PREFATORY NOTE Suggestions or sketches for a bibliography of Chaucer have been made by J. E. B. Mayor in Notes and Queries 1876 II: 530; by J. Maskell in the same journal 1883 II: 381, 1884 I: 138, 141, 361, 422, 462, II: 3, 64, 422; in the Boston Literary World 14: 288 (1883); by Henry B. Wheatley before the Bibliographical Society in March, 1884, see their Transactions vol. II, pp. 11-12. The reference lists in Sonnenschein's Best Books and in Koerting's Grundriss zur Geschichte der englischen Literatur, 2d ed. Münster 1893, are avowedly brief and partial; and Courtney's Register of National Bibliography, 1905, has under Chaucer but five entries. The Chaucer-bibliography appended to Vol. II of the Cambridge History of English Literature, which appears just as this volume goes to press, is of necessity condensed; but its choice of entries is irregular and uncritical, and it is defaced by numerous misstatements; e. g. it lists editions of "Chaucer's Works" by Sir Harris Nicolas and by Tyrwhitt. In the present work no attempt has been made to include annotation of the Chaucerian text; this, it is supposed, is the province of Chaucer-editions and concordances, and the few such passages treated here are included because of their recognized historical position as Chaucer-cruces. Further, this manual does not comprise a list of the allusions to Chaucer; a work on that subject is in preparation by the Chaucer Society. Nor does it attempt to record all the lighter “literary" essays contained in the files of periodicals appealing to the younger or the very general reader; again, the section upon the life of Chaucer does not comprise such third-hand biographies as are usually printed in school manuals of literature, but deals with those accounts of Chaucer based upon direct investigation, or presumably so based, with notes upon early biographies which age has now rendered curiosities of criticism. The book as originally planned included a section upon the fourteenth century and Chaucer's contemporaries, obviously however a separate and equally large subject. The repetitions which occur have been permitted for the sake of lessening the great amount of reference from page to page, and PREFATORY NOTE also because of the probable use of the work for consultation rather than for continuous reading. To the custodians and owners of English manuscript collections and art galleries my thanks are due for their readiness to further every investigation. E. P. H. L. The Life of Chaucer I B. The Appeal to Fact. Notes on the Life of Chaucer by Nicolas, Appendix of notes on the dates of Chaucer's birth and A. The Canon of Chaucer. The Lists (1) of Chaucer, (2) of Lydgate, (3) of Thynne, of Leland, of Bale, (4) of Pits, Stow, Sources of Chaucer's Works. (1) English. (2) French. (3) Italian. (4) Latin and Anglo-Latin. D. Editions of the Collected Works or Poems, arranged chrono- A. Introduction. Stories in a Framework. Headlinks and End- links. The Host. The "Fragments" of the Tales. The Ar- rangement of the Tales: (1) Evidence of Time and Place Allusions in the Text. (2) Evidence of Other Allusions in the Text. (3) Evidence of the MSS. List of the MSS, the Order of the Tales in the MSS, the Classification of the MSS. B. The Manuscripts of the Tales: (1) In the British Museum. (2) In other London Libraries. (3) In the Bodleian Library. (4) In Other Oxford Libraries. (5) In the University Library, ix C. Editions of the Tales, chronologically arranged. Editions of D. Editions of Selections, from the Works or from the Canter- F. The Dates of the Tales. On the Relative Dates of the Tales. G. The Separate Tales, in Order as in the Oxford Chaucer, i. e. :— Prologue, Knight, Miller, Reeve, Cook. Man of Law. Ship- man, Prioress, Rime of Sir Thopas, Melibeus, Monk, Nun's Priest. Doctor, Pardoner. Wife, Friar, Summoner. Clerk, A. The Manuscripts. (1) In the British Museum. (2) In Other London Libraries. (3) In the Bodleian Library. (4) In Other Oxford Libraries. (5) In the University Library, Cambridge. (6) In Other Cambridge Libraries. (7) In Private Possession, V. Verse and Prose Printed with the Work of Chaucer, in alpha- A. History of Opinion as to Chaucer's Verse and Language, 1575 B. Studies on Chaucer's Language and Verse. C. Note on the Language and Verse of Chaucer. D. Chaucer's Line and Strophe Forms. |