GOLDEN COCKEREL PRESS
The Golden Cockerel Press was founded by Harold Midgley Taylor (1893–1925) in 1920 and was an English fine press operating between 1920 and 1961. In February 1924 he sold the Press to Robert Gibbings (23 March 1889–19 January 1958) and in 1933 Christopher Sandford purchased the Golden Cockerel Press from Gibbings and, though he transferred the printing to his Chiswick Press, was able to maintain the very high standards of book production that Gibbings had achieved working at home in Waltham St Lawrence. The private press made handmade limited editions of classic works. Sandford sold The Golden Cockerel Press in 1959 to Thomas Yoseloff but it closed in 1961. The type was hand-set and the books were printed on handmade paper, and sometimes on vellum. A feature of Golden Cockerel books was the original illustrations, usually wood engravings, contributed by artists including (Arthur) Eric (Rowton) Gill (22 February 1882–17 November 1940), Robert John Gibbings (23 March 1889–19 January 1958), Peter Claude Vaudrey Barker-Mill (28 December 1908-5 June 1994), John Buckland Wright (3 December 1897-27 September 1954), Blair Rowlands Hughes-Stanton, Agnes Miller Parker (3 April 1883-1980) David Jones (1 November 1895–28 October 1974), Mark Fernand Severin (5 January 1906–10 September 1987), Dorothea Braby (17 October 1909–1987), Lettice Sandford (1902-3 December 1993), Gwenda Morgan (1 February 1908–9 January 1991), Mary Elizabeth Groom and Eric (William) Ravilious (22 July 1903–2 September 1942).