Hedgehogs

book-aesthete:

Geoffrey Chaucer: The Works,
Shakespeare Head Press, 1928-1929

8 vol., NUMBER 58 OF 375 COPIES, on handmade paper, printed in red, blue and black, illustrations (many hand-coloured) by Hugh Chesterman, duplicate spine labels loosely inserted, publisher’s quarter cloth, uncut and unopened, some spotting on spines and edges, 4to,

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“A thousand tymes have I herd men telle,
That ther is Ioye in heven, and peyne in helle;
And I acorde wel that hit is so;
But natheles, yit wot I wel also,
That ther nis noon dwelling in this contree,
That either hath in heven or helle y-be,
Ne may of hit non other weyes witen,
But as he hath herd seyd, or founde hit writen;
For by assay ther may no man hit preve.
But god forbede but men should leve
Wel more thing then men han seen with ye!
Men shal nat wenen every-thing a lye
But-if him-self hit seeth, or elles dooth;
For, god wot, thing is never the lasse sooth,
Thogh every wight ne may hit nat y-see.
Bernard the monk ne saugh nat al, parde!” ~Prologue