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£8,000

Presentation: Framed
SN: 4432
The original woodblock carved by Gill and coloured with gesso in a beech shadow box frame with a green colour field inside
7 1/2 x 1 5/8 in. 19 x 3.5 cm.

This block was originally produced in 1927 for "Troilus and Criseyde" but here in its second state as used in The Canterbury Tales.

Eric Gill realized the aesthetic value of his woodblocks and would buy them back from the Golden Cockerel Press. He would then run gesso into them and carve them into silhouettes.

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£7,750

Presentation: Mounted
SN: 5223

Physick 818 on a label to the base
The original block, 4 x 7 in. (10 x 17 cm) including integral base.

Eric Gill greatly prized his woodblocks - he bought them back from the Golden Cockerel Press, ran gesso into them, carved them into silhouettes and mounted them on pedestals as free standing objects.

The Four Gospels, designed by The Golden Cockerel Press and with engravings by Eric Gill, printed as an edition of 500,  was the culminating achievement of the private press movement.   Robin Gartin, in British Printmakers 1855-1955, has described it as 'being among the greatest book productions between the Wars'

Robert Gibbings, the owner of The Golden Cockerel Press, was responsible for setting the type, leaving appropriate spaces for which Gill designed the initial letters and words. Leaves curl into the space between paragraphs, swords hang down into the margin, and the symbols of the evangelists each hold up the title of their gospel. It was a marriage of image and text that recalls the best of medieval illuminated manuscripts, yet is suited perfectly to the modern age and flawless in its execution.

Experts on type and design have always been united in their praise of Eric Gill’s typeface designs. Robert Harling spoke of the letters’ ‘character and beauty, discipline and gaiety’, whilst Stanley Morison said: ‘The capitals that he did, I think, will be immortal. They’ll be used as long as the Roman alphabet is ever used anywhere.’ 

‘Letters are things, not pictures of things’ Eric Gill

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Presentation: Framed
SN: 4397
Woodblock (approx. 4 x 8 in. (10 x 20 cm) in size)
Eric Gill realised the aesthetic value of his woodblocks and would buy them back from the Golden Cockerel Press. He would then run gesso into them and carve them into silhouettes.