# The Works of Geoffrey Chaucer (The Kelmscott Chaucer) > William Morris - 1896 (printing ran August 1894 to 8 May 1896; issued 26 June 1896) > Canonical HTML: https://iconotheca.com/artworks/william-morris/kelmscott-chaucer-stanford-cantor/ > Published by Servola Systems GmbH. Last verified: 2026-09-04 ## Tombstone - **Artist:** William Morris - **Date:** 1896 (printing ran August 1894 to 8 May 1896; issued 26 June 1896) - **Medium:** Letterpress in Chaucer and Troy type, printed in black and red ink, with 87 wood-engraved illustrations after designs by Edward Burne-Jones and ornamental borders and initials designed by William Morris. The Cantor Arts Center's own published catalogue description gives the medium simply as an illustrated book with woodcuts, without specifying whether this particular copy is on paper or vellum; see Open Questions. - **Dimensions:** 43.8 x 31 x 7.4 cm (17 1/4 x 12 1/5 x 2 9/10 in), as bound, per the Cantor Arts Center's own object record - **Object type:** Printed book - **Period:** British, Arts and Crafts movement, late 19th century - **Current location:** Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Center for Visual Arts, Stanford University, Stanford, California - **Attribution:** accepted ## Summary Finished eight weeks before William Morris's death, the Kelmscott Chaucer is the last and largest work of his private press: 556 pages of his own Chaucer type, framed in his own borders and initials, illustrated with 87 wood-engraved designs by his oldest friend, Edward Burne-Jones. It took roughly two years to print and, by most reckonings, four years to design, during which Morris's health was visibly failing; Burne-Jones wrote of hoping the book would be finished before Morris died. It very nearly was not.The edition ran to 438 copies: 425 on handmade paper at 20 pounds each and 13 on vellum at 120 guineas, a price that a period source puts at roughly a year's wages for an ordinary worker on the cheap end and nine years' wages on the expensive end. Sotheby's, Christie's and Bonhams have all since sold copies for well into six figures in dollars.This record concerns the copy held by the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Center for Visual Arts at Stanford University, a gift of Mr. and Mrs. Nathaniel J. Kendall. Stanford also holds a separate Kelmscott Chaucer in its Green Library Special Collections, part of a complete run of all 53 Kelmscott Press titles funded in part by Herbert Fleishhacker; the two should not be confused, and this record treats only the Cantor Center's copy, illustrated here with its own Google Art Project photograph. Whether the Cantor's copy is paper or vellum is not stated in the institution's published catalogue description and could not be confirmed for this record. ## Provenance Every link carries a grade. `documented` means a cited source supports it, `disputed` means the identification is argued but not established, `unknown` means we have no owner for that span and have not bridged it. - **1894-1896** Kelmscott Press (William Morris) `[documented]` (manufacture) Printing ran from August 1894 to 8 May 1896; the edition was issued from 26 June 1896. Sold by subscription at 20 pounds per paper copy and 120 guineas per vellum copy, with an additional 13 pounds 13 shillings for the Doves Bindery pigskin binding option. - **1896** Unknown `[unknown]` (gap) No owner is documented between the book's 1896 sale and its acquisition, at an unknown date, by Mr. and Mrs. Nathaniel J. Kendall. Whether the Kendalls bought this copy new, at a later sale, or from a dealer is not recorded in the sources consulted. - **undated** Mr. and Mrs. Nathaniel J. Kendall `[documented]` (private ownership) That the Kendalls owned this specific copy is documented by the Cantor Arts Center's own credit line. The date and circumstances of their acquisition of it are not documented in the sources consulted. - **-present** Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Center for Visual Arts, Stanford University `[documented]` (gift) Given to the Cantor Arts Center by Mr. and Mrs. Nathaniel J. Kendall; the exact gift date is not published in the sources consulted. This copy is distinct from the separate Kelmscott Chaucer held by Stanford's Green Library Special Collections, which traces to a 1926-27 gift underwritten in part by Herbert Fleishhacker and which this record does not describe. ## Auction results Hammer and buyer's premium are stated separately. Where a source conflates them this record says so. - **1896** Kelmscott Press (direct subscription, not an auction), - Hammer: GBP 20 (paper copy); GBP 126 / 120 guineas (vellum copy); plus GBP 13 13s surcharge for a Doves Bindery pigskin binding - With premium: not applicable - Original issue prices, not an auction result, included here as the market baseline. A dealer's own published account converts the 20-pound price to roughly 100 contemporary US dollars against an average US wage of about 183 dollars a year, implying the paper copy cost a little over half an average year's wages and the vellum copy roughly nine years of them; this wage comparison is the dealer's own uncited figure, not drawn from a peer-reviewed wage index, and is included as a documented