Object Type
This illustration was designed by Edward Burne-Jones and wood-engraved by W.H. Hooper. During the 19th century it was usual for the artist to make the drawing and a professional engraver would cut the design into the block of boxwood.

Design & Designing
William Morris set up the Kelmscott Press in 1891. William Morris was a key figure in the Arts and Crafts Movement and central to the Pre-Raphaelite artistic circle. Inspired by medieval illuminated manuscripts and early printed books, he set up the Kelmscott Press in order to meet his aesthetic ideal of integrated design, in particular unified illustration and text. Morris himself carefully designed initial letters, borders and Gothic typefaces, as well as commissioning illustrations from artists such as the leading Pre-Raphaelite painter Edward Burne-Jones. The frame for the illustration was drawn by Morris and was one of the 18 designs he used in this volume.

People
Burne-Jones first met William Morris when they were students in Oxford. Although principally a painter, Burne-Jones provided a number of designs for Morris' company, Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co., and this collaboration continued when Morris set up the Kelmscott Press and Burne-Jones illustrated a number of the books. Chaucer, however, was a text that had been a shared enthusiasm since their student days and had inspired many of their individual paintings and designs. Although originally the Kelmscott Chaucer was to have only 40 illustrations, by the end of the project there were 87.