Lot 46
  • 46

Gill, Eric--Golden Cockerel Press--Bible

Estimate
50,000 - 70,000 GBP
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Description

  • Gill, Eric--Golden Cockerel Press--Bible
  • The Four Gospels of the Lord Jesus Christ. Waltham St. Lawrence: Golden Cockerel Press, 1931
  • paper
folio (332 x 230mm.), NUMBER 9 OF 500 COPIES OF WHICH THIS IS ONE OF 12 COPIES PRINTED ON VELLUM, PRESENTATION COPY INSCRIBED BY ERIC GILL TO LEONARD WOOLF AND BABETTE N. CLAYBURGH ("[Eric Gill monogram] | To Leonard Woolf | and | Babette N. Clayburgh") on colophon, 62 wood-engraved sub-titles, pictorial headlines and initials by Eric Gill, original white pigskin with Gill design in gilt on upper cover and title in gilt on spine, raised bands on spine, bound by Sangorski and Sutcliffe with two metal clasps, gilt edges, collector's folding box enclosed within collector's chemise and blue morocco-backed slipcase, very minor soiling to binding

Literature

Gill 285; Chanticleer 78

Condition

Condition is described in the main body of the cataloguing, where appropriate.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Catalogue Note

AN EXCEPTIONAL COPY AND THE ONLY KNOWN COPY ON VELLUM TO CARRY AN INSCRIPTION BY THE ILLUSTRATOR.

As noted in the bibliography of the Golden Cockerel Press, "...this is the Golden Cockerel book usually compared with the Doves Bible and the Kelmscott Chaucer. A flower among the best products of English romantic genius, it is also surely, thanks to its illustrator, Eric Gill, the book among all books in which Roman type has been best mated with any kind of illustration".

Gill and Woolf had developed a close friendship around the early 1930s and collaborated on a number of different projects. For the 1931 Hogarth Press edition of Vita Sackville-West's translation of Rainer Maria Rilke's Duineser Elegien, for example, the Woolfs approached Gill to design and cut the initials. Gill would refer to Leonard and Virginia as "the Wolves" (see MacCarthy, Eric Gill (1990), p.115).

The California socialite Babette Clayburgh (1889-1941) and her husband Herbert Eugene Clayburgh (1878-1972), a San Francisco silk magnate, were prominent book collectors. They joined the Book Club of San Francisco in 1920.