The Works of Geoffrey Chaucer

ONE OF JUST 10 LETTERED COPIES 

CHAUCER, Geoffrey 

The Works of Geoffrey Chaucer

London: The Folio Society, 2002 

Elephant Folio (30 x 42.5 x 8cm approx.); bound by Smith Settle at Otley, Yorkshire, in full Nigerian goatskin, elaborately decorated in full gilt to upper board and spine, with a design redrawn by David Eccles from a copy of the Kelmscott Chaucer which was bound by T. J. Cobden-Sanderson at the Doves Bindery in 1900; this copy containing all [ix], 2-552, [ii] original pages, with text printed in two columns along with the 87 wood-engraved illustrations by Edward Burne-Jones, and the 18 frames, 14 borders, and 26 decorative words designed by William Morris; here printed in black with running titles to outer margins in red; on Oxenford twin-wire laid paper, specially made at the James Cropper Mill at Burneside in Cumbria and supplied by John Purcell paper, with handmade laid endpapers provided from the Fabriano Mill in Italy; blue ribbon marker (a little frayed at end); otherwise a fine copy, contained in the original custom-made clamshell case, with the accompanying essay by William S. Peterson in the pocket to the front. 

Limited edition, one of one thousand and ten copies which were printed by the Folio Society, with this copy ‘J’ from the ten handlettered copies which were not intended for sale. 

One of the ‘crowning jewels’ of Morris’s Kelmscott Press, the Kelmscott Chaucer was borne out of a love of both medievalism and design which originated with both Morris and Burne-Jones whilst they were still students (the pair had originally met while undergraduates at Oxford in the 1850s). In fact, Morris referred to Chaucer as ‘my master’, and Burne-Jones had later even remarked to his wife that “Chaucer is very much the same sort of person as Morris ... the value of their work comes from the extreme simplicity and beautiful directness of their natures.” The pair would often read Chaucer’s works in their rooms at Oxford, take long and leisurely trips to the Bodleian library, where they would study medieval manuscripts - a love of both books, design, and literature which would eventually culminate in the present publication. 

Four years in the making, the first page of the Kelmscott Chaucer was printed on the 8th August 1894, and on the 2nd June 1896 the first two complete copies were finally delivered from the binders. In all, only 425 copies were originally produced, alongside 13 printed on vellum and another 48 bound in pig's skin. The book sits alongside Shakespeare Folios and Gutenberg bibles as being one of the few works for which a census is needed, (i.e. in order to determine who on earth owns a copy). 

This Folio Society facsimile came into being after Mr Bernard Roberts, proprietor of the John Roberts press at the time, loaned his own example to be disbound and photographed. The quite frankly stunning binding here displays an intricate and elaborate design incorporating intertwining leaves with the famous opening lines to the General Prologue of The Canterbury Tales serving as borders: “Whan that Aprille with his shoures soote / The droghte of March hath perced to the roote / And bathed every veyne in swich licour / Of which vertu engendred is the flour”. 

Widely regarded as the finest modern facsimile edition of the Kelmscott Chaucer, and the nearest obtainable editions of one of the most beautiful books ever printed.