FLINT, William Russell (illus.); CHAUCER, Geoffrey.

£2,500 · Offered by Peter Harrington · No longer available

The Canterbury Tales. First Flint edition, number 55 of 500 copies printed on handmade paper at the Riccardi Press; there were also 12 copies printed on vellum. William Russell Flint (1880-1969) is renowned for his watercolours of women. In this edition, the majority of the illustrations concentrate on female subjects: "Flint drew women wherever possible, using, for example, a woman to represent April in the General Prologue, female figures to illustrate the 'old gods' referred to at the opening of the Knight's Tale, and barmaids aplenty in the picture accompanying the Pardoner's Story of the revellers" (Echard, pp. 137-8).

Found via Rare Books Intel, a search across rare-book dealers, auction houses and marketplaces worldwide.