KELMSCOTT PRESS. CHAUCER, Geoffrey - photo 1
KELMSCOTT PRESS. CHAUCER, Geoffrey - photo 2
KELMSCOTT PRESS. CHAUCER, Geoffrey - photo 3
KELMSCOTT PRESS. CHAUCER, Geoffrey - photo 4
KELMSCOTT PRESS. CHAUCER, Geoffrey - photo 5
KELMSCOTT PRESS. CHAUCER, Geoffrey - photo 6

KELMSCOTT PRESS. CHAUCER, Geoffrey

Lot 185
10.07.2024 10:30UTC +00:00
Classic
Sold
£ 75 600
AuctioneerCHRISTIE'S
Event locationUnited Kingdom, London
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ID 1249830
Lot 185 | KELMSCOTT PRESS. CHAUCER, Geoffrey
Estimate value
£ 40 000 – 60 000
KELMSCOTT PRESS. CHAUCER, Geoffrey
The Works of Geoffrey Chaucer now newly imprinted. Edited by F.S. Ellis. Hammersmith: Kelmscott Press, 8 May 1896.
The Kelmscott Chaucer, the masterpiece of the Kelmscott Press. Limited edition, one of 425 copies on paper of a total edition of 438, and one of approximately 50 copies bound in white pigskin by the Doves Bindery from a design by William Morris. ‘The finest book since Gutenberg’ (Franklin). The supreme achievement of the forty year artistic collaboration between Morris and Burne-Jones, and of the Kelmscott Press: 'the final chapter of co-operation; the venture in which their particular talents are combined for the last time, and to spectacular effect' (Robinson). Earliest plans for the work date to 1891 and the book announced to Kelmscott Press subscribers in December, however the actual printing of the book did not begin until August 1894, and was only issued to subscribers in June 1896. The Artist and the Book 45; Needham, William Morris and the Art of the Book 101C; Franklin Private Presses p.192; Peterson A40; Robinson William Morris, Edward Burne-Jones and the Kelmscott Chaucer; Sparling 40; Marianne Tidcombe, The Doves Bindery, 408 and pp. 46-61.

Folio (425 x 285mm). Double column, Chaucer type, headings to the longer poems in Troy type, printed in black and red, woodcut title, borders and initials by C.E. Keates, W.H. Hooper and W. Spielmeyer after William Morris, 87 large woodcut illustrations, some full-page, by W.H. Hooper after Edward Burne-Jones (light scattered spotting, slight marks to edges). Original publisher’s binding of decorative blind-tooled white pigskin over wooden boards by the Doves Bindery after a design by William Morris, stamped at foot of lower pastedown ‘THE DOVES BINDERY. 1896.’, upper cover lettered ‘Geoffrey Chaucer’ at head and ‘Kelmscott’ at foot, spine in five compartments with raised bands, edges gilt, two clasps and catches (rebacked retaining original spine, hinges strengthened, binding rather discoloured and stained, one lower corner chipped, one repaired, rubbed), 20th-century quarter tan morocco slipcase, marbled boards (lower portion of case detached, rubbed). Provenance: Sensui Shoji (Japanese bibliophile and author, 1903-1991).

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