 By 1870 , Morris had become a public figure in Britain , resulting in repeated press requests for photographs , which he despised . That year , he also reluctantly agreed to sit for a portrait by establishment painter George Frederic Watts . Morris was keenly interested in Icelandic literature , having befriended the Icelandic theologian Eiríkr Magnússon . Together they produced prose translations of the Eddas and Sagas for publication in English . Morris also developed a keen interest in creating hand @-@ written illuminated manuscripts , producing 18 such books between 1870 and 1875 , the first of which was A Book of Verse , completed as a birthday present for Georgina Burne @-@ Jones . 12 of these 18 were handwritten copies of Nordic tales such as Halfdan the Black , Frithiof the Bold , and The Dwellers of <unk> . Morris deemed calligraphy to be an art form , and taught himself both Roman and italic script , as well as learning how to produce gilded letters . In November 1872 he published Love is Enough , a poetic drama based on a story in the Medieval Welsh text , the Mabinogion . Illustrated with Burne @-@ Jones woodcuts , it was not a popular success . By 1871 , he had begun work on a novel set in the present , The Novel on Blue Paper , which was about a love triangle ; it would remain unfinished and Morris later asserted that it was not well written . 
