The Golden Cockerel Press was founded by Harold Midgeley Taylor in 1920, but is best known for the books that it produced from 1924-1933, when it was in the hands of Robert and Moira Gibbings. The books from this period are especially notable for the original illustrations – usually wood engravings – contributed by artists such as Eric Gill, Blair Hughes-Stanton, and Eric Ravilious. From 1933 until its closure in 1961 the Press operated as a publishing house, with the actual printing being done by a commercial press, though it was still associated with high quality work.

Special Collections has the following items printed at or published by the Golden Cockerel Press:

• Bell, Gertrude. The Arab War: Confidential Information for General Headquarters from Gertrude Bell, Being Despatches from the Secret “Arab Bulletin”. London: 1940. D568.4 .B4
• Browne, William. Circe and Ulysses: The Inner Temple Masque Presented by the Gentlemen There, January 13, 1614. London: 1954. PR2217.B5 C5
• Carey, Henry. Songs & Poems. Waltham Saint Lawrence: 1924. PR3339.C23 A173
• Comenius, Johann. The Labyrinth of the World and the Paradise of the Heart. London: 1950. BV4509.C8 C613 1950
• Coppard, A. E. Count Stefan. Waltham Saint Lawrence: 1928. PR6005.O55 C6
• Coppard, A. E. Crotty Shinkwin: A Tale of the Strange Adventure That Befell a Butcher of County Clare; The Beauty Spot: A Tale Concerning the Chilterns. Waltham Saint Lawrence: 1932. PR6005.O55 C7
• Coppard, A. E. The Hundredth Story of A. E. Coppard. Waltham Saint Lawrence: 1931. PR6005.O55 H8, PR6005.O55 H8 1931
• Coppard, A. E. Tapster’s Tapestry. London: 1938. PZ3.C792 Tap
• Dryden, John. Songs and Poems of John Dryden. London: 1957. PR3412 .J66 1957
• Earle, John. Micro-Cosmographie, or, A Piece of the World Discovered in Essayes and Characters. Waltham Saint Lawrence: 1928. PR2270.E15 M5 1928
• Ellis, Havelock. Kanga Creek: An Australian Idyll. Waltham Saint Lawrence: 1922. PR6009.L8 K3 1922
• Ellis, Havelock. Sonnets, with Folk Songs from the Spanish. Waltham Saint Lawrence: 1925. PR6009.L8 S6 1925
• Gill, Eric. Clothing without Cloth: An Essay on the Nude. Waltham Saint Lawrence: 1931. 743 G41c
• Golden Cockerel Press. Chanticleer: A Bibliography of the Golden Cockerel Press, April 1921-1936 August. London: 1936. Z232 .G61
• Golden Cockerel Press. Cockalorum: A Sequel to Chanticleer and Pertelote, Being a Bibliography of the Golden Cockerell Press, June 1943-December 1948. London: 1948. Z232 .G613
• Henry VIII (King of England). Miscellaneous Writings of Henry the Eighth, King of England, France & Ireland, in Which Are Included Assertion of the Seven Sacraments; Love Letters to Anne Boleyn; Songs; Letter to the Emperor; Two Proclamations; Will. Waltham Saint Lawrence: 1924. 942.052 H396m
• Hogg, Thomas. The Athenians, Being Correspondence between Thomas Jefferson Hogg and His Friends, Thomas Love Peacock, Leigh Hunt, Percy Bysshe Shelley, and Others. London: 1943. 828 H68a
• Lamb, Charles. A Tale of Rosamund Gray and Old Blind Margaret. London: 1928. PR4862 .R6 1928
• Lawrence, T. E. Secret Despatches from Arabia. London: 1939. D568.4 .L38
• Malory, Thomas. Le Morte Darthur: The Story of King Arthur & of His Noble Knights of the Round Table. London: 1936. PR2043 .P64 1936
• Mathers, E. Powys. Love Night: a Laotian Gallantry. London: 1936. PR6025.A833 L6
• Paradise Lost, a Poem by John Milton, with Wood Engravings by Mary Groom, Printed at the Golden Cockerel Press, Staple Inn, London: Prospectus. London: 1937. 655.24 G565p
• Philby, H. St. J. B. A Pilgrim in Arabia. London: 1943. DS207 .P523
• Quennell, Peter. Masques & Poems. Waltham Saint Lawrence: 1922. 828 Q34m
• Shenstone, William. Men & Manners. London: 1927. PR3677 .A7 1927b
• St. Michael’s College Library. The Tenbury Letters. London: 1942. PN6130 .S3

Special Collections has the following secondary resources relating to the Golden Cockerel Press:

• Cave, Roderick. A History of the Golden Cockerel Press, 1920-1960. London: British Library, 2002. Z232.G63 C38 2002
• Chambers, David and Christopher Sandford. Cock-a-hoop: A Sequel to Chanticleer, Pertelote, and Cockalorum, Being a Bibliography of the Golden Cockerel Press, September 1949- December 1961. Pinner: Private Libraries Association, 1976. Z232.G63 A34 1976
• Golden Cockerel Press. Chanticleer: A Bibliography of the Golden Cockerel Press, April 1921-1936 August. London: Golden Cockered Press, 1936. Z232 .G61
• Golden Cockerel Press. Cockalorum: A Sequel to Chanticleer and Pertelote, Being a Bibliography of the Golden Cockerell Press, June 1943-December 1948. London: 1948. Z232 .G613