Sonnets and Verses

1925

Special Collections PR6005 L48 S6

Waltham St Lawrence, Berkshire: The Golden Cockerel Press

In early 1924, Robert Gibbings broached the idea to Gill of providing illustrations for future GCP publications. Gill refused this idea because Gibbings was not a Catholic, but he eventually changed his mind. The influencing factor was J.G. Wilson, a London bookseller, who suggested to Enid Clay, Gill’s elder sister, that Gibbings and his GCP publish her poetry book. Of course it was to be illustrated by Gill. Thus began the happy collaboration of Gill with Robert Gibbings. The volume contains six Gill engravings and was printed in Caslon Old Face, GCP’s default typeface. Although distance between the artist (in Wales) and the printer (in Waltham) hampered the creative process, the book was ‘crowned’ a success by the Double Crown Club, receiving the highest number of votes for any book in 1925.