The works of Geoffrey Chaucer: a Facsimile of the William Morris Kelmscott Chaucer

This is a facsimile of the Kelmscott Chaucer, which was one of the most ambitious projects undertaken by the Kelmscott Press, taking over four years to complete. The Kelmscott Chaucer is a shining example of the artistic partnership between William Morris and Edward Burne-Jones, Morris’s classmate from Exeter College at Oxford University, who did many of the woodcut illustrations for the Kelmscott Books. The book contains 87 woodcut illustrations, 116 full-page plates, and countless other initials and border decorations. 425 copies were printed on paper, with an additional 13 printed on vellum.

Morris designed the Chaucer type, a smaller version of Troy type, for use in the Kelmscott Chaucer, but it can be seen in other important works of the press including two other books in this exhibit. See if you can spot them.