(Folio Society, Kelmscott Press.) Geoffrey Chaucer The Works...

Estimate

£100 - £150

(Folio Society, Kelmscott Press.) Geoffrey Chaucer The Works, facsimile reprint of the Kelmscott Chaucer of 1896, Folio Society, 2008, on laid paper made specifically at the James Cropper Mill, title, decorations and illustrations after William Morris and Edward Burne-Jones, folio (42 x 29cm), original decorative tan cloth gilt, slipcase. The Kelmscott Chaucer was the most ambitious and magnificent book of the Press, and four years in the making. Burne-Jones devoted all his Sundays for almost three years to the illustrations for the work, and Morris came to talk with him as he drew. As the artist worked he increased the number of proposed illustrations from 48 to 60 to 72 to 87, Morris accepting each change. Burne-Jones described the finished work as 'a pocket cathedral - it is so full of design,' and 'the finest book ever printed; if W. M. had done nothing else it would be enough.'