Oak Knoll Press - Oak Knoll Books
Oak Knoll Press - Oak Knoll Books
Oak Knoll Press - Oak Knoll Books
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<strong>Oak</strong> <strong>Knoll</strong> <strong>Press</strong> 9<br />
The kelmscott chaucer<br />
A Census<br />
by William S. Peterson and Sylvia Holton Peterson<br />
When William Morris founded the Kelmscott <strong>Press</strong>, his celebrated<br />
private press, in 1891, one of the books he intended to print<br />
was an edition of the writings of Geoffrey Chaucer. Because of<br />
its size and complexity, The Works of Geoffrey Chaucer did not emerge<br />
from the press until June 1896, shortly before Morris’s death. Even<br />
at the time of publication, there was almost universal recognition<br />
that it was the most ambitious and remarkable book produced in<br />
the nineteenth century. Morris himself designed the type, initials,<br />
and borders. His old friend Sir<br />
Edward Burne-Jones created the<br />
eighty-seven wood-engraved illustrations,<br />
and the book was printed<br />
on a hand-press with ink, paper,<br />
and vellum made to Morris’ exact<br />
specifications.<br />
According to Sydney<br />
Cockerell, the second Secretary<br />
of the Kelmscott <strong>Press</strong>, Morris<br />
printed 425 copies of the Chaucer book on paper and thirteen on vellum. This Census<br />
locates and describes as many of those books (which are now scattered all over the world) as<br />
possible and reconstructs their complicated history of ownership, supplying a narrative of<br />
the fortunes of each known copy that came off the press in 1896. New information about<br />
unlocated copies, copies that have been sold by book dealers and auction houses, and the<br />
binders who have subsequently rebound many of the copies is also included. Three substantial appendices record the copies<br />
sold by Bernard Quaritch (the London bookseller most closely<br />
associated with the production of the Chaucer), the mailing list<br />
of the Kelmscott <strong>Press</strong>, and other unpublished contemporary<br />
documents.<br />
2011, hardcover, dust jacket, 8.5 x 11 inches, 300 pages<br />
ISBN 9781584562894, Order No. 103887, $95.00<br />
Available January 2011<br />
William S. Peterson (Professor of English Emeritus,<br />
University of Maryland) has written extensively about the<br />
Kelmscott <strong>Press</strong> and other aspects of fine printing in Britain<br />
and America. He is currently the editor of Printing History, the<br />
journal of the American Printing History Association. Sylvia<br />
Holton Peterson (Professor of English Emeritus, University<br />
of the District of Columbia) is a medievalist and the co-author<br />
(with Jackson Campbell Boswell) of Chaucer’s Fame in England: STC<br />
Chauceriana, 1475–1540 (2004).<br />
800-996-2556 www.oakknoll.com oakknoll@oakknoll.com