THE CANTERBURY TALES: THE NEW ELLESMERE CHAUCER MONOCHROMATIC FACSIMILE (OF HUNTINGTON LIBRARY MS EL 26 C 9)

San Marino, CA: Huntington Library Press, 1997. Limited Edition, 1/1000 Copies. Hardcover. Folio, unpaginated. In Very Good minus condition. Bound in publisher's blue cloth boards with gilt lettering to front board and spine. Mild bumping and fraying to head of spine and top corners of boards. Minor general shelf wear to tail of spine and bottom edges of boards. Foxing to top edge of textblock. Mild scuffing to bottom edge of textblock. Interior pages clean. Shelved above Case 4. "The Ellesmere manuscript of Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, probably created soon after his death in 1400, is the most famous English literary manuscript to survive from the Middle Ages. Acquired by H. E. Huntington in 1917, it contains the text and order-of-tales that for a century and a half have shaped nearly everyone's understanding of the Canterbury Tales. Far less familiar is the ingenious presentation of the text, involving carefully planned illuminations, page designs, glosses, and portraits of all the pilgrim-storytellers." 1394926. Shelved Dupont Bookstore. (Inventory #: 1394926)