Americana Exchange

Auction Details

Auction House Sothebys
Website www.sothebys.com/
Auction Name English Literature, History and Children's Books and Illustrations
Sale Number L12404
Auction Date Jul 10, 2012 - Jul 10, 2012

Lot Details : Sothebys

Lot Number 114     
Author CHAUCER, GEOFFREY.
Title THE WORKS OF GEOFFREY CHAUCER NOW NEWLY IMPRINTED [EDITED BY F.S. ELLIS].
Year Published 1896
Place Printed HAMMERSMITH: KELMSCOTT PRESS,
Description CHAUCER, GEOFFREY. THE WORKS OF GEOFFREY CHAUCER NOW NEWLY IMPRINTED [EDITED BY F.S. ELLIS]. HAMMERSMITH: KELMSCOTT PRESS, 1896 folio, limited to 438 copies of which this is one of 425 on paper, printed in red and black, 87 wood-engraved illustrations by Edward Burne-Jones, ornamental woodcut title, borders and initials, original decorative white pigskin tooled in blind (signed "The Doves Bindery 1897" on lower fixed endpaper), silver and leather clasps, slipcase, very slightly rubbed at extremities
Lot Note The masterpiece of the Kelmscott Press: an outstanding example of typography and book production. This copy is one of 48 copies specially bound at the Doves Bindery to a design by William Morris (see William S. Peterson, A Bibliography of The Kelmscott Press, Oxford, 1984, p.106). Marianne Tidcombe has suggested that this figure is "presumably... the number of bindings commissioned when the books were ordered... more than a few copies were bound after Douglas Cockerell left the bindery [in November 1897]" (Tidcombe, The Doves Bindery, London, 1991, p.51). Given that this copy is stamped by the bindery in 1896 it comprises one of the original bindings at the time of production.
Provenance Max Kirdorf (bookplate); A. Edward Newton (bookplate; Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York, 15 May 1941, lot 540); William E. Self (bookplate) LITERATURE Peterson A40; Kelmscott Chaucer: A Census (2011) 3.151 (unlocated copy)
Estimated Price GBP 50,000.00 - 70,000.00( USD 75500.00 - USD 105700.00)
Actual Price GBP 73,250.00 ( USD 110607.50)