Kelmscott Press--Froissart, Jean

folio, ONE OF 32 COPIES, wood-engraved border and numerous initials, unbound sheets comprising 16 pages, some light soiling and spotting

Peterson D1.8

One of the great rarities from the Kelmscott Press. Lord Berners' translation of Froissart's Chronicles had long been a favourite of Morris' and he had planned an edition in 1895 ("...no book that I could do would give me half the pleasure I am getting from the Froissart. I am simply revelling in it. It's such a glorious and noble work and every page as it leaves the press delights me more than I can say. I am taking great pains with it, and doing all I can to realise what I have long wished.") The work was announced several times but continually postponed. It was only finally abandoned after Morris' death. Before the end of 1896 thirty-two copies of the incomplete sheets were distributed to friends of Morris. The note at the end reads "Incomplete sheets of the Froissart. 32 copies printed at the Kelmscott Press on Dec. 24, 1896, before the distribution of the type. Not for sale." An even shorter printing of specimen pages would be printed on vellum and issued in 1897 (see Peterson A46).