Foul or fair?
In 1953 the Golden Cockerel Press published Against Women, a sixteenth century satirical poem that waxes lyrical about women’s countless ills. Perhaps anticipating the reception such a title might expect from modern audiences, the press followed in 1960 by printing the sixteenth century reply, In Defence of Woman. Here, I’ll be taking a look at both titles.
Against Women physical details
Against Women (Cock-a-Hoop 192) was written by an anonymous Welshman and is published here in an edition of 350 copies: 100 specials and 250 ordinary copies. I have one of the ordinaries. It’s bound, says Cock-a-Hoop, in “purple” cloth, but it could equally be called red. It’s blocked with a gilt design on the front board and the title is blocked on the spine. The book measures 229x114mm, meaning it is tall but opens out to a square.
The paper is hand-made and the typeface is Eric Gill’s Golden Cockerel, which was set by hand (by this point, although printing letterpress, Golden Cockerel unashamedly set most of its books by machine). This typeface was originally designed to sit alongside wood engravings and it shows: it works well. I have made much of the “unrefined” construction of many Golden Cockerel books, but that’s not true here. By this relatively late stage in the press’ life, things were more polished and the paper feels closer to a more modern stock than to the stuff Golden Cockerel was using in the 1930s. From a physical point of view, the special edition was almost identical, but came in a “purple Indian lizard” binding. The special (but not the ordinary) edition comes in a thin card slipcase.
In Defence of Woman physical details
In Defence of Woman (Cock-a-Hoop 210) is attributed to Wiliam Cynwal who, says Cock-a-Hoop, took exception to the terms in which the former book has described members of the fairer sex. There were five hundred copies, of which 100 were specials. Here I have both a standard and a special edition copy. The former is bound in blue cloth, while the latter is in blue morocco leather. In most respects, they follow the design laid-down by Against Women (e.g., with the gilt design to the front board and blocked title on the spine), but the paper here is downgraded to mould made. In Defence of Woman was one of the last books published by the press, after it had been sold by Christopher Sandford, but was produced to Sandford’s design. The special (but not the ordinary) edition comes in a thin card slipcase and has a gilded top edge. The special edition was bound by Hiscox.
Illustration and textual content
Both books were illustrated by John Petts in a style inspired by the stained glass windows for which Petts was well known. We have encountered Petts’ work on this blog before: he illustrated The Green Island with a set of dense, dark wood engravings. Here, too, are wood engravings, but now printed in colour lending them an additional kind of impact. Although the colour engravings are a bit of a departure from Golden Cockerel’s traditional fare, they are a huge success and the engravings here are some of my favourites. Each image depicts a woman in a somewhat allegorical setting. Many are provocative, especially those in Against Women whose subject matter Petts has fully exploited to create some real temptresses in the best biblical tradition. But all of the images are full of drama and overflowing with personality. Top marks to Petts! For both books, the special edition contains one extra engraving.
Both books were translated by Gwynn Williams, who also provides a brief introduction to each. Against Women has a simple rhyming structure and is quite tongue-in-cheek. This makes it easy and fun to read—provided you’re willing to go along with the joke and not take it too seriously, that is. One has the sense that William Cynwal did take it rather too seriously: In Defence of Woman is a much more sober (albeit still over-the-top) affair written in a more intricate verse structure (explained in the author’s introduction). Each book comes in at less than thirty pages, so they make a fun pair to read together in an idle hour. ■
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A few brief notes on the Golden Cockerel Press
The Golden Cockerel Press was a British private press based in Waltham St Lawrence near Reading, Berkshire. It went through four ownership regimes: founded by Hal Taylor in 1920, purchased by Robert Gibbings in 1924, taken over by Christopher Sandford in 1933, and finally wound up by Thomas Yoseloff who bought the press in 1959. It was Gibbings that built the press’ reputation for featuring some of the top engravers of the day (Eric Ravillious, Eric Gill, John Nash, Gibbings himself), while Sandford modernised operations and broadened the scope of the press’ output. Under Sandford’s leadership the press largely ceased printing its own books and relocated production to The Chiswick Press (owned by one of Sandford’s business partners), at which point Golden Cockerel ceased to be a private press in the strictest sense. But, Sandford also managed to expand the rate at which the press was able to produce books (despite the war’s interference). All four owners actively sought new material to print, often from unknown authors, and printed relatively few “classics”. This makes the press’ output occasionally esoteric (and its literary quality quite variable). The complete bibliography is documented in four volumes: Chanticleer, Pertelote, Cockalorum, and Cock-a-Hoop.
Highlights of the press’ output include works lavishly illustrated by Eric Gill (The Four Gospels, The Canterbury Tales, Troilus and Criseyde), an edition of Twelfth Night illustrated by Eric Ravilious, and Gibbing’s crowning achievement, The Glory of Life. The press also occasionally printed books on behalf of other publishers, most notably Le Morte d’Arthur for The Limited Editions Club.
A full history of the press can be found in A History of the Golden Cockerel Press 1920–1960 by Roderick Cave and Sarah Manson.
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