The Well at the World’s End was published by the Kelmscott Press in 1896, in two volumes. It is Morris’s longest romance (over 250,000 words) and the one that most directly influenced J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, and the modern fantasy genre. Ralph of Dobie, youngest son of a minor king, rides out from his father’s small kingdom to seek the Well at the World’s End — whose waters grant eternal youth and a charmed life.
The quest takes Ralph through a fully realized medieval landscape: towns with markets and guilds, forests inhabited by outlaws, mountain passes guarded by sorcerers, and a slave-holding empire ruled by a tyrant. He encounters the Lady of Abundance (a woman who has already drunk from the Well and achieved immortal beauty) and Ursula (a practical, brave young woman who becomes his companion and eventual wife).
Morris invented the conventions of fantasy quest fiction: the secondary world that operates on its own consistent logic, the journey structure through varied landscapes, the archaic prose style (modeled on medieval romance but original in its rhythm), and the mixture of adventure, love, and moral testing. Tolkien acknowledged Morris as his primary influence: the Dead Marshes derive from Morris’s landscapes, and the quest structure of The Lord of the Rings follows Morris’s pattern.
Collecting The Well at the World’s End
Kelmscott Press first edition (1896): Two volumes, printed in Chaucer type on handmade paper.
Market values:
- Kelmscott Press edition, fine: $10,000–$30,000
- Longmans commercial edition (1896): $300–$800