The Doves Bindery played a key role in the binding of the Kelmscott Chaucer, completing the 48 special pigskin copies bound to Morris’ design. This copy was sold in 2012 by Sophie Schneideman Rare Books as part of the collection of Clarence B Hanson Jr (1908-83).
Kelmscott’s finest achievement is probably its edition of The Works of Geoffrey Chaucer. It is described in Printing and the Mind of Man as “perfect… both in design and in the quality of the printing”.
Four years in the making, it includes 87 illustrations by the Pre-Raphaelite artist Edward Burne-Jones – who devoted all his Sundays for almost three years to the work – with the process of adapting the drawings to the woodblock entrusted to WH Hooper and R Patterson-Smith.