Troilus and Criseyde

The Chaucer is the most impressive of the 53 titles printed at Morris’s Kelmscott Press and the culmination of his work as a printer and book-designer. In addition to the many decorative borders and initials by Morris, it contains 87 illustrations by Burne-Jones, who described the book as ‘a little like a pocket cathedral. My share in it is that of the carver of images at Amiens, and Morris’s that of Architect and Magister Lapidica [Master Mason].’ Work on the book began in 1892 and the first two complete copies were delivered from the binder in June 1896, just four months before Morris’s death.