Beaupré Bell and the Editing of Chaucer in the Eighteenth Century

Author / Editor
Horobin, Simon.

Title
Beaupré Bell and the Editing of Chaucer in the Eighteenth Century

Published
Carol M. Meale and Derek Pearsall, eds. Makers and Users of Medieval Books: Essays in Honour of A. S. G. Edwards (Cambridge: D. S. Brewer, 2014), pp. 214-23.

Description
Beaupré Bell (1704-45), member of a noble Norfolk family, was known as a careful, if not exhaustive, annotator of Chaucer manuscripts (Cambridge,Trinity College, MSS R.3.19 and R.3.15). Now it is clear that two printed editions of Chaucer in the Cambridge Library, those of Thomas Speght (1598) and John Urry (1721), received his more extensive attention. Bell's textual comparisons and critical comments show intelligence and at least a partially formulated editorial methodology. His later correspondence recalls an unrealized ambition to do a full edition of Chaucer, apparently responding to the widely perceived inadequacies of Urry.

Alternative Title
Makers and Users of Medieval Books: Essays in Honour of A. S. G. Edwards

Chaucer Subjects
Facsimiles, Editions, and Translations