Owlpen Manor near Uley Gloucestershire was built, and the trees planted in 1515; it remained in the hands of the Daunt family until 1925 when it was bought and restored by the architect Norman Jewson, a close friend of the artist. The first state of the plate in fact carried an inscription in the lower margin: To my friend NORMAN JEWSON, who, with only one purpose, at his own cost and loss, possessed himself of the demesne of OWLPEN, when for the first time in seven hundred years, it passed into alien hands, and with great care and skill saved this ancient house from ruin.
Only five proofs were taken of this first state. In the second state, the lower margin and inscription were removed and the plate initialled and dated as above on the steps on the back. 48 impressions, stamped DHP and numbered in Arabic numerals on the back. In the third state, to which BrP163 belongs, the plate was reduced on both sides. 45 impressions were taken, stamped DHP and numbered in Roman numerals on the back.
The DHP monogram on the back stands for Dover’s House Press, from the name of Grigg’s house at Chipping Campden; the printing press was in his house in 1921, and thereafter almost all prints were taken at Campden; the DHP mark was cut for him by Eric Gill.
A pencil drawing 8 1/8 x 11 3/8 in (20.6 x 28.9 cm), done on the spot for the etching, is in Boston Public Library.
Griggs did the etchings for May Morris’s The Collected Works of William Morris, translating Emery Walker’s photographs for the plates.
