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The original, printed in 1896 and limited to 425 copies, was
designed to celebrate the art of bookmaking. Otis Library
owns a facsimile edition published in 1958.
"The Kelmscott Chaucer was printed in two columns on
handmade paper with specially designed large gothic type in
red and black, with 87 woodcut illustrations and 116 full-page
plates after designs by Sir Edward Burne-Jones, and numerous
woodcut borders and initial letters designed for this work
by William Morris. The opening double-page dazzles the eye
with the sheer richness of its appearance. William Morris
was particularly concerned that his books be conceived as
a total unity so that the paper, ink, type and decorative
motifs had a uniform and complementary style."
- University
of Delaware Library
"As a leader of the Arts and Crafts Movement, William
Morris rebelled against the harsh utilitarianism of the machine
age. He sought a solution in the return to the methods and
the materials of the fifteenth century, and to designs he
hoped would convey the flavor of that age. In his effort to
revive the art of hand-press printing and to elevate the humble
beauty of the hand-made object, Morris produced one of the
great books in the history of printing--the Kelmscott Chaucer.
All aspects of this book's design and production refer back
to the characteristics of the medieval manuscript. The Gothic
typeface, the use of margins, the decorated initials and borders,
and even the quality of the paper speak to an earlier sensibility.
The densely patterned marginal motifs seen here in the Prologue
to the Canterbury Tales, mimic the patterned wallpapers which
Morris also popularized."
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Cornell Library Website
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Pathfinder for History of Graphic Design 
