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182. KELMSCOTT PRESS. BLUNT, Wilfrid Scawen. The Love- Lyrics & Songs of Proteus, with the Love-Sonnets of Proteus by the same Author, now reprinted in their full text with many Sonnets omitted from the earlier editions. [Hammersmith: Kelmscott Press]. 1892.
£1,500
8vo. Original vellum, spine lettered in gilt, silk ties, edges untrimmed; pp. [x] + 251; decorative woodcut border to first page of text, woodcut initials printed in red, text printed in black and red in Golden type; slight spotting to lower cover, but a very nice copy.
300 copies were printed. This is the only Kelmscott book with the initials printed in red, done at the author’s request.
183.KELMSCOTT PRESS. MORRIS, William. A Dream of John Ball and a King’s Lesson. Kelmscott Press. 1892.
£3,500
Small 4to. Original limp vellum, spine lettered in gilt, green silk ties, edges untrimmed; wood-engraved frontispiece designed by Sir Edward Burne- Jones, wood-engraved border designed by Morris, wood-engraved initials, printed in red and black in Golden type; an excellent copy.
300 copies were printed on paper (of which this is one) plus 11 on vellum. The first Kelmscott Press book to have an illustration by Burne-Jones.
184. KELMSCOTT PRESS. SHAKESPEARE, William. Poems. Printed after the original copies of Venus and Adonis, 1593. The Rape of Lucrece, 1594. Sonnets, 1609. The Lover’s Complaint. Hammersmith. The Kelmscott Press. 1893.
£3,000
8vo., original limp vellum, lettered in gilt on spine. One tie replaced. Printed in black and red. A very good copy.
Limited edition of 500 copies printed on paper. Included are Venus and Adonis, The Rape of Lucrece, Sonnets and A Lover’s Complaint. Cockerell in 1898 described the volume as “one of the rarest books issued from the Press” because of its popularity.
185. KELMSCOTT PRESS. Of the Friendship of Amis and Amile. [Done out of the ancient French into English by William Morris]. [Hammersmith: Kelmscott Press]. 1894.
£995
16mo. Original holland-backed boards, lettered in black on the upper cover, edges untrimmed; pp. [iv] + 67; decorative woodcut title-page and border to first page of text, woodcut initials, text printed in black and red in Chaucer type; engraved bookplate on front paste-down; a very nice copy.
500 copies were printed, plus 15 on vellum.
186. KELMSCOTT PRESS. Syr Perecyvelle of Gales. [Overseen by F.S. Ellis, after the edition printed by J.O. Halliwell from the MS. in the Library of Lincoln Cathedral]. Kelmscott Press. 1895. £1,500
8vo. Bound in full plum morocco by Morrell, gilt borders comprised of a single fillet and a dotted line with corner ornaments, gilt panelled spine with five raised bands, gilt turn-ins, top edges gilt; wood-engraved frontispiece after Edward Burne-Jones, wood-engraved borders and initials, text printed in black and red in the Chaucer type; slight foxing to the last leaf of text, bookplate on front paste-down, a very nice copy.
350 copies were printed, plus 8 on vellum.
187. KELMSCOTT PRESS. MORRIS, WILLIAM. The Water of the Wondrous Isles. Hammersmith. Kelmscott Press. 1897. £3,995
Large 4to, original full limp vellum with silk ties lettered in gilt on spine. Embellished with decorative woodcut borders, ornaments, and initials all designed by William Morris, except for two large initial words Whilom & Empty, which were completed from his unfinished designs by R. Catterson-Smith. With a heliogravure portrait of Morris tipped in. With Sidney Gimson bookplate designed by his brother Ernest Gimson on front paste-down. A couple of ties replaced, otherwise a near fine copy.
One of 250 copies. An appealing association copy from the library of Sydney Gimson, the brother of the artist Ernest Gimson. The bookplate is among very few two-dimensional designs by Gimson for printing on paper. Gimson produced two initial designs for the bookplate He found it a difficult commission, writing to his brother on 9 March 1898:‘I have done what I can with the book plates and send you the results. They are neither of them satisfactory . . . I don’t understand designing for reduction. And it would require a more microscopic eye than mine to draw it real size.”
In 1884 Gimson went to listen to William Morris lecturing to the Leicester Secular Society on ‘Art and socialism’. Afterwards he met Morris, who suggested the way that he should go in combining his radical conscience with his practical abilities in making and designing. It was Morris who encouraged him to move to London, recommending him to J. D. Sedding, a ‘freestyle’ church architect himself involved in the practice of the crafts.
Gimson was a deeply solitary man with a contradictory need for close male friendships. In the mid-1880s in Sedding’s office, he joined the small convivial group of young Arts and Crafts architects, satellites around Morris and Philip Webb, becoming a member of such early architectural action groups as the Art-Workers’ Guild and the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings.
In 1890 Ernest Gimson was prime mover in establishing an individualistic London decorating firm, a brotherhood of architects designing and supervising the making of their furniture by cabinet-makers. The other members were W. R. Lethaby, Sidney Barnsley, Mervyn Macartney, Reginald Blomfield, and a less active partner, Colonel Mallet, each contributing £100 of capital. This short-lived but enthusiastic enterprise was called Kenton & Co., after a neighbouring street in Bloomsbury, and was obviously modelled on Morris’s own firm. (ODNB)
188. KELMSCOTT PRESS. Syr Ysambrace. [Edited by F.S. Ellis after the edition printed by J.O. Halliwell from the MS. in the Library of Lincoln Cathedral]. Kelmscott Press. 1897.
£1,500
8vo. Bound in full plum morocco by Morrell, gilt borders comprised of a single fillet and a dotted line with corner ornaments, gilt panelled spine with five raised bands, gilt turn-ins, top edges gilt; wood-engraved frontispiece after Edward Burne-Jones, wood-engraved borders and initials, text printed in black and red in the Chaucer type; bookplate on front paste-down, a very nice copy.
350 copies were printed, plus 8 on vellum.
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