The Canterbury Tales

Folio London The Canterbury Tales is arguably the most successful production from the private press movement. It is a lavish and stunning production, illustrated by Eric Gill with decorated borders on almost every page, one full-page illustration, 29 half-page illustrations, and 61 initial letters. Colin Franklin has described the borders as incorporating leaf and stem, "yet among the leaves, hiding or beckoning, climbing or leaning out, are girls and men, kings and boys, priests and nuns who take part or seem to be commenting upon stories. A young man is whistling across the page, two fingers at his mouth, to a girl; Chaucer himself waves to a little god of love facing across his own poem; Pan blows pipes and a naked girl, hearing him, prepares to climb her tree; a nineteen-twentyish girl climbs up, and a sad young bearded man looking like Robert Gibbings sits, supporting the whole tree s weight, opposite; Chaucer is writing with confidence under the leaves, taking it down by dictation from the naughty spirit looking down and over the lines. So the pattern continues, affectionate and cheeky, erotic, enjoyable and relevant, decorative and explanatory, a balance of taste and eye" Gill became the greatest artist craftsman of the twentieth century: a letter-cutter and type designer of genius, whose Gill Sans and Perpetua typefaces have continued in world-wide use for many decades. No other wood-engraver of the period comes near to Gill's originality and verve. Gill's wood-engraving burgeoned in the mid-1920s. At Capel he began printing his own engravings, experimenting with a copperplate press, and he started an enormously successful and enjoyable collaboration with Robert Gibbings, proprietor of the Golden Cockerel Press, and his wife, Moira. The Folio Society, working from an original edition, has created an exquisite facsimile of this masterpiece of the private press movement. The Canterbury Tales is a glorious expression of Eric Gill s genius. In this varied, vibrant work, Gill displayed his artistic versatility, and succeeded in marrying the illuminated manuscript tradition with a Modernist aesthetic. The Folio Society has created an exquisite binding based on Gill s own designs for the Physician's and the Summoner's tales. The work itself is represented in a meticulously exact facsimile, created directly from an original copy. Copies of the original print run of 500 very rarely reach the open market, and one of the few examples in recent years sold for $9,000. A present day evaluation would be much more than that! This beautifully produced facsimile represents an outstanding opportunity to own this work at a much more affordable price. This gorgeous production is strictly limited to 1,980 numbered copies. Bound in Nigerian goatskin leather. 768 pages. 12 ½" x 7 ¾" Blocked in 24-carat gold with a design featuring Eric Gill s engravings around a blind-blocked frame. Gilding on all three book edges. Black satin ribbon marker. Printed on felt-marked, laid paper, in a special shade matched to the original, made at the Favini mill near Venice. Endpapers of Merida Graphite from the Varona mill, Riva del Garda. Presented in a substantial buckram-bound solander box with gold blocking on the spine. An extra volume featuring a commentary essay is included, illustrated with photographs of Gill and Gibbings, and with many examples of Gill's wood engravings. This handsome volume is a collectable publication in its own right. It is quarter-bound in buckram and Merida Graphite. This is stunning, and very heavy. It will need insurance and postage depending on the destination. Language: eng Language: eng 0.0 Language: eng 0.0 Language: eng 0.0 Language: eng. Limited Edition.. Hardcover. New/New.