Eric Gill and Golden Cockerel Press

Troilus and Criseyde specimen page, [1927]

These specimen pages showcase the wood engravings of Eric Gill for the Golden Cockerel Press. Influenced by the Arts and Crafts movement, medieval manuscripts, and his Catholic religion, Eric Gill’s detailed yet modern aesthetic designs depict the evolution of the interpretation of medieval design into the modern design period.

The Canterbury tales trial sheets, [1929]

These trial sheets depict Eric Gill’s wood engraved border illustrations. On this particular page the intertwined “W” illustration showcases the combined aesthetics of the medieval influenced Arts and Crafts movement into the Modern period. Here, like William Morris’s earlier work and use of nature in designing his intricate borders, Gill uses one side of the “W” to grow the long vine and leaves that frame his characters.   

The franklyn's tale, [1930]

Proof page of The Franklyn’s Tale illustration by Eric Gill. This detailed border shows the three main characters of the text amidst a vine and leaves, including Aurelius attempting to woo Dorigen. This illustration in comparison to that of the Kelmscott Chaucer shows how the art and design of such wood engravings developed over forty years from the beginning of the Arts and Crafts movement to the early twentieth century.

The Canterbury tales, 1929-1931

The Golden Cockerel Press’s four volume set of The Canterbury Tales beautifully represents Eric Gill’s artistic ability to combine the complexity of medieval manuscript illustrations with a modern aesthetic. Here the fourth volume is opened to the initial page, depicting a knight on his horse and framed by Eric Gill’s distinctive engraving of a vine and leafs.