Beschreibung:

CHAUCER, Geoffrey (c. 1345-1400). The Canterbury Tales . [Westminster: William Caxton late 1476 or 1477]. Chancery 2° (280 x 195mm). COLLATION: [1-32 8 33 1 0 ] (1/1-2 lacking: 1 blank, 2 prologue, incipit: wHan that Apprill ; 1/3 r incipit: Whanne they were wonne and in the grete see , 2/8 v prologue, explicit: And sayde anone his tale as ye shul here , and Here begynneth the knyghtis tale , incipit: wHilom as olde story telleth us , 7/6 v -33/9 v verse Prologues and Tales of the Miller, Reeve, Cook, Man of Law, Squire, Merchant, Wife of Bath, Friar, Summoner, Clerk of Oxford [Griselda], Franklin, Second Nun, Canon's Yeoman, Doctor of Physic, Pardoner, Shipman, Prioress, and Chaucer's Ryme of Sir Topas , 33/10 blank); [34-39 8 40 6 41-46 8 47 6 ] (34/1 r -47/4 v prose Tale of Chaucer [Melibeus], verse Prologues and Tales of the Monk, Nun's Priest [Reynard], Manciple, verse Prologue and prose Tale of the Parson, 47/5-6 lacking: 5 r end of Parson's Tale Explicit Tractatus Galfrydi Chaucer , 5 v Chaucer's Retraction, 6 blank). 370 leaves only (of 374; first and final blank missing, second and penultimate leaves [i.e. first and last text leaf] supplied in excellent facsimile including red-manuscript initials, tiny strip of the original second leaf preserved). PAPER: 54 of the 187 sheets in this copy belong to the same paper stock (watermark: gothic P with cross surmount), another stock (w/m arms of France) is represented by 38 sheets, a third (w/m unicorn) by 32 sheets, nine more stocks can be identified including two accounting for 15 sheets each (w/ms heraldic fleur-de-lis, pot respectively). The distribution of these papers is highly irregular, no more than fourteen quires being made up of a single stock, only seven of which are sequential (6-7, 11-15). TYPE: bastarda 2:135, cut and supplied from Louvain by Johann Veldener, 29 lines, printed guide-letters for initials, prose lines roughly justified. The edition was set by at least two compositors and printed page by page, apparently in two production units of very unequal size, but the scattering of the numerous paper stocks hardly allows more precise understanding of how work progressed. Pinholes not apparent. Original red-manuscript quiring: a-s S t-u v-z [4 contraction symbols] aa-ss, in the extreme upper outer corners thus: a a1 a2 a3 + [etc.] CONDITION: fos 20/7-8 inserted from other copies; fos 1/8 and 47/1-2, all of whose conjugate leaves are missing, have shorter outer margins (the latter two also repaired at lower margins), but it is probable that they originally belong to this copy; small hole in 16/1-7 affecting a few letters; small holes or tears in 22/4-23/1, 23/8, 25/8, 28/2 and 28/5 affecting individual letters, in some cases repaired; occasional soiling or very minor staining, for instance to 23/8 v -24/1 r , 26/8 v -27/2 r and 47/4 v . THE ROCKINGHAM CHAUCER IS THE THIRD MOST COMPLETE AND PERHAPS THE FINEST COPY EXTANT. BINDING: mid-18th-century English gold-tooled red morocco, over pasteboard, handsome dentelle border on sides formed by a narrow tooth roll and the repeated impression of a large tool of a potted flowering plant in a pavilion; spine decorated in compartments, two diapered with pointillé fillets, two tooled with leaves, leafy sprays, stars and floral ornament, and two compartments with blue morocco gilt lettering-pieces: CHAWCER FIRST EDITION PRINTED BY W. CAXTON ABOUT 1476; board edges and turn-ins roll-tooled in gilt, leaf edges gilt, original blue pastedowns, (flyleaves replaced later in the 18th century, foot of spine slightly chipped, extremities rubbed). Bound for James West, who commissioned at least five identical bindings on four Caxtons and one Wynkyn de Worde imprint, four of which were purchased by Dr William Hunter (now at Glasgow University Library) and one by Ralph Willett and subsequently Lord Spencer (now at the John Rylands library); we gratefully acknowledge Dr. Margaret Nickson for providing this information. PROVENANCE