David Peace’s Eric Gill: The Inscriptions, A Descriptive Catalogue is an indispensable and meticulously researched catalogue that documents the complete inscriptional work of the renowned British sculptor and typographer Eric Gill. Published in 1994, this comprehensive volume serves as the definitive record of over 900 known stone carvings and lettering pieces, spanning Gill’s entire career from his first inscription in 1901 to the poignant design for his own gravestone in 1940.
Peace, who trained as an architect and devoted decades to the study of lettering, built his research upon the foundational 1964 inventory compiled by the artist’s brother, Evan R. Gill. Over thirty years of dedicated fieldwork, Peace expanded this initial work by locating and recording over one hundred previously undocumented inscriptions, crisscrossing the English countryside to photograph and catalogue pieces in churches, public buildings, private collections, and war memorials. The result is a work that complements the earlier volume Eric Gill: The Engravings, providing a complete picture of Gill’s artistic output.
The book is organized as a detailed descriptive catalogue, with each entry providing a physical description, location, date, and historical context for every known inscription. It includes numerous black-and-white photographs that capture the exquisite clarity and elegance of Gill’s letter carving. Appendices offer valuable reference material, including lists of apprentices, locations by county, war memorials, heraldic designs, and the famous alphabets Gill created. By systematically documenting this often-overlooked aspect of Gill’s genius, Peace has created an essential resource for typographers, art historians, and anyone captivated by the enduring beauty of letterforms carved in stone.
