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| Kelmscott Chaucer | |
|---|---|
| Name | Kelmscott Chaucer |
| Author | Geoffrey Chaucer (texts); William Morris (editor/publisher) |
| Illustrator | Edward Burne-Jones |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | Middle English / Modern English introduction |
| Subject | Poetry, Middle English literature, Book arts |
| Publisher | Kelmscott Press |
| Pub date | 1896 |
| Media type | Printed book |
| Pages | 438 (folio) |
| Preceded by | The Works of Geoffrey Chaucer (editions) |
| Followed by | Other Kelmscott Press publications |
Kelmscott Chaucer The Kelmscott Chaucer is the monumental 1896 folio edition of Geoffrey Chaucer's works produced by William Morris's Kelmscott Press with illustrations by Edward Burne-Jones. Conceived within the milieu of the Arts and Crafts Movement and Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood sensibilities, it united medievalist scholarship, typographic revivalism, and private press aesthetics into an artisanal book that influenced fine press practice, book design, and collectors worldwide. Its limited print run, handcrafted materials, and richly ornamented design positioned it as both a scholarly monument to Geoffrey Chaucer and a premier object of bibliophilia.
Morris conceived the project during his mature period of activism in textile design, decorative arts, and socialist thought, seeking to revive medieval craft standards rejected by industrialists of the Industrial Revolution. He selected Chaucer as emblematic of English literary heritage alongside contemporaries such as John Ruskin, Edward Burne-Jones, and G. K. Chesterton who valued medievalism. The enterprise intersected with Morris's earlier typographic experiments at the Red House and later work at the Kelmscott Press in Hammersmith, following private press precedents set by Aldus Manutius and anticipated by later figures like T. J. Cobden-Sanderson of the Doves Press. Scholarship contributions drew on editions by Thomas Tyrwhitt, F. J. Furnivall, and W. W. Skeat, while Morris shaped the editorial apparatus and visual program.
Morris designed two typefaces for Kelmscott projects, culminating in the distinctive "Golden" type used in this Chaucer; its proportions reflect Morris's study of incunabula and Gutenberg era models. Page architecture employed a broad inner margin, dense column proportions, and extensive ornamental borders channeling motifs from Gothic architecture, illuminated manuscripts, and Book of Hours decoration. Borders and initials were crafted by Burne-Jones and Morris, invoking iconography linked to Medievalism, Arthurian legend, and the work of Sandro Botticelli admired by the Pre-Raphaelites. The typographic palette eschewed modern serifs from Bodoni or Didot in favor of humanist letterforms resonant with Aldus Manutius's roman; Morris's type anticipated later revivals like Goudy Old Style and informed Bruce Rogers and D. B. Updike.
Printing occurred at the Kelmscott Press in a closely supervised hand-press operation, using handmade paper from Whatman and inks mixed under Morris's direction. The press employed artisanal methods such as hand-setting type, hand-pressing impressions, and gilt tooling reminiscent of armorial bindings produced by binders like C. F. Mahony and commercial binders later influenced by Sangorski & Sutcliffe. The limited edition—approximately 438 folio pages produced in a small number of copies—required coordination among compositors, pressmen, and binders. Production logistics echoed private press practices exemplified by Ashendene Press and Doves Press, while also reflecting Morris's simultaneous work on the Kelmscott Press's works such as the Kelmscott Press Chaucer frontispiece and decorative programs.
The Kelmscott Chaucer reproduces a wide selection of Chaucer's corpus, including the Canterbury Tales, Troilus and Criseyde, and various shorter poems, accompanied by a prologue and indices arranged per Morris's editorial choices informed by Walter William Skeat and Frederick Furnivall. Burne-Jones provided fifty-nine full-page wood-engravings and numerous vignette designs, depicting pilgrims, courtly scenes, and allegorical figures that draw on iconographic lineages from Giotto, Jan van Eyck, and William Blake. Decorative borders incorporate heraldic emblems, vegetal arabesques, and medieval marginalia resonant with works held in collections of the British Library, Bodleian Library, and Cambridge University Library. The book contains illuminated initials, headpieces, and elaborate title pages integrating Morris's typographic capitals with Burne-Jones's figurative imagination.
Upon publication the Kelmscott Chaucer circulated initially among subscribers, bibliophiles, and institutions such as the British Museum, Harvard University, and Yale University libraries. Contemporary reviewers in periodicals aligned with Aestheticism and defenders of craftsmanship offered mixed appraisals: praise from advocates like G. K. Chesterton and criticism from proponents of textual scholarship such as Henry Bradshaw. The edition galvanized the private press movement, inspiring presses including Doves Press, Ashendene Press, and later Golden Cockerel Press; it also influenced typographers such as Bruce Rogers and book collectors like Henry Clay Folger. Its fusion of text and ornament reshaped standards for fine editions and revitalized interest in Chaucerian studies, affecting curricula at institutions like Oxford University and Cambridge University.
The Kelmscott Chaucer remains a touchstone in studies of book arts, typographic revival, and the Arts and Crafts Movement. High auction prices at houses such as Sotheby's and Christie's attest to its market rarity and collector demand, while institutional copies in the British Library, Bodleian Library, Library of Congress, and private collections anchor scholarly access. Its influence persists in contemporary private press endeavors, museum exhibitions at the Victoria and Albert Museum, and academic discourse spanning art history, bibliography, and English literature. Collectors prize variant states, binding histories, and provenance linking copies to figures like William Morris Society members, and the edition continues to be studied for its integrated approach to medievalism and modern craft.
Category:Kelmscott Press Category:Books about Geoffrey Chaucer