1929 ❧ [GOLDEN COCKEREL PRESS]. CHAUCER, GEOFFREY. c. 1343-1400. The Canterbury Tales. Waltham Saint Lawrence, Berkshire: Printed and Published at the Golden Cockerel Press, 1929-1931. 4 volumes, small folio (315 x 195 mm). Hand-set in Eric Gill's Golden Cockerel Roman type. Original wood engraved pictorial initials, decorative leaf borders, and figurative column illustrations by Eric Gill. Original half morocco over pattern-printed paper-covered boards by Sangorski & Sutcliffe. First volume rebacked with original spine laid down. LIMITED EDITION, number 416 of 485 copies printed on Batchelor handmade paper of a total edition of 500 copies. A masterpiece of 20th-century British book design, widely considered the defining graphic achievement of the Golden Cockerel Press and Eric Gill's finest work. Under the visionary leadership of Robert Gibbings, the Golden Cockerel Press positioned itself at the forefront of the private press movement. This four-volume production of Chaucer's foundational text sought to reclaim the organic, harmonious interplay between typography and illustration that had not been achieved since William Morris's legendary 1896 Kelmscott Chaucer. The visual brilliance of this edition relies entirely on the genius of the sculptor, typographer, and engraver Eric Gill. Dissatisfied with standard book design where text is strictly segregated from pictures, Gill engineered a revolutionary, modern layout. He hand-carved a massive series of elaborate woodcut initials and elongated, sensual floriated borders that flow directly down the inner and outer margins. These borders frequently sprout figures of pilgrims, lovers, and animals that spill over into the text lines, echoing the playful, irreverent, and earthbound spirit of Chaucer's Middle English narratives. The book is also historically significant for debuting the Golden Cockerel type, an ultra-clean, heavy Roman font designed by Gill explicitly to match the weight and density of his wood-engraved line work. Chanticleer 63; Gill 281. For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com For further information about this lot please visit the lot listing