data point rather than a verified equivalence. - **2024-12-17** Bonhams, New York, The Complete Kelmscott Press Collection of Joseph Mark Van Horn, auction 31214, lot 46 - Estimate: USD 60,000-90,000 - Hammer: USD 90,000 - PUBLISHED BY THE HOUSE, not derived. See the note: Bonhams does publish hammer, contrary to the general rule this desk operates under. - With premium: USD 114,800, premium-inclusive total, published by the house. Bonhams' own press release rounds this to USD 115,000. - Bonhams' lot page for auction 31214 lot 46 carries, in the page's own embedded state, a hammer price of USD 90,000 and a premium-inclusive total of USD 114,800, both published by the house; the record's previous hammer of USD 89,800 is withdrawn. The same page publishes hammer-and-total pairs for six lots in this sale (90,000/114,800; 17,000/21,760; 16,000/20,480; 15,500/19,840; 14,000/17,920; 13,000/16,640), which reconcile exactly, with no residual, to a buyer's premium of 28 per cent on the first USD 50,000 and 27 per cent above it - a schedule derived by this desk from those six published pairs, not read off Bonhams' own printed premium chart for December 2024. Applying it to 90,000 gives 114,800 to the dollar; applying it to 89,800 gives 114,546, which contradicts the published total. A second, independent confirmation of the total comes from Bonhams' own press release 39338, which states the Chaucer sold for USD 115,000 in a sale that totalled USD 690,000: the release rounds every figure it prints to the nearest thousand, so 115,000 is 114,800 rounded rather than a competing figure, and the USD 690,000 sale total already on the record is confirmed by the same release. This row remains comparanda only: it is the Van Horn paper copy rebound by Riviere and Son, not Stanford's copy, and nothing here bears on the Stanford object's own value. - **2024-02-22** RR Auction, - Estimate: USD 65,000 and up - Hammer: not separately published - With premium: USD 90,750 total, described by the source as including buyer's premium - Remarkable Rarities sale #707. Paper copy, later full white leather rebinding with gilt-decorated spine and a matching quarter-leather slipcase. Comparanda only: not Stanford's copy. - **2025 (exact date reported as 10 January 2025 in the source consulted)** RR Auction, - Hammer: USD 68,750 - With premium: not separately published by the source consulted - Paper copy in a binding described as original-style quarter linen with blue paper boards, housed in a custom clamshell case. Comparanda only: not Stanford's copy. - **sale referenced as 2012 in the auction record consulted** Sotheby's, - Estimate: GBP 50,000-70,000 - Hammer: not retrievable: the result page required a login and could not be accessed for this record - With premium: not retrievable - Lot 114. Paper copy in an original Doves Bindery pigskin binding, one of the approximately 48 so bound, signed 'The Doves Bindery 1897' on the lower endpaper, with recorded prior provenance from a sale of 15 May 1941. Comparanda only: not Stanford's copy; included to show that an original 1896-97 pigskin binding appears to carry a materially higher estimate than a plain or later-rebound paper copy. ## Open questions - Is the Cantor Arts Center's copy one of the 425 paper copies or one of the 13 vellum copies? The institution's own published catalogue description gives the medium only as an illustrated book with woodcuts, without specifying the support, and this could not be confirmed from any other source consulted. - What is the Cantor Arts Center's own accession or object number for this copy? Not published in any source consulted; the museum's online collections database is CAPTCHA-gated and could not be queried directly. - Which binding does Stanford's copy have: the plain quarter-holland and paper-boards issue binding, one of the roughly 48 Doves Bindery pigskin bindings, or a later rebinding? Not stated in the sources consulted. - When and how did Mr. and Mrs. Nathaniel J. Kendall acquire this copy, and when did they give it to Stanford? Not documented in the sources consulted. - What is the ownership chain between the book's 1896 sale and the Kendalls' acquisition of it? Entirely undocumented in the sources consulted. - What was William Morris's actual final diagnosis? Sources consulted disagree, variously citing kidney disease from 1891, diabetes, tuberculosis and heart disease as the cause or a contributing cause of his October 1896 death, and this record has not been able to resolve the discrepancy. - Exactly how many paper copies were bound in the original Doves Bindery pigskin binding? Sources consulted give 48, 46 and 'approximately 50'; the discrepancy is unresolved here. - Was Kelmscott Press's planned illustrated edition of Malory's Morte d'Arthur, mentioned in a Burne-Jones letter alongside the Chaucer, ever formally begun, and why does it not appear among the Press's 53 published titles? Not detailed in the sources consulted. ## Sources - [1] Google Arts and Culture (Google Cultural Institute), 'The Works of Geoffrey Chaucer (The Kelmscott Chaucer) - William Morris', object record crediting the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Center for Visual Arts at Stanford University, gift