Chaucer's lyrics have been neglected not because Chaucer was an incompetent lyric poet but because they have been overshadowed by his narrative poetry. Ruud introduces the lyrics to those not familiar with them, providing a separate "reading" of…
Horobin, Simon.
Helen Cooper and Robert R. Edwards, eds. Oxford History of Poetry in English. Volume 2, Medieval Poetry, 1100–1400 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2023), pp. 54-68.
Considers the specifics of the material form and transmission of Middle English poetry, touching on the idea of the anthology, along with examples. Concludes by tracing the dearth of evidence for pre-1400 transmission of Chaucer's works (along with…
Horobin, Simon.
Frank Grady, ed. The Cambridge Companion to "The Canterbury Tales" (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2020), pp. 21-44
Surveys extant manuscripts of CT, including collections that include standalone tales. Discusses the difference in manuscript presentation and frequency of the tales, arguing that earlier manuscript production and circulation often privileged those…
Edwards, A. S. G.
Charlotte Brewer and Barry Windeatt, eds. Traditions and Innovations in the Study of Middle English Literature: The Influence of Derek Brewer (Woodbridge: Boydell and Brewer, 2013), pp. 201-14.
Reviews Derek Brewer's editorial work on Malory and Chaucer. Mentions Brewer's unpublished projects, including the "Nelson Chaucer," that affected the "textual authority" of Middle English scholarship.
Gillespie, Alexandra, and Julianna Chianelli.
In The Open Access Companion to the Canterbury Tales. https://opencanterburytales.dsl.lsu.edu, 2017. Relocated 2025 at https://opencanterburytales.lsusites.org/
Summarizes the "textual world" of the late-medieval England and describes the international development of the printing press. Comments on references to literacy and literate materials in Chaucer's works, explores the implications of Adam, remarks…
Horobin, Simon.
Susanna Fein and David Raybin, eds. Chaucer: Contemporary Approaches (University Park: PennsylvaniaState University, 2010), pp. 67-82.
Horobin describes recent advances in understanding "late medieval textual culture"--reading habits, book ownership, institutional affiliations, etc.--focusing on the œuvres of several Chaucerian scribes, discussions of locale and provenance,…
Pearsall, Derek, ed.
Cambridge: D. S. Brewer, 1983
Nine essays, an Introduction, and Response derive from a 1981 Conference at the University of York. For the two essays that include substantial attention to Chaucer, search for Manuscripts and Readers in Fifteenth-Century England under Alternative…
Cayley, Emma, and Susan Powell, eds.
Liverpool, Liverpool niversity Press, 2013.
Foreward by Derek Pearsall. Essays address issues of packaging, presentation, and consumption of manuscripts. Also discusses producers, owners, and readers of manuscripts and early printed books. For two essays that pertain to Chaucer, search for…
Scattergood, John.
Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2006.
Reprints fifteen previously published essays by Scattergood, plus a sixteenth, original essay, "The Copying of Medieval and Early Renaissance Manuscripts" (pp. 21-82). The latter--which discusses the habits and status of medieval scribes, early…
Nakao, Yoshiyuki, and Tadahiro Ikegami.
Koichi Kano, ed. An Invitation to Chaucer's Cosmos (Tokyo: Yushokan, 2022), pp. 51-91.
Examines readings in CT manuscripts that are not found in most critical editions. Reviews history of textual criticism of CT up to the Riverside edition, with special reference to Ralph Hanna's scholarship. Considers merits of the electronic…
Boffey, Julia, and A. S. G. Edwards.
Corinne Saunders, ed. A Concise Companion to Chaucer (Malden, Mass.; Oxford; and Victoria: Blackwell, 2006), pp. 34-50.
The essay describes the "complex exercises in historical reconstruction" essential to bridge the distance between modern readers and Chaucer and his contemporary audience. Discusses Chaucer's literary production, his revisions, and scribal…
Gillespie, Alexandra.
Marion Turner, ed. A Handbook of Middle English Studies (Chichester: Wiley, 2013), pp. 171-85. 1 b&w fig.
Assesses relations between the "idealizing tendencies" of formalist literary studies and the practicalities of studies in book history, reading PF as a "Chaucerian theory of the book" that is similar to the theory of Maurice Blanchot. Explores how a…
Boenig, Robert, and Kathleen Davis, eds.
Lewisburg, Penn. :
Eleven essays by various authors, a bibliography of Bolton's publications, and an index. For four essays that pertain to Chaucer, search for Manuscript, Narrative, Lexicon under Alternative Title.
Interrogates the "ghost of judgment" that haunts the study of Chaucerian manuscripts as well as formalist analysis of Chaucer's works, commenting on implications for editing and teaching.
Da Rold, Orietta.
Essays and Studies 63 (2010): 43-58.
Suggests that analysis of the physical makeup of manuscripts is a way to understand the production and use of Middle English texts. Focuses on the multilingualism in texts, the different functions of texts in a single book, and scribal output.…
The eight manuscript portraits of Chaucer and the three of Hoccleve are described. Those of Chaucer in Ellesmere and Harley 4866 are possibly independent copies of a common ancestor, now lost. All other portraits of Chaucer depend on their…
The introduction treats contents, date, material and structure, ruling, layout and presentation of texts, handwriting, punctuation, correction and annotation, decoration, binding, and the history of the volume bequeathed to Magdalen College by Samuel…
Robinson, Pamela, intro.
Suffolk: Boydell and Brewer, 1982.
Written by various hands in the fifteenth century, Bodley 638,the latest of the so-called Oxford Group, contains HF and BD, found in only two other manuscripts, as well as Anel, LGW, PF, Pity, ABC, For, and Compl d'Am. Includes a bibliography.
Boffey, Julia.
Corinne Saunders, ed. A Companion to Medieval Poetry (Malden, Mass.: Wiley-Blackwell, 2010), pp. 538-54.
Boffey describes the nature and circulation of Middle English poetic manuscripts and early printed editions, with recurrent comments on manuscript production and traces of readers' responses. Draws examples from a wide variety of manuscripts and…
Crocker, Holly A.
Medieval Feminist Forum 39 (2005): 29-37
The proverbs signed "Impingham" in Harley 7333 derive from Chaucer, but the emphases and arrangement of the proverbs present a more reductive view of women than is found in Chaucer's works.
Describes and assesses the wide array of guides to penitential self-examination in late medieval Latin, Anglo-Norman, and Middle English, viewing them in the contexts of the 1215 Lateran Council, the rise in popular religion, and developing notions…
Lightsey, Scott.
New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007.
Considers classical and medieval attitudes toward automata and mirabilia as context for analyzing their presence and depictions in late medieval English culture, especially in works by Langland, Chaucer, Gower, and Mandeville. Chapter 2, "Chaucer and…
Mosser, Daniel W.
Papers of the Bibliographical Society of America 79 (1985): 235-40.
Deals with Manly and Rickert's erroneous procedures and conclusions regarding classification of manuscripts, scribal procedures, the Ellesmere MS, the Cardigan MS, HM 144, and the order of the tales.
