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Works of Geoffrey Chaucer, The
London: The Folio Society, 2002. Item #06651
The Great Kelmscott Chaucer - The Folio Society Facsimile
In a Superb Reproduction of Cobden-Sanderson's Original Binding
[KELMSCOTT PRESS]. Geoffrey Chaucer. The Works of Geoffrey Chaucer now newly imprinted.[Hammersmith: Printed by William Morris at the Kelmscott Press, 1896] i.e. London: The Folio Society, 2002.
Superb Folio Society facsimile of the Kelmscott Chaucer, printed for The Folio Society, London, by Cambridge University Press and completed on 20 February 2002. Limited to 1,010 copies, of which 1,000 were for sale; this copy No. 125.
Large folio (16 3/8 x 11 3/8 inches; 415 x 288 mm.). [4, blank], ii, [2], 554, [1, limitation], [1, blank] pp. With eighty-seven woodcut illustrations after Edward Burne-Jones, redrawn by Robert Catterson-Smith and cut by W. H. Hooper; woodcut title-page; fourteen variously repeated borders; eighteen repeated frames; twenty-six large woodcut initial words; and numerous smaller initials, together with Morris’s printer’s device. Designed by William Morris and cut by C. E. Keates, W. H. Hooper, and W. Spielmeyer. Printed in black and red in Chaucer type, with titles of longer poems in Troy type; text in double columns. Edited by F. S. Ellis. Guard sheet between title and first text leaf.
The paper, Oxford twin-wire laid, was specially made at the James Cropper Mill, Burneside, Cumbria, and supplied by John Purcell Paper. Binding design by David Eccles after a Kelmscott Chaucer bound by T. J. Cobden-Sanderson for the Doves Bindery (1900). The present copy bound by Smith Settle, Otley, Yorkshire, in full Nigerian goatskin with handmade Fabriano endpapers.
Full cream Nigerian goatskin, covers elaborately gilt to the Cobden-Sanderson design, spine with eight raised bands, richly tooled and lettered in compartments, Fabriano blue silk endleaves, top edge gilt.
Together with: The Kelmscott Chaucer. An Essay by William S. Peterson, issued to accompany the facsimile. (octavo, 16 pp., original wrappers).
Both housed in the original blue cloth clamshell case with cream morocco spine label lettered in gilt. Case with minor wear and light soiling to lower spine; the book itself in fine condition.
The Kelmscott Chaucer remains “not only the most important of the Kelmscott Press’s productions; it is also one of the great books of the world…its splendor can hardly be matched” (Ray).
The original Kelmscott edition of 1896 was issued in just 425 paper copies and 13 on vellum, and stands as the supreme achievement of the private press movement - an ideal synthesis of typography, illustration, and bookbinding.
The present Folio Society facsimile, executed with exceptional fidelity in materials and craftsmanship, is widely regarded as the finest modern recreation of Morris’s masterpiece, preserving both its monumental scale and its tactile richness.
A magnificent production - arguably the closest one can come to owning the Kelmscott Chaucer itself without entering six-figure territory.
References for the original 1896 edition: Peterson A40; Ray, The Illustrator and the Book in England, p. 258; Ransom, p. 329; Sparling 40; Tomkinson 40; Walsdorf 40; Clark Library, pp. 46–48; The Artist & the Book 45.
Price: $2,250.00