The Works of Geoffrey Chaucer: now newly imprinted

The Works of Geoffrey Chaucer: now newly imprinted

Bookbinders--England
Private Press Movement
Vellum Printing

The typographical magnum opus of William Morris and a landmark of Western printing, The Works of Geoffrey Chaucer (commonly and hereafter referred to as the Kelmscott Chaucer) is remarkable due to its opulence, craftsmanship, typography, and rarity. Printed near the end of William Morris’ life, the Kelmscott Chaucer represents the culmination of Morris’ artistic talent, industry, and collaboration with other craftsmen operating in late 19th century England during the Private Press Movement. With 87 woodcut illustrations by the eminent Pre-Raphaelite Edward Burne-Jones, the Kelmscott Chaucer infuses a 14th century collection of texts with a freshness and subtlety of illustrations while simultaneously employing 15th century methods and aesthetic sensibilities. In addition to collaborating with Edward Burne-Jones, William Morris enlisted the help of Thomas Cobden-Sanderson of The Doves Press to design and execute 38 bindings of the Kelmscott Chaucer in fully tooled pigskin bindings reminiscent of 15th century German bindings attributed to Ulrich Schreier (Peterson 244). Another incunabula-sourced feature of the Kelmscott Chaucer is the practice of printing several copies on vellum. With 425 copies of the edition being executed on large, Batchelor paper and 13 lavish copies printed on vellum, Morris follows in the path trod by the first printer, Johannes Gutenberg, in printing both on paper and vellum. Intriguingly, Morris chose to only print 13 copies on vellum, which happens to also be the same number of vellum copies that survive of Guttenberg’s 42-line Bible. Like the first English printer William Caxton (who also used woodcut illustrations in his 1483 printing of Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales), William Morris uses a black letter-esque typeface designed by himself to mimic early English typefaces while also being highly readable and attractive. Though it was simply a smaller size of the already existing Troy typeface, William Morris called this newly molded typeface ‘Chaucer’ in honor of the work in which it would first appear.

Chaucer, Geoffrey. Morris, William. Burne-Jones, Edward. Cobden-Sanderson, Thomas.

Houghton Library

Kelmscott Press

May 8, 1896

Book

English

Text