Manuscript & Inscription Letters for Schools and Classes & for the use of Craftsman. With five plates by Eric Gill.

First edition. A folding portfolio with a linen spine and lettered paper-covered sides. The binding ties complete and in situ. Sixteen loose-leaved sheets of card, printed on one side only and measuring 31.5cm x 25cm, five of which are by Gill, three reproducing his alphabet engravings on stone, one drawn and one more brushed. Loosely inserted is a 1pp advertisement leaf for plaster casts lettering for letter cutters by Gill with thumbnail reproductions of the three stone-engraved plates. Folding 4pp advertisement for Soennecken's pens also inserted along with a 1pp advertisement for Kelemi pen #21. A trace of toning and corner creasing to the margins of several of the Gill plates. Some spotting to two other plates, and some off-set toning to a third. An area of staining to the front panel of the portfolio, a little rubbing to the corner tips, and a touch of spotting and toning to the printed inners. A very good example of this scarce survivor of some of Gill's earliest printed work. Most uncommon. (Gill first encountered Edward Johnston at the Central School of Arts and Crafts where he ran the calligraphy course and the two roomed together for a year in shared lodgings at Lincoln's Inn. Johnston was instrumental in some of Gill's earliest inscriptional and design employment). …