The Works of Geoffrey Chaucer (the Kelmscott Chaucer)

No book-club issue exists, but facsimiles dominate and are the real trap. The Basilisk Press (London, 1974-75) facsimile was issued in 515 copies in two volumes — the Chaucer plus a separately written Companion Volume by Duncan Robinson — printed letterpress by the John Roberts Press on paper made to match Batchelor's handmade stock, bound in red-and-white Liberty 'Larkspur' floral cloth after a Morris pattern with spine labels, in a blue publisher's slipcase. The Companion Volume, the Liberty floral cloth, and the Basilisk imprint are immediate tells; nothing about the 1896 original is floral-cloth bound or accompanied by a companion volume. The Folio Society (2002) facsimile, limited to 1,010 copies, was photographed from a Basilisk copy. Also in circulation: modern leather-bound 'deluxe' reprints numbered out of 1,896 with a certificate of authenticity — the 1,896 is the year repurposed as an edition size and is a reprint marker, never a Kelmscott point — and the Pomegranate colouring book.