The opening of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, with a portrait of the author: Lansdowne MS 851, f. 2r
Geoffrey Chaucer's compelling work earned him the title of “father of English literature,” and his influence can still be felt over six centuries after his passing. His most famous book, The Canterbury Tales, was published around 1400, meaning its earliest incarnations weren't easily accessible for readers and academics around the world—until now. Recently, the British Library announced that they've completed the digitization of all of their pre-1600 manuscripts containing Chaucer’s works.
The new archive features 25,000 images from more than 60 items related to Chaucer's works and life, all carefully photographed and uploaded. “We have digitized not only complete copies of Chaucer’s poems, but also unique survivals, including fragmentary texts found in Middle English anthologies or inscribed in printed editions and incunabula (books printed before 1501),” writes the institution.
As for The Canterbury Tales, the archive boasts at least 23 editions. “In addition to the surviving manuscripts of The Canterbury Tales, the British Library also houses some of the earliest printed versions of Chaucer’s poem,” they write. “These include rare copies of the 1476 and 1483 editions of the text made by William Caxton (d. c. 1491), the 1491/1492 edition by Richard Pynson (d. c. 1529), and the 1498 edition printed by Wynkyn de Worde (d. c. 1534).” Calum Cockburn, the British Library’s curator of medieval manuscripts, highlights a version with a portrait of Chaucer himself. “That is a really wonderful detail because there aren’t that many surviving portraits of him,” he tells The Guardian.
Medieval manuscripts of Chaucer's other notable works are also available. The archive features an edition of The Legend of Good Women, one of Chaucer’s four poetic dream visions, with printed and handwritten versions of the text side-by-side; translations of The Romance of the Rose and The Consolation of Philosophy; and the epic Troilus and Criseyde, which would go on to inspire William Shakespeare some 200 years later.
“Whether you are experienced scholars of Chaucer’s life and poetry, who know his words off by heart, or only just learning of his collected works for the first time, we hope you enjoy exploring the pages of these digitized manuscripts and engaging with the writing of one of the foundational figures in the history of English literature,” writes the British Library.
You can start browsing the entire Chaucer archive with the help of this PDF index. To learn more, visit the British Library's website.
The British Library announced that it has completed the digitization of all pre-1600 manuscripts containing Geoffrey Chaucer’s works.
A 16th-century portrait of Geoffrey Chaucer, holding a rosary and stylus: Add MS 5141, f. 1r
The new archive features 25,000 images from more than 60 items related to Chaucer's works and life in the British Library's collection.
The opening of Chaucer’s Legend of Good Women, showing printed and handwritten versions of the text side-by-side: Add MS 9832, ff. 3v-4r
“We have digitized not only complete copies of Chaucer’s poems, but also unique survivals, including fragmentary texts found in Middle English anthologies or inscribed in printed editions and incunabula,” writes the institution.
A woodcut of the pilgrims from William Caxton’s 1483 edition of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales: G.11586, f. 20 c4
“In addition to the surviving manuscripts of The Canterbury Tales, the British Library also houses some of the earliest printed versions of Chaucer’s poem.”
The opening of ‘The Knight’s Tale’, from Thomas Speght’s 1598 edition of the collected works of Geoffrey Chaucer: Add MS 42518, f. 29r
The opening of Walter Stevins’ revised edition of Chaucer’s ‘Treatise on the Astrolabe’: Sloane MS 261, f. 1*r
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h/t: [Open Culture]
All images via the British Library.
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