FARMINGTON — John Rosenwald, scholar, teacher and collector, will speak on “The Most Amazing Man of the 19th Century,” an overview of the work of William Morris, at 2:30 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 17, in the North Dining Hall at UMF. The talk is free and open to the public.

Morris (in only one lifetime) was a Pre-Raphaelite painter, a nationally famous poet, the creator of the most important British home decoration firm in the world, an early campaigner for socialism, preserver of the world’s oldest dated Persian carpet, writer of Utopian and fantasy fiction and, in his final six years, founder of the press that produced the world’s finest printed books, most notably the “Kelmscott Chaucer.”

Rosenwald, Morris scholar and fan, is Professor Emeritus at Beloit College and Fulbright Professor of American and British Culture at China’s Fudan, Zhejiang, and Nankai universities.

His talk, the first in series of lectures sponsored by the Shiretown Bookers, will include fabrics designed by Morris as well as books by and about him.

North Dining Hall is located in the Olsen Student Center, 111 South St.

John Rosenwald