Accession number:
PML 737.1
Published:
Emprynted at Westmestre [Westminster] : By Wynkin de Word, [th]e yere of our lord. M. CCCC.lxxxxviii [1498].
Description:
[153] leaves : illustrations (woodcuts) ; 29 cm (fol.)
Credit Line:
Purchased with the Bennett collection, 1902.
Notes:
Title from half-title page, leaf a1r.
Imprint from colophon, leaf [four dots]3v: Here endyth the boke of the tales of Caunterbury Compiled by Geffray Chaucer, of whoos souls Criste have mercy. Emprynted at Westmestre by Wynkin de Word [th]e yere of our lord .M.CCCC.lxxxxviii.
Printed in de Worde's types 6:135G and 4a:94G.
Signatures: a-b⁴ c-d⁸ e-q⁶ r-s⁸ t⁴ u⁴ (±1, +1*) x⁶ y⁴ z⁶ [et]⁶ [us]⁶ [four dots]⁴.
Paper format: Chancery folio.
Prologue by William Caxton.
Woodcuts.
PML copy leaf dimensions: 26.8 x 19.3 cm.
PML copy with many margins repaired, text not affected.
Binding:
Modern full goatskin, blind-tooled in a pastiche of an early style, over paper boards (28 x 20.5 cm.), sewn on 6 supports by Francis Bedford. Plain paper pastedowns and fly leaves; decorative endbands; gilt edges.
Variant Title:
Caunterbury tales
Inscriptions/Markings:
Hand decoration: Rubrication not required. Annotations: No marginal notations in text.
Provenance:
Bertram Ashburnham, Earl of Ashburnham (1797-1878), with shelf mark: 29.E (front pastedown), bibliographic note stating only known perfect copy (front pastedown); his sale, Sotheby's, 25 June 1897, lot 1048; Richard Bennett (1849-1930), armorial bookplate (front fly leaf recto) and bibliographical notes: No. 267, 1/7/97 and price code: wmmm/-/- +com (front pastedown); Pierpont Morgan (1837-1913), purchased with the Bennett collection, 1902.
Classification:
Catalog Link:
Department: