"Plate No. 18" from 25 Nudes by Eric Gill (England, 1882-1940), original woodblock engraving from the suite 25 Nudes, signed in the plate, based on size, weight, quality and visible outline from back this is likely a 1st edition printed by Hague & Gill Ltd, High Wycombe in 1938, loose - 5 1/2" x 8 3/4".  
 
25 Nudes is both a record of how Gill believed the human body should be portrayed and the written rationale for that approach.
 
Gill was a celebrated and despised sculptor, letter cutter, typeface designer, and printmaker. Born Arthur Eric Rowton Gil to a father who was an Anglican minister and a mother who was a professional opera singer, Gill utilized both religion and art throught his controversial life. His religious views and subject matter contrasted with his sexual behaviour, including his erotic art, and (as mentioned in his own diaries discoverd after his death) his extramarital affairs and ... well, you're just going to have to discover for yourself. Gill was named Royal Designer for Industry, the highest British award for designers, by the Royal Society of Arts. He also became a founder-member of the newly established Faculty of Royal Designers for Industry. Gill studied at Chichester Technical and Art School, and in 1900 moved to London to train as an architect with the practice of W. D. Caröe, specialists in ecclesiastical architecture. Frustrated with his training, he took evening classes in stonemasonry at the Westminster Technical Institute and in calligraphy at the Central School of Arts and Crafts, where Edward Johnston, creator of the London Underground typeface, became a strong influence. In 1903 he gave up his architectural training to become a calligrapher, letter-cutter and monumental mason. In 1904, Gill married Ethel Hester Moore, with whom he had three daughters and an adopted son. In 1907, he moved with his family to "Sopers", a house in the village of Ditchling in Sussex, which would later become the center of an artists' community inspired by Gill. In 1913, Gill moved to Hopkin's Crank at Ditchling Common, two miles north of the village. The Common was an arts and crafts community focused around a chapel, with an emphasis on manual labour in opposition to modern commerce. He became a Roman Catholic in 1913 and worked primarily for Catholic clients. In 1921 he started a Catholic artists community called The Guild of St Joseph and St Dominic and became a lay member of the Dominican Order. He went on to design and sculpt multiple war memorials and works on monumental buildings in London, including the British Museum.