clan has killed his father. As a storm then carries him to a faraway country, the effect of this news is merely to sunder his last ties to his homeland. Walter comes to the castle of an enchantress, from which he rescues a captive maiden in a harrowing adventure.

Using language with elements of the medieval tales which were his models, Morris tells the story of Peter, King of Upmeads, and his four sons, Blaise, Hugh, Gregory, and Ralph. These four sons decide one day that they would like to explore the world, so their father gives them permission, except for Ralph, who is to remain at home to ensure at least one living heir.

The House of the Wolfings is a romantically reconstructed portrait of the lives of the Germanic Gothic tribes, written in an archaic style and incorporating a large amount of poetry. Morris combines his own idealistic views with what was actually known at the time of his subjects' folkways and language. He portrays them as simple and hardworking, galvanized into heroic action to defend their families and liberty by the attacks of imperial Rome.

In the tales the world is one of pure romance. Mediæval customs, mediæval buildings, the mediæval Catholic religion, the general social framework of the thirteenth or fourteenth century, are assumed throughout, but it would be idle to attempt to place them in any known age or country. Their author in later years thought, or seemed to think, lightly of them, calling them crude as they are and very young as they are.

Osberne Wulfgrimsson and Elfhild are lovers who live on opposite sides of the Sundering Flood, an immense river. When Elfhild disappears during an invasion by the Red Skinners, the heartbroken Osberne takes up his magical sword Boardcleaver and joins the army of Sir Godrick of Longshaw, in whose service he helps dethrone the tyrannical king and plutocracy of merchants ruling the city at the mouth of the river. Afterwards he locates Elfhild, who had fled with a relative, a wise woman skilled in the magical arts, and taken refuge in the Wood Masterless. Elfhild tells Osberne of their adventures en route to safety. Afterwards they return together to Wethrmel, Osberne's home, and all ends happily.

Fear and Hope—those are the names of the two great passions which rule the race of man, and with which revolutionists have to deal; to give hope to the many oppressed and fear to the few oppressors, that is our business; if we do the first and give hope to the many, the few must be frightened by their hope; otherwise we do not want to frighten them; it is not revenge we want for poor people, but happiness; indeed, what revenge can be taken for all the thousands of years of the sufferings of the poor?

The story is set in Burgdale, a small Germanic settlement in a valley at the foot of a mountain range, and the neighbouring woodlands, pastures and dales. The area is inhabited by the interdependent Dalemen, who are weavers, smiths, and traders, the Woodlanders, who are hunters and carpenters, and the Shepherds. Their society is challenged by disruptions from the outside world in the form of the Sons of the Wolf, the descendants of the Wolfings, and the invading Dusky Men (the Huns).

News from Nowhere is a utopian representation of Morris' vision of an ideal society. 'Nowhere' is in fact a literal translation of the word 'utopia'. This Utopia, an imagined society, is idyllic because the people in it are free from the burdens of industrialisation and therefore they find harmony in a lifestyle that coexists with the natural world.

The Story of Sigurd the Volsung and the Fall of the Niblungs is an epic poem telling the tragic story, drawn from the Volsunga Saga and the Elder Edda, of the Norse hero Sigmund, his son Sigurd and Sigurd's wife Gudrun. It sprang from a fascination with the Volsung legend that extended back twenty years to the author's youth, and had already resulted in several other literary and scholarly treatments of the story. It was Morris's own favorite of his poems.

Il romanzo che riafferma il valore dell"uomo sulle cose In questo romanzo dai sapori decisamente utopistici (il titolo scelto per questa edizione cerca di rendere omaggio al pensiero positivo che Morris trasferisce piuttosto che identificare “nessun luogo” con un carico negativo che la traduzione italiana di “nowhere” con “nessun luogo” riporta), Morris ci descrive un tempo e un luogo trasformati non tanto da una ideologia – Morris è uno strenuo difensore del socialismo britannico – quanto dal desiderio degli uomini di riacquistare alcune fondamentali dignità andate perdute con l’avvento dell’epoca industriale: tempo per le persone per stare qualitativamente meglio insieme; lavoro che tende ad una produzione che segue i reali bisogni delle persone e non le logiche del profitto; gioventù educata secondo principi che si rifanno allo sviluppo naturale delle cose; relazioni sociali orientate all’accoglienza e alla condivisione. Riscoprire Morris e le sue Cronache da Utopia riveste un significato importante: riscoprire un ideale di vita vicino ai principi che furono i capisaldi della cultura umanistica, riaffermando il valore dell"uomo sulle cose, avendo cura nella formazione delle persone attraverso il sapere, l"esempio dei maestri, l"amore che sostiene il "fare le cose" con bellezza. "Un testo che ha fatto scuola per moltissimi, un esempio di mondo non proprio così impossibile, che spesso oggi cerchiamo e crediamo sia la soluzione a molti dei guai che stiamo attraversando." (Recensione) L"AUTORE: William Morris fu personaggio eclettico: romanziere, pensatore, artista, politico, trend-setter in settori quali l’architettura, la grafica, l’arredamento e il design. Morris è anche un convinto sostenitore del recupero del lavoro manuale e degli antichi mestieri. Non a caso fonda la società Arts and Crafts, ancora oggi in attività, e i suoi insegnamenti sono alla base di alcuni recenti esempi italiani (Brunello Cucinelli ha individuato in Morris il riferimento della sua Scuola dei mestieri iniziata a Solomeo).