The Phaedo of Plato

1930

Special Collections B379 A5 JV6

Waltham St Lawrence, Berkshire: The Golden Cockerel Press

In 1930 Gill was living at Pigotts, near Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. That year he also recovered from a breakdown, and began thinking about his most complex commission: the carvings of his ‘Prospero & Ariel’, and ‘The Sower’ at Broadcasting House, Langham Place, London. A smaller, but no less beautiful commission was the floriated initials (printed in red) he supplied for the GCP edition of The Phaedo of Plato. The eleven letters were engravings cut by Ralph Needham to Gill’s drawings. After printing and binding, it was discovered that the translation on the title-page had been attributed to William Jowett, rather than Benjamin Jowett, the Victorian scholar. Copies had to be cancelled, and replaced; this is the corrected ‘BJ’ version.