{"id":3928,"date":"2019-04-05T17:12:52","date_gmt":"2019-04-05T17:12:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/rbx\/?p=3928"},"modified":"2019-04-19T20:28:34","modified_gmt":"2019-04-19T20:28:34","slug":"wynkyn-de-wordes-the-boke-of-chaucer-named-caunterbury-tales","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/rbx\/2019\/04\/05\/wynkyn-de-wordes-the-boke-of-chaucer-named-caunterbury-tales\/","title":{"rendered":"Wynkyn de Worde’s “The boke of Chaucer named Caunterbury tales”"},"content":{"rendered":"

written by Katie Funderburg<\/p>\n

Although less momentous than William Caxton\u2019s first edition and certainly less ornate than the later Kelmscott Chaucer, Wynkyn de Worde\u2019s The boke of Chaucer named Caunterbury tales<\/em> (Incunabula Q. 821 C39c 1498<\/a>) provides valuable insight into early English print history. As one of the most prolific English printers at the turn of the 16th<\/sup> century, de Worde\u2019s initial years in the book trade\u2014including the printing of the 1498 The<\/em> boke of Chaucer<\/em>\u2014merit careful consideration. The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign\u2019s copy, housed in the incunabula collection at the Rare Books and Manuscript Library, is a particularly useful case study example of de Worde\u2019s early career at Westminster, as it is one of the most complete of the six copies known to exist. While several copies consist of only a few leaves, the volume owned by the RBML has 113 of the original 153 folia. \u00a0Additionally, the leaves missing from the RBML copy were replaced with facsimiles produced by the British Museum in 1886, offering evidence of late 19th<\/sup> century attempts at book conservation as well as further information about the volume\u2019s provenance.<\/p>\n

\"Wynken<\/p>\n

According to the cataloger\u2019s note in the page gutter of RBML\u2019s copy, the university purchased The boke of Chaucer <\/em>from Stonehill in 1956, over 450 years after its printing. The additional material pasted onto the front flyleaves make it clear that the book was previously owned by the British Museum before coming to reside in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library. On the recto of the second front flyleaf, there is a bill from Daniel C. Baxter to Major C. H. Fisher dated January 27, 1886 listing the charges for the facsimile leaves and woodcuts. The bill comes to a total of nine pounds, twelve shillings, and nine pence, with individual charges such as, \u201c40,713 words, or 565 \u00bd folios, in ordinary writing at 2d per folio\u201d costing \u00a34.14.3 and \u201c17 tracings of woodcuts in facsimile (charged for by time)\u201d being \u00a32.0.0. More information is provided on the recto of the fifth flyleaf in a short note dated January 28, 1886 and signed \u201cEdward Ernest Stride, British Museum,\u201d which reads: \u201cThe leaves supplied in MS. and the tracings of the woodcuts & of the printer’s mark have been executed by Mr D. C. Baxter, of the Dept. of Printed Books, British Museum.\u201d Additionally, on the recto of the fourth flyleaf, someone\u2014presumably Baxter\u2014has written, \u201cThe following memorandum is pasted into the copy of this work in the British Museum, and is believed to have been inserted by Sir Thomas Grenville; who bequeathed this work with his library, to the Museum,\u201d indicating that the missing text and illustrations have been copied from The boke of Chaucer <\/em>in the Grenville collection, currently housed at the British Library.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Although Grenville\u2019s donation of The boke of Chaucer<\/em> made the additions to the copy possible, the resulting facsimile text, done in a 19th century cursive hand, is jarringly different than the original text used by de Worde, especially when they appear together on the same leaf. Contrary to the typical goals of 21st century conservationists, Baxter was more concerned with preserving the literary narrative than the unique condition of the incunabula. The woodcuts, however, are well executed and, despite being obviously pasted in, closely resemble the printed illustrations. RBML\u2019s copy has a contemporary binding of brown, blind-tooled calf over wooden boards with two brass clasps on the back board and evidence of two additional clasps on the front board. Based on the eight-petaled flower watermark found throughout the copy, The boke of Chaucer<\/em> was printed on paper made by John Tate the Younger, owner of the first paper mill in England.\u00a0 Instead of importing paper from France like most English printers, de Worde used Tate\u2019s paper for several books, including his 1495 English translation of De proprietatibus rerum<\/em>, in which the verse epilogue \u201cmakes the first known mention of paper making in England\u201d by referencing the work of John Tate the Younger.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

Fortunately, the stable physical condition of the RBML copy of de Worde\u2019s The boke of Chaucer<\/em> allows the book to be regularly used in class sessions at the Rare Book and Manuscript Library. In addition to courses focusing on English print history, the copy is also utilized for more general typography and graphic design instruction. The RBML copy of The boke of Chaucer <\/em>is evidence, not only of Wynkyn de Worde\u2019s legacy as one of the forefathers of English printing, but also how later bibliophiles and book restorers engage with his early work.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

written by Katie Funderburg Although less momentous than William Caxton\u2019s first edition and certainly less ornate than the later Kelmscott Chaucer, Wynkyn de Worde\u2019s The boke of Chaucer named Caunterbury tales (Incunabula Q. 821 C39c 1498) provides valuable insight into early English print history. As one of the most prolific English printers at the turn […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":423,"featured_media":3929,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[403,402,388,401],"class_list":["post-3928","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-incunabula","tag-caunterbury-tales","tag-chaucer","tag-history-of-printing","tag-wynken-de-worde"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/rbx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3928","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/rbx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/rbx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/rbx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/423"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/rbx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3928"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/rbx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3928\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3944,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/rbx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3928\/revisions\/3944"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/rbx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3929"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/rbx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3928"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/rbx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3928"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/rbx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3928"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}