Books

London, The Golden Cockerel Press, 1929-31. . Limited edition, number 439 of 485 copies on paper, from a total edition of 500; 4 vols, small folio (31.8 x 20 cm); wood engravings by Eric Gill, including one full-page, 29 half-page, tailpieces, initials and decorative borders, initials printed in red, blue and black; original Niger morocco-backed patterned boards by Sangorski & Sutcliffe, gilt lettering to spines, top edges gilt, others uncut, light rubbing to extremities, slight toning and soiling to boards, some spotting and fading to spines (as always); an attractive set. One of the major titles of the Golden Cockerel Press and an extraordinary collaboration between the press director and book designer Robert Gibbings (1889-1958) and artist Eric Gill (1882-1940). Printing the Canterbury Tales dominated work at the press for two and a half years, and relatively few other books were printed during that period. However, despite some critics deeming Gill's illustrations risqué and…

The Canterbury Tales is a collection of 24 stories that runs to over 17,000 lines written in Middle English by Geoffrey Chaucer between 1387 and 1400.