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4-page conjugate leaf, pp. [1]-2 & [15]-16. The first and third pages with large woodcut illustrations and elaborate woodcut borders; one oversize, five large and seven small woodcut initials. 42.5x29.3 cm. (16¾x11½").

Exceptionally rare and important proof bifolium - with variant typesetting - of the masterwork of the Kelmscott Press, the Kelmscott Chaucer. This proof page was typeset in 1893 in a very small number and distributed to William Morris's friends. It contains a variant typesetting of the text, eventually rejected by Morris. (The number of lines beneath the initial "W" was reduced from seven to six, with a ripple effect on the remainder of the text.) The bifolium comprises the first two pages of Canterbury Tales with a large and famous illustration featuring the author standing in a garden, a book in one hand, a pen in the other, and two pages from the Knight's Tale, with a large illustration of two men standing in a forest. In the opinion of many, this opening page of the Kelmscott Chaucer can be judged the most famous page in the history of fine typography. The rarest of all Kelmscott productions