Signed and numbered by the artist. A monumental book with striking full-page etchings by Frink depicting the figures, animals and birds that characterise her work. The etchings were printed by Cliff White at White Ink Ltd., London and illustrate The Prologue, The Knight's Tale, The Miller's Tale I, The Miller's Tale II, The Reeve's Tale, The Shipman's Tale, The Prioress's Tale, Chaucer's Tale of Sir Topaz, The Nun's Priest's Tale, The Physician's Tale, The Pardoner's Tale, The Wife of Bath's Tale, The Summoner's Tale, The Clerk's Tale, The Merchant's Tale, The Squire's Tale, The Franklin's Tale, The Second Nun's Tale and The Manciple's Tale.

'Her Canterbury Tales contains nineteen etchings drawn directly onto copper plates and etched by Frink, and the "book" was issued in three limited editions. Her illustrations have been both excessively praised as "amongst the most successful illustrations of the century, encompassing the mood of the text in concise delineations and disarmingly ribald humour' (Sarah Kent, in Houfe 1994: 203).

Elizabeth Frink was born in Suffolk in 1930 and became one of Britain's most eminent sculptors. She had attended Guildford School of Art, followed by Chelsea School of Art and had her first major exhibition at the Beaux Arts Gallery in London, when she was only twenty-two. Throughout her lifetime she was known as one of the most accomplished sculptors of animal and human forms: men, dogs, horses and birds were constant subject-matter throughout. Her graphic work and drawings followed the same themes, being executed with the simplicity and also feeling for surface texture that is to be found in her sculptural work.

Limited edition; large folio (648 x 928 mm); with 19 original full-page etchings by Elisabeth Frink with aquatint in black on J. Barcham Green paper, Hors De Commerce Copy, 1 of 25, numbered D276 [with] artist's signature in ink at rear; publisher's full green cloth with gold-blocked bird design on the front cover; cover worn at extremities and little mottled, one part of one ribbon tie shortened, otherwise internally, a fine set.