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Chaucer, Geoffrey, -1400, The Canterbury tales, 1483]
- Title(s):
The Canterbury tales.
- Published/Created:
- [Westminster : William Caxton, 1483]
- Physical Description:
- [312] leaves : ill. ; 27 cm. (fol.)
- Holdings:
- Rare Books and ManuscriptsPR1865 1483Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon CollectionView by request in the Study Room [Request]
Note: The Study Room is open by appointment. Please visit the Study Room page on our website for more details. - Copyright Status:
- Public Domain
- Full Orbis Record:
- http://hdl.handle.net/10079/bibid/1306028
- Classification:
- Books
- Notes:
- BEIN Zi +9661: Restricted. Permission of curator needed for use.
BEIN Zi +9661: Imperfect: leaves a1-h8, i1,5-8, n8, o4-5, p2-7, q8, s8, v1-2, 2b2,8, 2c4-5, 2d6-8, 2e1,3-8, 2g1-2i6, A1, B3-5, C6-8, D1-L4 (a1, L4 blank) wanting.
BEIN Zi +9661: Provenance: armorial bookplate: Philip Champion Crespigny. 17th century manuscript annotations of John Gibbon throughou. Inscription: Hunc librum, casu Janus Garrettus adeptu[m] Jano Gybono donabit amicus Heraldo circiter principium 9bris 1682, Qui, Garrettus obyt posteà in Virginia. Autograph: Johannis Gybbon. From the libraries of the 4th and 5th Earls of Ashburnham. Sold to Ethel Crocker, by James Tregaskis, and owned by Ethel's son William W. Crocker.
BEIN Zi +9661: Binding: rebound in gold- and blind-tooled leather.
BEIN Zi +9661: Accompanied by: 54 page fragments of varrying sizes; over half have manuscript notes or markings, one has the remnants of a wax seal, and one has a portion of text and illustration from leaf i5.
This second edition is the first illustrated Canterbury tales, containing 23 woodcut illustrations, some repeated several times throughout the work. "The illustrations probably derive from a series of miniatures in manuscript of which only a few leaves survive, called the 'Oxford Fragments.'"--Paul Mellon's legacy, p. 309. See also: David R. Carlson, "Woodcut illustrations of the Canterbury tales, 1483-1602," The Library, ser. 6, 19:1 (March 1997): 25-67.
Imprint from STC.
ISTC and BM 15th cent. give date: [1483]. Goff and GW give date: [ca. 1484].
"Nine of the twelve paper stocks ... are also found in the second edition of the Chronicles of England, dated 8 October 1482 ... Production of the Canterbury tales probably followed immediately, but there may have been some concurrent production of the two books. It seems likely that the Canterbury tales was completed early in 1483."--BM 15th cent.
Signatures: a-t⁸ v⁶ 2a-2h⁸ 2i⁶ A-K⁸ L⁴ (a1, L4 blank).
38 lines and headline. Types 2: 135B*, headlines, colophon; 4: 95 (100)B*, text. Initial spaces with guide-letters.
Selected exhibitions: "Paul Mellon's Legacy: A Passion for British Art" (Yale Center for British Art, 18 April-29 July, 2007).
Gesamtkatalog der Wiegendrucke, 6586
Goff, F.R. Incunabula in American libraries, C-432
Incunabula short title catalogue, ic00432000
Pollard, A.W. Short-title catalogue of books printed in England, Scotland, & Ireland and of English books printed abroad, 1475-1640 (2nd ed.), 5083
English short title catalogue, S108804
Grolier Club. Fifty-five books printed before 1525, 11
Copinger, W.A. Supplement to Hain's Repertorium bibliographicum, 4922
Hodnett, E. English woodcuts 1480-1535, 214-236
Paul Mellon's legacy, p. 309
Proctor, R. Index to the early printed books in the British Museum, 9661
Selected exhibitions: "Fifty-five Books Printed before 1525: Representing the Works of England's First Printers, an Exhibition from the Collection of Paul Mellon" (Grolier Club, 17 January-3 March 1968).
BAC: British Art Center copy imperfect: lacks first 3 signatures, leaves d1-2, e8, i5-8, g2-3, h1, 7, and the last 3 signatures. Portions of leaves n5 and bb5 torn, with loss of text.
BAC: British Art Center copy from the library of Beaupré Bell (1704-1745), Norfolk, with his ownership signature, dated 1737, on leaf dd7r. Tipped in at front is an A.L.S. from Bell, Trinity College, 17 Nov. 1740, to "the Revd. Mr. Beaty," sending his copy to Beaty: "Yours is very imperfect & if it can be supplied with any leaves of this, it is heartily at the service of ye College." From Magdalen College, Cambridge. - Subject Terms:
- Ashburnham, Bertram Ashburnham, Earl of, 1797-1878 -- Ownership.Beaty, Rev. -- Pres. insc. from Beaupré Bell, 1740 Nov. 17.Bell, Beaupré, 1704-1745 -- Pres. insc. to the Revd. Mr. Beaty, 1740 Nov. 17.Chaucer, Geoffrey, -1400. Canterbury tales -- Illustrations.Crespigny, Philip Champion -- Bookplate.Crocker, Ethel, 1861-1934 -- Ownership.Crocker, William W., 1893-1964 -- Ownership.Garrett, John -- Presentation inscription to J. Gibbon.Gibbon, John, 1629-1718 -- Autograph.Gibbon, John, 1629-1718 -- Ms. notes.Gibbon, John, 1629-1718 -- Presentation inscription from J. Garrett.Incunabula in Yale Library.
- Form/Genre:
- Armorial bookplates (Provenance)
Annotations (Provenance)
Woodcuts. - Export:
- XML
- IIIF Manifest:
- JSON
Making History - Antiquaries in Britain 1707-2007 (Yale Center for British Art, 2012-02-02 - 2012-05-27) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition]
Paul Mellon's Legacy : A Passion for British Art (Yale Center for British Art, 2007-04-18 - 2007-07-29) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition]
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