of Mr. and Mrs. Nathaniel J. Kendall. - [2] Wikimedia Commons, File:William Morris - The Works of Geoffrey Chaucer (The Kelmscott Chaucer) - Google Art Project.jpg, file description, categories and extmetadata (LicenseShortName: Public domain). - [3] Wikidata, Q4219142, item for the 1896 Kelmscott Press edition of the Works of Geoffrey Chaucer. - [4] Bonhams, lot listing, 'Kelmscott Chaucer: The Finest Book Since the Gutenberg Bible', The Complete Kelmscott Press Collection of Joseph Mark Van Horn, sale 31214, lot 46, 17 December 2024. - [5] Bonhams, press release, 'A Complete Collection of Kelmscott Press Books Offered in a Single Owner Sale at Bonhams'. - [6] Burne-Jones Catalogue Raisonne (eb-j.org), entry for a Kelmscott Chaucer copy, describing the edition's binding structure (48 pigskin-bound copies, 379 in quarter cloth) and the Walker/Catterson-Smith/Hooper production chain. - [7] Sotheby's, lot listing, English Literature, History, Children's Books and Illustrations sale, lot 114, Kelmscott Chaucer in an original Doves Bindery pigskin binding. - [8] The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, 'The Kelmscott Chaucer', collection highlight page for the museum's own pigskin-bound presentation copy. - [9] RR Auction, lot listing, 'Kelmscott Chaucer: The Works of Geoffrey Chaucer by Kelmscott Press (1896)', Remarkable Rarities sale #707, 22 February 2024. - [10] Fine Books & Collections magazine, 'Kelmscott Chaucer Sold for $68,750 at Auction'. - [11] kelmscottchaucer.wordpress.com (Updating the Kelmscott Chaucer Census), 'A portrait of Robert Catterson-Smith', on Catterson-Smith's uncredited role reworking Burne-Jones's drawings for engraving. - [12] Victorianweb.org, George P. Landow / Cooke, 'Edward Burne-Jones as an Illustrator', on Burne-Jones's role illustrating the Kelmscott Chaucer and the character of his designs relative to Chaucer's text. - [13] Bryars and Bryars (antiquarian booksellers), 'William Morris announces his pocket cathedral: a specimen leaf from the Kelmscott Chaucer', on the 1893 specimen leaf shown at the Arts and Crafts Exhibition and the Burne-Jones 'pocket cathedral' letter. - [14] The William Morris Society, 'The Ideal Book: William Morris and the Kelmscott Press', including Morris's 1893 statement of intent and his description of collaborative craftsmanship. - [15] Arizona State University Library Guides, 'Kelmscott Press and Victorian Medievalism: Book Production', on Batchelor paper and watermarks, Jaenecke ink, the Albion presses and the Golden, Troy and Chaucer typefaces. - [16] Very Fine Books (antiquarian book dealer), listing and historical note on a Kelmscott Chaucer, giving 1896 issue prices and a wage comparison for the period. - [17] University of Missouri Libraries, 'Prices and Wages by Decade: 1890-1899', library research guide. - [18] The McCune Collection, 'Kelmscott Chaucer', overview page on production and financial outcome, including the assessment that the book was 'not a financial success' for the Kelmscott Press. - [19] Grolier Club, 'Further Impressions' exhibition, 'Illustration: Prints, Drawings, and Photographs - Processes and Examples', on Emery Walker's platinotype photographs of Burne-Jones's drawings and W.H. Hooper's engraving. - [20] Spartacus Educational, 'William Morris', biographical page including Morris's kidney disease from 1891 and a Burne-Jones letter referencing the unfinished Morte d'Arthur project alongside the Chaucer. - [21] Fonts In Use, 'Morris Troy', on the Troy and Chaucer typefaces, their dates and point sizes, and the punchcutter Edward Prince. - [22] whatwouldwilliammorrissay.wordpress.com, 'William Morris is dead, long live William Morris', on Morris's 1896 Norway trip, his final illness, and Georgiana Burne-Jones's account of his death. - [23] William Morris Society in the United States, 'Life', short biographical timeline giving 3 October 1896 as the date of Morris's death from kidney failure. - [24] Wikimedia Commons, File:Kelmscott Chaucer.jpg, file description identifying the California State Library as the holding institution for the photographed copy, and extmetadata license (CC BY-SA 3.0). - [25] Wikimedia Commons, File:Leaf from the Kelmscott Chaucer, after Edward Burne Jones, 1896, wood engraving on laid paper - Fogg Museum - Harvard University - DSC01715.jpg and companion detail file DSC01717.jpg, file descriptions and extmetadata license (CC0 1.0). - [26] Wikimedia Commons, File:Houghton Typ 805K.96.275 - Works of Geoffrey Chaucer, 1896 - pg. 483.jpg, file description crediting Houghton Library, Harvard University, and extmetadata license (Public Domain Mark 1.0). - [27] Wikimedia Commons, File:George Frederic Watts portrait of William Morris 1870.jpg, file description and extmetadata license (Public Domain Mark). - [28] Wikimedia Commons, File:George Frederic Watts (1817-1904) - Sir Edward Burne-Jones (1833-1898) - 1920P91 - Birmingham Museums Trust.jpg, file description crediting Birmingham Museums Trust, and extmetadata license (Public Domain Mark). - [29] bonhams.com, web page cited for the Bonhams, New York sale of 2024-12-17. --- Images on this record are public domain or CC0 and are hosted by us. 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