SHAKESPEARE HEAD PRESS: CHAUCER, Geoffrey.

Inquire · Offered by Peter Harrington

The Works. First Shakespeare Head edition, number 38 of 350 sets for sale on Kelmscott handmade paper, with the original publisher's prospectus. This beautiful production is regarded as one of the best by "the most mature and sophisticated of the private presses" of the inter-war period (Franklin, p. 147)."The first impression is of care in planning, of thought for the reader. A friendly craftsmanship comes from all the pen and brush work in these books. The illustrations enter as pleasant surprises, rather than necessary parts of the plan. The edition seems complete without them, but we are delighted to find them" (Franklin, p. 149).The Shakespeare Head was founded in 1904 by the Elizabethan scholar Arthur Henry Bullen, whose original goal was to produce the first collected edition of Shakespeare published in the town of his birth. After Bullen's death in 1920 the press was taken over by Oxford bookseller Basil Blackwell, who employed Bernard Newdigate as designer. It was under Newdigate that the press began to follow the traditions of William Morris and released its greatest productions.

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