Oak Knoll

Limited to 300 copies, of which this copy is one of only a few copies bound in full vellum with four silk ties. Essex House Press Bibliography, page 78-79. Tomkinson, p. 77; Ransom, p. 269. Endleaves offset (from binder's glue), else a fine copy with all four silk ties. Caslon type, in black & red, on Batchelor handmade paper and with an initial 'W' by C. R. Ashbee, and cut by W. Hooper.

With 50 illustrations of buildings and architectural details, including one etched plate, two photographic plates, and 47 illustrations in the text, 32 of them full-page. This study of Norman architecture in the county of Essex is a result of Essex House Press founder C. R. Ashbee's deep and abiding interest in architecture and his involvement in William Morris' Society for the Preservation of Ancient Buildings. In addition to resurrecting the handicrafts of the 15th century, members of the Arts & Crafts Movement were also very much concerned with preserving extant examples of antiquarian workmanship. Ashbee was by training an architect, and operated an architectural office in addition to the Guild of Handicraft for most of his career. Author Ernest Godman came to him as a 15-year-old architecture pupil in 1891, and what Ashbee called his "careful architectural soul" made him a valuable asset in the running of the business (Ashbee being better at the "big picture" than at day-to-day operations). Godman brought his meticulous eye for detail to his work as Secretary of Ashbee's Committee for the Survey of the Memorials of Greater London (including parts of Essex and Middlesex), formed in the hope of saving ancient buildings from rapacious developers. The present work documents buildings constructed between the Norman Conquest in 1066 and 1200 A.D., and includes drawings of buildings, architectural plans, and photographs. It was one in a series of architectural studies planned by Ashbee and Godman that was cut short by the latter's tragic death from consumption at the age of 30.